Route: Horse-Shoe Trail, PA

Location
Pennsylvania, US
Distance
145.7 mi
Vertical Gain
17,400 ft
Description

The Horse-Shoe Trail is a 142-mile hiking and equestrian trail that runs from Valley Forge to the Appalachian Trail in southern Pennsylvania. The trail, which was opened in 1935, crosses public and private lands, and is maintained by the non-profit Horse-Shoe Trail Conservancy.

Maps were updated in 2011 with nice digitally produced topos. Reroutes do continue to be an issue as the trail is sometimes forced to move when a landowner decides they no longer want us on their property, or when we find a new route that eliminates some road miles. Reroutes are posted to HST website at hstrail.org

GPS Track
Images

Comments

I will be attempting a fastest known time of the horseshoe trail Saturday August 18th.  It will be done in a supported fashion.  

How did your attempt go?  I live close by, cool to see someone going for it

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I’ll be attempting a women’s/supported FKT here on July 10, 2020. 

Dan Rose’s time should be supported based on the rules.  Last 14-15 miles was run with a pacer according to his write-up.

I will be attempting a men’s supported FKT starting on November 7th (~7am) from the AT to Valley Forge.  There will be live tracking using Garmin Inreach Mini and I will post the link when the time comes.

P.S.  I’ve already contacted Dan Rose to let him know of my attempt.  “It’ll have to be a Pennsylvanian with good route-finding skills! Be sure you recon all the twists and turns that you can. I lost a LOT of hours wandering and retracing my steps. Good luck!”—Dan Rose.

I will be making an FKT attempt from on March 20th starting from the eastern terminus of the horse-shoe trail and finishing at its intersection with the Appalachian Trail.

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Profile picture for user Grayce 'Hot Pants' Langheine

I will be making a self-supported attempt on May 10th starting from the Western terminus and hoping to finish at the Eastern terminus on May 13th.

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Profile picture for user Grayce 'Hot Pants' Langheine

I will be attempting a self-supported FKT of the Horse-Shoe Trail traveling West to East starting on May 22nd.