Appalachian Trail hikers are always hungry: Here’s where they like to eat in Pennsylvania

One restless night in a tent far up into California’s Eastern Sierra mountains, I had intense dreams about pancakes, a whole stack in a sea of syrup with butter running down the sides like waterfalls.

My meal planning wasn’t the best on that short backpacking trip. I brought too much jerky and my brain, even when asleep, was craving carbohydrates. When I woke from that cruel flapjack fantasy, I negotiated a trade with a fellow hiker — jerky for pita bread and peanut butter — and soldiered on until I could get to the diner in town.

Hikers, particularly long-distance hikers on the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails, are almost always hungry, trying to catch up on calories and satiate intense cravings. Some resort to convenience store junk food for quick fuel, but sooner or later, most head into the dozens of mountain towns that dot the trails for a meal.

“It’s a losing battle because the math never stops. You’re always burning more calories than you take in,” said Heather Anderson, a Pennsylvania resident who has hiked the Appalachian Trail three times. “And if you carry more food, it weighs you down, and then you need more food.”

Pennsylvania has its fair share of “must-eats” and traditions that hikers, for the most part, agree on, and they range from classic burgers to saké to an ice cream “challenge” that might slow you down for a day or two. There are plenty of Wawa and Sheetz locations to choose from, and one family in the Delaware Water Gap, the finish line in Pennsylvania, has a veritable monopoly on trail meals there.

Here’s an official list of what to order and where.

Pennsylvania’s 229 miles of Appalachian Trail (known as the AT) begin in Franklin County, but few people on message boards, Facebook groups, and Reddit mention many memorable meals there. Pine Grove Furnace State Park, about 30 miles into the state, in Cumberland County, is another story, home to one of those rare, rite-of-passage meals that’s almost a requirement. You have to eat a half gallon of Hershey’s ice cream in one sitting at the general store there.

“As far as I know, this is one of those traditions and legends on the AT that doesn’t have a single author,” said Jim Foster, who hiked the trail in 2007.

When Foster got to the general store, he said the options were limited. He chose vanilla with peanut butter and said it truly was a challenge.

“It literally had a stick of peanut butter in it and that was the hardest thing to get through cause it was semi-frozen,” he said.

Foster, who lives nearby in Harrisburg, said some hikers let the ice cream sit out for a while, then sort of drink it. For official recognition, Foster said, a half gallon is a full container of ice cream, plus an extra cup.

Duncannon, Perry County, is one of Pennsylvania’s true AT mountain towns, with outfitters to resupply gear, hostels, and free spaghetti dinners for hikers at Christ Lutheran Church. The historic Doyle Hotel, opened in 1905, is one of the most famous stops on the whole trail, though, and most hikers order the Doyle Burger, a half pound of Angus on a pretzel roll with a cold Yuengling to wash it down.

“I’d say the food at the Doyle is probably the one I know about the most,” Anderson told me.

Anderson, who’s hiked 45,000-plus miles, said she craves salads and fruits on long hikes, but the historic Port Clinton Hotel in Schuylkill County is another place known for protein. Some say the burgers are great, others prefer the cheesesteaks, and when I called the bar, I asked the woman who answered the phone to pick a winner:

“I’d say it’s our cheesesteak,” she told me. “That’s what we’re known for.”

The hotel makes a wide variety of cheesesteaks, including pizza, buffalo, and grilled chicken. They’ll even turn it into a salad.

As you’re about to venture into the home of my ancestors in Pennsylvania coal country, you might as well order the pierogi with butter and onions, too, and don’t forget to stop at the famous peanut and candy shop to stock up on peanuts. Actually, you’ll need loads of carbs for all of the rocks waiting for you in the rest of the state, so get a pound of gummy bears, too.

Have you had enough beef? This bar and grill, also in Schuylkill County, is about 20 miles north of Port Clinton on the trail. While the Thunderhead, on mile 1,246 of the AT, also boasts about its burgers, its “spicy bird” sandwich is a good chicken option in Pennsylvania.

“I remember practically running here to make it before they closed. So worth it!” one hiker commented on a post about the sandwich on Reddit.

The folks at the Thunderhead, in an email, described the sandwich as “a buttermilk-soaked chicken thigh, breaded with our special spice and then deep fried, topped with pepper jack cheese and jalapeños, lettuce, and tomato, and our house-made chipotle aioli.”

Congratulations, you’ve made it to the end of Pennsylvania’s notoriously rocky trail. Anyway, you must be starving. Luckily, there’s more than one place to eat in this quaint town on the Delaware River. The Cooper family serves up Appalachian Trail staples in two very different eateries. The family’s Village Farmer and Bakery has been open since 1976 and hikers can’t decide which meal they like better, the hot dog and apple pie “True Love Special” for $4.95 or a chicken potpie. I’ve had the True Love a half-dozen times, with chili, and it’s a lock.

For something completely different, you can head over to Jason Cooper’s Sango Kura, which claims to be Pennsylvania’s “first and only sake brewery.” Cooper also serves up handmade noodles and “classic izakaya pub dishes from Japan.” Cooper, who lived in Japan, says trail food doesn’t have to be deep fried and sugary.

“People hiking the AT are not run-of-the-mill people,” he said. “They all come in with such a rainbow of stories and reasons for being there and it’s great to have that energy in such a small town. It’s like free energy trickling off the mountain.”

Cooper said you shouldn’t leave Delaware Water Gap without checking out the Deer Head Inn, which claims to be “the oldest continuously running jazz club in the country.” His family doesn’t own it.

Afterward, it’s back on the trail to New Jersey. Sorry, that’s full of rocks, too.