I'm so glad you asked! I hiked the AT in '98 and am known by the Trail name of BooBoo (hence my screenname AT98BooBoo) You should do it!!! Come check out the ALDHA (Appalachian Long Distance Hiker Assoc) event called The Gathering. Its in Athens WVA. Its about 5 hrs from the DC/Baltimore area.(BTW: where in MD are ya'll? There will be lots of workshops and presentations on hiking to help you prepare. For more info see www.aldha.org www.whiteblaze.net www.trailjournals.com for great deals on gear www.campmor.com You are gonna love the AT. The hiker community is like it's own sub-culture. Its a great big family. My hiker friends are the greatest. i'll get back to ya asap with more info.
The ALDHA(Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Assoc) Gathering will be taking place at Concord College in Athens WVa. Its a 4-5 hour drive from your area. Ya'll should go. You will find a treasure trove of info to help you prepare to hike the AT. There will be lots of current and former hikers in attendance. In addition you will meet some of the best you've ever met. unfortunately I won't be able to make it(I'm in Kansas). Oh yes. Hikers have trail names just like folks on here have screen names. mine is BooBoo. Tell em I sent ya .Ask for the following names: Bag 'o Tricks Baltimore Jack Jester Funky Monkee Woody Mala Ms. Janet Da Redhead Blister Sister Walking Home Red Neck Rye Or just ask where the "Billville People" are... These folks and many more are wonderful friends of mine Check out www.aldha.org
http://www.trailplace.com/portal/index.php This is an extremely informative website devoted to all aspects of hiking the AT (in addition to other long distance hikes.) The forums at Trailplace are really active and the members are extremely helpful in answering any questions you might have and/or just offering encouragement. G'Luck!
Hey Sundrake did you hike the AT? The folks in the hiker community are so awesome. The hiker community is quite the subculture.
BooBoo, I've done small sections of the AT, but have not yet had the opportunity to do a thru-hike. I'm planning on thru-hiking as soon as I graduate from college. I'd definetely agree that the people who make up the AT community are a great group of people.
Oh man, The AT is my lifelong dream. I'm stuck in college right now (college? psssh... who needs college, right ) but when I gradute I'm doing it~ For now, I live vicariously through TrailJournals!! http://www.trailjournals.com They're diaries of people hiking the AT (actually, it's not just the AT, there are people who are hiking other trails, like the PCT, CDT. ect...). People who are on the trail, people who got off, section-hikers, thru-hikers, people who have hiked it, northboundes, southbounders, all sorts of people. *peace and light*
Congrats BB! I've been doing parts of it for years, but never the whole thing. Now back in the summer of '74 (boy do I sound old!) My future wife an I took off from Caladonia in Pa and headed south. We had a sterno, a tube tent (piece of plastic), some K-Mart poncos, blue jeans, Vietnam Jungle boots and lots of instant rice. The first night we washed our clothes....then it rained for ten straight days! We were never dry the whole time! We'd walk with the plastic poncos humped up over the packs trying to keep them dry with our arms inside. Then we'd slip an fall on the wet ground an have to land on our sides as we couldn't get our arms out to break our fall. Sweat under the punchos and get all wet anyway. At night we'd use clothes pins to try and clip the tube tent shut then it would leak and get condensation all over the inside. Then we'd carry wet sleeping basgs all day. We ran out of sterno almost immediatly and couldn't start a fire to save our life as the entire woods was soaked. Not a dry stick east of the Mississippi. So, we bought a gasoline stove in Harper's Ferry for $16.00! Almost half our money! An Optimus 8R, still have it and still use it. I don't think they make them anymore though. Stayed at a Hostel there to recoup and got stuck in charge of the place for 3 days as the house parents tryed to talk us into hopping a freight train back up north then gave us the keys and took off. I don't remember what happened to them. Picked up three kittens in Virginia somewhere and fed them bread and powered milk. Carried one in each hand as we walked. Oops gotta go.....
My brother was a ridgerunner for the Connecticut/Massachusetts/Vermont section of the trail. There are little shelters along the route and often other people staying in them. Some of the most usefull items-a good backpack, a tarp, a water bag, iodine tablets....I am sure there are more listed on those webpages, but I can't over-emphasize the need for a comfortable backpack. I don't know what was worse, using an uncomfortable backpack or being bored to tears by my brother going on how one must have a comfortable backpack. The Appalacian Trail is not a place to go if you want to get away from people for long periods of time. It is a great social experience and you meet some wonderful people ,but If you want to be completely alone in nature go elsewhere.
I haven't hiked all of it. But I is a Boy Scout, and I know someone who has... What he did was pack very little and once your on the trail you can stop at the towns nearby...And start south to north...and go in the early Spring. (that way it's nice in the south and it keeps getting nicer the more north you go)
Just took a hike Sunday morning (10-10-04) and made a panorama from "Pinwheel Vista" on the A.T. in Vernon, NJ. The entire Pocono/NJ/NY area is an excellent trail area... Here's a high resolution of the above....the file is a 7.5MB TIFF. Don't click if on dial up! hi res
Thank you so much Logicalway!!! I miss the AT and my hiker friends so much! On a happier note I meet a '99 hiker at a Bluegrass Fest over in Missouri. It turns out that we know alot of the same people. He was behind a certain trail related story I heard about. We ended up talking about hiking all weekend.
Yeah, the guy that I knew that hikes the whole thing, I saw him Monday. He had a beard and stuff, and he was saying he went through 3 pairs of shoes (Tennis shoes, not hiking boots), and it was about 140 days...when we was really hiking. Other then that it was like 165 days I think...
Hey Balko do you know this person's trailname?What year did he hike? Ask him if he knows Yogi or BooBoo.(My brother and me) Also ask him is he knows any of the following people. Baltimore Jack Bag O' Tricks Jester Chomp Woody Walking Home Blister Sister Nimblewill Nomad Beech 30 Seconds Ms.Janet Beorn Wild Child
damn the only thing i know bout tha AT is from a little research i did myself, oh and reading the Bill Bryson book hehe tis a dream of mine too, which one day i know i will make a reality. goodluck to you and your partner love peace and smiles jx
Walk In the Woods is a riot! Too bad Bill Bryson punked out and quit. BTW: Katz is NOT fictional,he is in fact real.Scary huh?
It's been a dream of mine to hike the Appalachian Trail. My father is from the Blue Ridge Moutains and went to college at Appalachian State University, which looks as if it had become a hippie haven since his time. That whole area down there is gorgeous if not a little too tourist-oriented. Man, I'm excited for you guys! I hope to hear of your excursion some day.
