Nicole and I started at dawn from the Pen Mar gravel lot and headed north. Grateful for a dry day, plenty of sunlight, and dry trails - albeit slightly cold with the temps around 24 at the start and hovering around freezing all day.
The trail was in great condition, and we made very good time to our food and water drop at Rt 30, just about halfway and right around 4hrs. The second half went equally well, with lots of runnable sections after the second very long climb.
This entire 37 mile section of the AT was very well marked, and aside from Rt30 being slightly busy, the road crossings were all very small.
Once we got to pine grove we had some slight difficulty locating the lot that the route GPX designated as the end spot - as it’s deeper into the park that we had thought. But was some minor confusion and nothing better map studying (on my part!) couldn’t have prevented!
Might make more sense for the route to officially terminate at the furnace, or visitors museum if the route can be updated - just for sake of having a recognizable landmark as there are several gravel lots in that area of the park.
This is a great route for anyone looking for a long day on the AT with lots of running and ample hiking. I definitely think that while the time we ran was “solid” that it could be improved upon and hope others are up for trying it!