Whether it's your first Bonnaroo or you’re a music festival veteran, we welcome you to Inforoo.
Here you'll find info about artists, rumors, camping tips, and the infamous Roo Clues. Have a look around then create an account and join in the fun. See you at Bonnaroo!!
The Appalachian Trail (or AT) is a continuous 2,181 mile foot-trail that goes across the Appalachian Mountains from Georgia to Maine. An AT thru-hike is when someone hikes or attempts to hike the whole thing in one go. Every year thousands of hikers attempt a thru-hike, but only one in four make it all the way.
It takes the average looney 5 - 7 months to complete. Some people can do it in 100 days or less. Every year someone breaks a record, supported or unsupported.
This thread is more or less the story of my 2011 thru-hike in pictures. April 2 - September 26. I took two breaks. I took a week off in the Shenandoahs to do Bonnaroo, and 3 days in Massachusetts to visit friends in Boston. There are simply too many stories and too much information to post here so if anyone is THAT interestied in the complete story of my hike, here is a link to my trailjournal. (Fair warning, I did lose my mind out there, so my journal is littered with grammar and spelling errors.) trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=12058
If anyone has contemplated a thru-hike or is interested in doing the AT (whether thru-hiking or in sections) I'd be more than happy to answer questions. God knows I LOVE talking about it.
Didn't really know how to organize the photos, so I just thought I'd start from the beginning.
Part 1 (Georgia, North Carolina)
Me on my 1st day at Amicalola Falls visitors center about to start the 9 mile approach trail to Springer Mountain, the official starting point of the AT
On the summit of Springer Mountain.
Since so many people start Northbound around the same time, the shelters and campsites get very crowded thus creating a tent city.
Got to hang your food so the bears don't get it.
White blazes mark the trail
7 days in. Our first town stop in Hiawasse, GA. Hikers standing around figuring out room arrangements.(L to R) Beans, Dutch, Shuffle, Jungleboots, and Buckeye.
We'd only gone 78 miles, but the notorious Thru-hiker appetite had already kicked in. (me in the very back left)
Day 8 - First state border crossing into North Carolina
Some NC scenery
Siler Bald Shelter. Big storm came through later that night. Squeezed in as many people as we could.
Storm brought in a thick fog/mist the next day.
Sun came out the next day on my descent into the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC)
Up on a firetower, enjoying the nice weather
Peak of Cheoah Bald
Sunset from Cheoah Bald
Fontana Lake
Fontana Dam
Enjoying the nice day on Fontana Dam before entering the Great Smoky Mountain National Park
Part 2 will come later tonight or tomorrow starting with the Smokies and probably going through to the TN/VA border
Post by barefeetblueyes on Jan 22, 2012 14:57:35 GMT -5
too cool, man! i wish i could get away for that long. we are planning to do a shortened trip along the trail in the near future, but thats crap compared to finishing the trip start to finish! kudos
Part 2 - (The Great Smoky Mountain National Park, NC/TN border)
The Smokies was the most physically difficult, but most beautiful part of the AT below the Mason/Dixon line, along with the other 120+miles of the trail that teetered along the NC/TN border.
View of Fontana Lake (kind of looks like a bird?)
In the super sketchy Firetower (Fontana Lake in the background)
Some Smokies scenery
Up on Rocky Top
Since hunting is illegal in the Smokies, deer have no fear of humans and will come hang out by the shelters.
Lookout tower on Clingman's Dome - the highest point on the entire AT at 6,643'
some more Smokies scenery
Out of the Smokies and on the way to Hot Springs
Going across Max Patch
Made it to Hot Spings. Celebratory beer. (me and Trump)
Taco party on Easter Sunday
River coming out of Hot Springs. Don't remember the name.
Gettin' ready for Big Bald
Up on Big Bald
View from Beauty Spot
Peak of Roan Mountain
Roan Mountain is more or less where you stop following the border and just go straight into Tennessee until you cross the Virginia border. Parts 1 and 2 are pretty much the highlights of my 1st Facebook photo album. 7 more to go.
I actually spent most of the afternoon (off and on between cleaning house) reading your trail journal. I'm in awe. I don't think the AT is something I would ever even contemplate doing. One question: when you finally got on a scale - how much weight had you dropped?
Lovin this thread. The AT is something I would love to attempt some day. I have a pretty bad back, however and carrying a backpack takes it's toll. Your pack looks small. What did it weigh?
I actually spent most of the afternoon (off and on between cleaning house) reading your trail journal. I'm in awe. I don't think the AT is something I would ever even contemplate doing. One question: when you finally got on a scale - how much weight had you dropped?
My wait fluctuated throughout. I was pretty small before I started, weighing 150. I immediately within the the first few weeks burnt off all my fat but then I started packing on muscle in my legs so by the time I weighed myself again Virginia I still weighed about 145-150. It wasn't until I got to New England that I started burning off my muscle and as you'll see in my Vermont and New Hampshire pictures, I got really skinny. I weighed 125 when I finished. Now I'm back to 150.
Lovin this thread. The AT is something I would love to attempt some day. I have a pretty bad back, however and carrying a backpack takes it's toll. Your pack looks small. What did it weigh?
When I started, with 3 liters of water and 6 days of food my pack was 33 lbs. Which is good. Most people when starting out had 40 to 50 lb packs and went through a tremendous amount of suffering. As I went on I rarely ever carried that much water or food. At the Trail Days festival I swapped out a lot of my gear for ultralight gear, shedding about 5 more lbs from my gear.
