I started off on the Knobstone Trail out and back on May 14th, 2026 at 5:52am from the Delaney Creek Park Trailhead, which is the Northern terminus of the Knobstone trail. I hiked 50.1 miles to the Southern terminus at Deam Lake and hit the turn around at around 10:30pm. I took some videos and photos and turned around and hiked back another 7.2 miles and set up my tent and laid down for a little over 3 hours. By 5am on May 15th I was back hiking again. The first day I didn't use my poles at all but this second day I need up using my poles most of the day. I filtered water from the creeks every 5-7 miles as needed. Water was plentiful since it had rained heavy about 10 days before. I got turned around a few times on the fist day and the second day, mainly because of some tree blow outs. I probably covered an estimated 1.5 extra miles but always back tracked to the exact trail of the Knobstone to make sure I never missed any of the trail. The last 25 miles was pretty tough on my body and I slowed down a bit (probably lost 1 hour), but finished just after dark around 9:20pm on May 15th. I was tired and dehydrated but felt a great accomplishment. What a wonderful trail and a great experience. Check out my YouTube 55 minute video of the entire hike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWPUDEtM1mk or at channel: @MikeCole-RunningRestaurants
Pack weight: 9.5 pounds Main heavy items: pack itself, tent, sleeping bag, poles, battery charger
Food weight : 4.5 pounds Around 5,000 cal the fist day and 4,000 the second day.
I saw 2 total other hikers heading Southbound and 7 total hikers coming back Northbound
I didn't see many animals at all other than hearing a lot of birds. Never was effected by bugs but my legs got into some nedles.