The Appalachian Trail

[theduffster]

Some of you may know that my daughter is hiking the Appalachian Trail this summer. (It's a 2100+ mile hiking trail from Georgia to Maine.)

She's only been hiking just under a week now, so is still in Georgia. I can't wait until she gets closer to us, so we can hike a distance with her.

What a unique opportunity for her this is! I'm torn between worrying about her safety and wishing I could go with her.

So I've been surfing sites about the Trail, and of course I read "A Walk in the Woods", a great book about the Trail by Bill Bryson. I'm also keeping track of her progress on Google maps. I can't wait to see some of the pictures she takes, but right now she's deep into the woods and the subculture of a long-distance hiker: just walking all day and not having access to the internet to email pictures. We're lucky to get the emails with her latitude and longitude so we know she's safe.

I'll be happy to post some of her pics when I get them.

[Teremia]

Ah, what an absolutely amazing adventure! How wonderful for your daughter! I've long dreamed of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.

I love "A Walk in the Woods" -- that's one of our favorite books to bring backpacking, for many obvious reasons, one of the best being that great paragraph on bears near the beginning:

Black bears rarely attack. But here's the thing. Sometimes they do.

At 10000 feet in the Sierras at night in a thin tent with snuffly noises all around, that line inspires hysterical laughter every time.

[Lalaith]

Pictures will be awesome! We'll look forward to them.

I'm going to have to read this book.


Lali

[Griffon64]

What an amazing adventure for her. I wish her all safety and enjoyment!

I've long dreamed of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.

From the moment I heard about it, it's become a dream for me to one day hike it. That's something I would really, really love to do

[theduffster]

When I was telling a co-worker about my daughter's hike, she was concerned about bears. I told her how my daughter is protecting herself by wearing bells and carrying pepper spray.

My daughter also is able to tell the difference between black bear dung and grizzly bear dung.

Black Bear dung is rather small and round, with bits of seeds or undigested fur from small animals like squirrels.

Grizzly Bear dung has bells in it, and smells like pepper spray.

[Teremia]

Griff, let's go hiking!

[Lalaith]

That's funny!


Lali

[Folca]

So, how is the hike going for your daughter? That would be an awesome trek, though I doubt she has anything to worry about grizzly bears, I know they are alive and well in the west where I live. But if I am mistaken, by all means someone fill me in.

[Erunáme]

Duffy wrote this over at board77 about a week ago:

Update:

Jess hiked almost 500 miles and her knee started hurting quite a lot. She went to a doctor, who said it's bursitis. She took it easy for quite a while, but I'm afraid she will have to quit the trail.

She's still very interested in finishing the whole hike, but will switch from being a "through-hiker" that hikes the whole AT with no breaks, to a "section-hiker", that hikes typically for a week or so, basically whenever they can, and go back to real life for however long they need until they can get back on the trail. She seems a bit disappointed to have to do that, but that sounds quite responsible and reasonable to me.

Good joke about the difference between the types of hikers on the Appalachian Trail: a day-hiker will see an M & M lying on the dirt and ignore it.

A section-hiker will pick it up and eat it.

A through-hiker will pick it up and eat it, and look around for more. :LMAO:

Then Rebecca, one of her other daughters, this:

She's hiked about 500 miles...all the way from Georgia to Virginia. When I picked her up for the weekend (after her knee problems), all she could talk about was hiking and how much she missed the trail. She's staying at an outfitters in Front Royal, VA now, to give herself some time to heal. We stopped in briefly at Shenandoah National Park right before dropping her off at the outfitter's place. She said walking in the woods for a short time like that felt like being a smoker who's quit smoking while around other smokers.

[Folca]

Bummer about the knee. I have one that has been irritating since my last long term training. It will probably have to be rebuilt in a few years, but I will work around it for a while longer, as it only gets agitated when used more heavily than usual.

Hopefully she can finish it one way or another. Best of luck to her and her health.

[Teremia]

And we have to say -- 500 miles is a pretty big achievement!!!!



I understand how a person can be "addicted to the outdoors." I'm a bit like that about my mountains, but I don't spend nearly enough time in them.

[Folca]

Do we ever? I agree, I don't spend nearly enough either. I guess I am too much of a workaholic.

[Lalaith]

Same here.



Lali

[Folca]

Same here.



Lali

That you don't spend enough time outdoors, or that you are a workaholic?

[Lalaith]

Both, actually!

(I don't spend enough time outdoors because I am a workaholic.)

Although, I put a blanket in the grass yesterday afternoon and snoozed in the sun-dappled shade. It was lovely (even though I woke up with half of my face numb and a pool of drool on the pillow!).


Lali

[Folca]

Well, nice to know I have something in common with someone on this forum besides a love of LOTR. I love my job to death, which explains the workaholic part. I think I could safely say if I lived closer to the Appalachians I would likely spend at least some time in them. As it is, most of the places I love most where I live now have limited access due to private land ownership changes.

[Nenochtoo]

Ahhh, The Appalachians one of my favorite places, less than 2 hours away from me, I travel up into the Blue Ridge as much as possible. They are among the oldest Mountains. Never have traversed the whole trail, but hiked lengths of it through Virginia. Heading up there next month for some camping, but really can't pick a spot as there are so many beautiful places to pitch a tent. Thinking about crossing the Shenandoah Valley to visit the Southern Allegheny Range up near Covington. Fine Trout fishing in the Jackson River.

Those Blue Hills are like old friends. Revel within the blissful glow of a good fire.

[Lalaith]

I wish I lived closer to them, Nenotchoo. My ancestors did (both my Caucasian ancestors and my Cherokee ancestors). I've felt a kinship with them my whole life, even being removed from them as I am in Ohio.

It is a life goal of mine to hike a significant portion of the AT.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

As much as I love the majestic larger mountains of the western U.S., I do miss the older mountains of Appalachia. Some of my fondest memories are from the Shenandoah Valley.

[vison]

Did anyone here ever read Bill Bryson's book "A Walk in the Woods"? It's about his adventures hiking the Appalachian Trail. Very, very good and very funny.