Post by dreamingtree on Jan 23, 2012 12:36:24 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing and I love your photos I would never have the desire or the motivation to do anything like this but I like to hear about others that do. I'm really not an outdoorsy kind of gal......
Post by SouthGA_Festival Machine on Jan 23, 2012 22:18:06 GMT -5
Great thread. I've done some hiking around the southern end of the AT, around Helen, but never been on the actual trail. I'm hoping to hike some of it this summer, and maybe eventually try to do the whole thing, maybe in 2014.
Part 3 - (Tennessee, Southwestern Virginia, Trail Days Festival)
Once off the border you hike through Tennessee for about 4 days until you reach the Virginia border right into the town of Damascus. Here is where the Trail Days Festival is held every year on the 2nd weekend of May. Since I got to Damscus on the 1st weekend of May, I would hike for another 4 days through about half of the southwestern section of Virginia and then hitch back to Damascus for the Trail Days Festival.
Bring it on Tennessee
Overmountain Shelter, aka The Big Red Barn
View from Overmountain Shelter
Humpback Mountain
Jones Falls (can you see me?)
Nice view
Vango-Abbey Memorial Hostel
Laurel Falls
Entering Virginia
3 miles later I arrived in Damascus. I left the next morning to hike about 4 days to Marion before hitching back for T-Daze.
A lot of the trail in VA goes through privately owned land, most of it farmland. Some cows.
Up on Whitetop Mountain, heading into the Greyson Highlands
The coolest part about the Greyson Highlands is all of the wild ponies. But if you get too close, they'll kick the shit outo f you.
Going through The Scales
Trail Days: setting up camp
Trail Days crew (L to R), Dash, Jungleboots, Shuffle, Little Knee, Bodhi, Lady Sherpa, Truckin, me, Soulslosher, DD & T
Part 4 - (Southwestern Virginia, Central Virginia)
In my head I had split the AT into Four Phases. Phase 1 - Georgia, NC/TN. - The beginning of the journey. It's a novelty, and you can't help but get giddy about the scenery and views as its all still very new. It climax's by reaching the VA border and a huge celebration at Trail Days
Phase 2 - Virginia. The trail in Virginia is over 550 miles, making up a quarter of the whole AT. This state is where the mental challenge really takes hold and you realize that even though you've been hiking for 5 weeks already, you're less than 25% done with the trail. It's the middle of Spring so it rains almost every day, which really tears away at your motivation. They call it the "Virginia Blues". If people could survive the physical guantlet of Phase 1, the mental challenge of Phase 2 will knock them down. Half the people who start a thru-hike quit by the time they reach Harper's Ferry in WV (I was very close to quitting in Harper's Ferry, more on that when I get there).
Got a hitch back out to Marion, leaving the Partnership Shelter with Lady Sherpa
This kind of creeped me out.
Idk
Dysmal Falls
The Rice Fields
Warm, wet weather started making snakes an everyday occurrence
Up on Dragon's Tooth
McAffee's Knob, most photographed spot of the southern AT (Lion King)
Roanoke
Trail intersected the Blue Ridge Parkway several times
Part 5 - (Central Virginia, Shenandoah National Park, Northern Virginia, West Virginia)
Late May to Late June. The heat has increased tremendously. Hiking in 90+degree heat with humidity is the worst.
James River footbridge
Heat wave came in so I went into the town of Buena Vista for a frosty beverage.
Cold Mountain
Spy Rock
Trail going through The Priest
Taking a dip
One last look at Central VA before I head into the Shenandoahs.
Shenandoah National Park:
My first bear sighting was here in the Shenandoahs, where I would see a 3 total. The Shenandoahs, along with the Smokies and the state of New Jersey, are the most bear-populated regions of the trail. I would see 7 by the end of my whole hike, a very modest amount compared to others who would see up to 30.
Up on Blackrock
Black bears are very timid animals, but the bears in National Parks are less-so. If you leave food out, they WILL come sniffing around.
Here is where I would exit the park and get off the trail for a week to go to Bonnaroo. On US33 I hitched into Harrisonburg, spent the night, and then hitched to Charlottesville where I took the Greyhound to Manchester. BONNAROO! My friends' campsite in BFE where I stayed.
Back on the trail, deer litter the Shenandoahs
The trail in the Shenandoahs intersects with the Skyline Drive throughout.
Out of the Shenandoahs and in Northern Virginia going into Front Royal.
Town of Front Royal
Walking across a Battlefield (not sure which one)
Bunnies in Sky Meadows State Park
After 6 weeks (not including the week off for roo) I was FINALLY out of Virginia!
At the 1,000 mile marker.
Crossing Shenandoah River into Harper's Ferry.
At the ATC headquarters in Harper's Ferry, WV. The celebrated (but unofficial) halfway point. In terms of miles, you're not quite at the official halfway point (which is in PA), but you are out of Virginia and only about 40 miles to the Mason Dixon line.
Post by natedagreat on Jan 27, 2012 13:28:30 GMT -5
Awesome pics man. Truly jealous but not for long. My thru-hikes been in the planning stages for a year and a half. Tackling the whole thing spring of 2015, when I can afford to say adios to the world for a season. Curious question, how large was your pack? Was it too big/small or would you have done it the same?