For hikers, the 2,193-mile Appalachian Trail - which cuts through Lehigh, Schuylkill, Carbon and Monroe counties - is mesmerizing.

Many determined hikers begin the unforgiving journey in Springer Mountain, Georgia, but only an estimated 25% of them complete the trek through 14 states to Maine - a hike that generally takes a half year or more.

The trail is mostly through woods and can be lonely and demanding.

Hikers who passed through the Bake Oven Knob in East Penn Township on Thursday and Friday got a pleasant surprise.

Members of the Allentown Hiking Club set up what hikers call a “trail magic” welcome area, in which all sorts of foods and drinks are available. When they exited the woods atop the Bake Oven to the parking lot clearance, they were greeted by the club members and an unexpected feast.

This was the 10th year the club did the trail magic. Many of the club’s members know firsthand the rigors of long-distance hiking, being hikers themselves.

Neil Stubits of Franklin Township, a member of the club, said, “We realize how appreciative they (the hikers) are after walking 10 to 15 miles, then coming and seeing free food and a place to sit.”

Art Castagnola of Summit Hill, also a member of the club, said this is his first year doing trail magic with the club, but he has done it as an individual in the past. He certainly knows what the hikers endure, having walked most of the Appalachian Trail’s distance. He does sectional walks and over a 23-year period has conquered about 2,175 miles of the trail. He has the last 114.5 miles of trail in Maine to hike before he finishes the Appalachian’s full distance. “God willing, I hope I finish,” he said.

He said every section of the trail has different elements and challenges. “For me it’s like high school,” he said of his annual treks. “Every year it’s like a new class.” Not only are there new sections to conquer, but new people to meet.

The trail magic featured a large assortment of foods including hot dogs (donated by Hatfield), hamburgers, salads, potato chips, honey buns, oranges, cakes and power bars. There was water, Gatorade, soda and fruit drinks.

Karen Gradel of Quakertown, vice president of the Allentown Hiking Club, is the coordinator for the annual trail magic event. She said the club always tries to hold it on weekdays because on weekends there are more section hikers while during the week mostly through-hikers will stop.

Several dozen through-hikers stopped this year but there were some years when more than 60 hikers came through, she said.

Besides holding trail magic, the club also maintains a 10.3-mile section of the Appalachian Trail south of Bake Oven Knob.

Stubits said he and his wife Terri help to maintain a two-mile stretch, doing such tasks as checking for trash and clearing trees and branches blown across the walkway.

Members who stopped at trail magic were from various states, including a veterinarian from Oklahoma, a recent high school student from North Carolina (who skipped his graduation to fulfill a bucket list item) and a retired Army veteran and his wife from Texas.

Most of the hikers are loners.

The veterinarian, Kelly Frye, 33, of Stillwater, left Spring Mountain, Georgia, on March 9 and said she is determined to complete the trek in about six months.

“This is my first really long trail,” she said, noting she has done 100 mile backpacking trips in the past.

She said her husband, a professor of mechanical engineering at Oklahoma State University, couldn’t make the trip because of his work schedule, “and he prefers shorter hiking trips.”

So far, she found the Pennsylvania portion of the trail to be toughest because of the rocks, although in the beginning of the journey she didn’t like the crowded campsites in Georgia.

Ryder Pond of Hendersonville, North Carolina, left Springer Mountain on April 7. He celebrated his 18th birthday with other hikers, “a group of strangers” he met on the trail, in Franklin, Tennessee. The last time he saw his parents was in Tennessee.

Pond said he chose the hiking trip over attending his high school graduation, getting his diploma in absentia. “I felt it would be more important to be hiking the trail,” he said. “The graduates walk across the stage. I walk across the states.”

He said he saw a lot of wild animals during his trek including a vexatious black bear outside Damascus, Virginia. He said the bear “would not leave me alone.” He told how the bear stood against a tree directly next to him until he sprayed it with bear repellent.

During his trip, he saw about 10 black bear including a mother and cubs, as well as countless deer and a large porcupine. None were bothersome like that first bear, he said.

His trail name is “Mouse Feathers.” That’s because early on his trip, trail mice got into his down jacket and ripped the feathers from it.

He said the trail has been on his bucket list since he was about 12 years old. After completing his hike he plans to attend Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado.

Matthew Baller and his wife Kristi, from San Marcos, Texas, got onto the trail on March 15. Baller recently retired from the Army after serving for 31 years, including four combat deployments as a medic. He said his wife has been wanting to “do the trail for years.” He decided walking the trail “would be part of my transition from the military. I left all the demons behind.”

His trail name is “Shooter” while his wife is “Sunshine.” Kristi said her husband agreed to the hike even though he needs a knee replacement. He’s been getting steroid injections to see him through the endeavor.

Allentown Hiking Club member Kim Woods of Zionsville has a niece, Alison Smith of New Hampshire, presently walking the length of the trail. Unfortunately Kim couldn’t enjoy the trail magic because of being too far away. On Thursday she had crossed the Maryland-Pennsylvania border.

Smith had started her walk at about the same time as Pond, who said they crossed paths on numerous occasions. He told Woods, “I last saw her in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.”