Hike

[e_baer]

Hey all, its been a while since I have been on the site, but am gonna try to be on a little more regularly now.

I recently finished the hike of a lifetime by hiking the entire length of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, traveling 2178.3 miles and passing through 14 states. The highest point is Clingmans dome in the smokies at an elevation of 6643 feet and passes through bear mountain zoo which is the lowest elevation of 124 feet. I started at Springer Mt. GA on 3-29-09 and ended on Katahdin on 9-9-09.

Here are a few pictures:

On the summit of Katahdin which is the northern most point of the AT.

 

[Jcurry@wesketch]

Congratulations that's one heck of an accomplishment. I always wanted to do it but never got around to it. What was your favorite part of the trail?

 

[dangerbird]

Congratulations that's one heck of an accomplishment. I always wanted to do it but never got around to it. What was your favorite part of the trail?

Ditto, I wish I had gotten to this when I was younger. That's really amazing.

 

[JohnS_323]

Congrats. That's one heck of a feat. Unlike the previous two posters, I've always been waaaaayyyy too lazy to even contemplate anything like that, but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate the significance of it!

 

[e_baer]

Congratulations that's one heck of an accomplishment. I always wanted to do it but never got around to it. What was your favorite part of the trail?

Thanks everyone, I think my favorite part was either the White mountains or Maine in general. Katahdin was a fantastic mountain with spectacular views from the top. The Presidential traverse in the whites was also really cool. 25 miles of above tree line walking, and in beautiful weather as well.

 

[whitebear1020]

Beautiful photos. How many days did it take you?

 

[hurtback]

what you did is not a HIKE !!!!!
its a once in a lifetime ADVENTURE !!!!
man, congrats on something not everyone WANTS to do let alone CAN do....
you must have a heck of alot of images----
how many pairs of boots did you go thru?
thats just great what you did and hope to see more images. Are you putting your images up on a website? I think that would be awesome , that way others can see what nature is all about.
good luck.......
steve

 

[e_baer]

Thanks, I will be sure to show you all more photos in a few minutes.

I went through 3 pairs of boots, and they were all worn down to the ground.....absolutely no tread left. Walking in mud was like a slip n slide.

All in all it took me 164 days, but that is taking 27 days off. I ended up taking 5 days off for trail days, a few days at my house, a few at my sisters and a few at my grandparents. I also took 9 days off in vermont to see burlington and visit some people.

I ended up averaging about 14 miles a day with the days off, but if you exclude the 27 days off, I averaged about 16 a day. My biggest day was a 29 mile day through the shenendoah national park. My shortest day was around 1.5 miles or so into a town. I had a lot of days that were less than 10 miles, especially when I went to a town. I may be camped 5 miles outside of a road that leads to town. I would then walk to the road, hitch to town, resupply, then hitch back to the trail head and keep going.

My largest week was 133 miles in 6 days, and one of those days was a 7 mile day.


all in all it was an awesome experience. Some of you who live in central jersey may have seen some articles in the paper about other hikers who did the trail. One was a 57 year old man and 2 more were 2 younger kids in their early 20s. I was one of the younger people, since I am only 20, but the youngest I saw was a 17 year old girl.

 

[Nickjr000]

One of my friends did that years ago, It's awesome accomplishment! Congrats... 2178 miles that's how the crow flies right? Did any of you use a pedometer? Was wondering how many walking miles it is

 

[e_baer]

around 14-1500 in a straight line from what I hear. walking is 2178.3, some 5 million steps. And those steps, dont include the side trail to shelters, towns, water, etc.

 

[e_baer]

Alright, so here are a few more pics. I took over 2000 pictures while on the trail.

Throughout the trail there was trail magic. Trail magic is basically a person or a group of people who do something nice for the hikers. It can be anything from giving them a candy bar to letting the stay the night at their house. The picture below is "the ice cream man" who put a sign up on the trail near a road crossing and the sign gave directions to this guys house. It was only a few hundred yards. When we got to the house, the man gave us all ice cream and we took a 3 hour break there and started playing croquet with him. He was a very nice man.

I started by my self but quickly made friends. 2 guys especially who started together. Their trail names were MudD and Giddy-up.

There were times that the rocks were too high to climb, so there was either latters or rebar mounted into the rock.

here is my tent.

The trail passes through a town only 2 or 3 times along the entire trail. The AT (appalachian trail) only has white blazes as you can see in the pic below.

Here is some more trail magic in the pic below. This is crossing a bridge over into New Hampshire.

Many of you may know the author Bill Bryson who wrote a walk in the woods.

This is his old house.

Above the clouds on clingmans dome

In the Grayson Highlands in VA, there were wild ponies. The only problem was, was that the ponies were not too wild. They were very used to human activity and would come and start licking legs and arms for the smallest bit of sweat.

There were also times of walking through pastures. In the pic below are African Watoosie cattle....huge.

I may have started by myself, but I did not finish by myself. I ended up finishing with 13 people.

On average, anywhere from 1000-1500 people attempt to hike the trail every year. On average, 10-12 percent finish.

I had hiked in a group of more than 3, which is incredibly rare. I was very privileged to be a part of this group. There were some really great people from all around the world and all around the US.

 

[Phyl]

Way cool. I know someone who did a week long hike around here on the trail. Oh to be able to take 5mo to do that without thinking twice. Glad you grabbed the opportunity when it presented itself! Congrats on such a huge accomplishment. Looks like a fun group. Glad you had company. The prospect of walking by myself for 5 months is more daunting than the actual walk!

How did you charge your cell phone? Ipod?

Did you train for this (how and for how long)? I see some with straps under their knees and I'm thinking IT band pain (and cringing). Overuse injuries? The photos are great. Thanks for sharing them.

 

[e_baer]

My ipod and phone were charged by a AA battery converter thing. Tendenightous was a big problem with a lot of people. How did I trail.....I didnt really. The best way to trail is to go out there and hike. Most people did not trail at all. You just need to take it easy the first 1-2 weeks and do small miles.