Who here has hiked the Appalachian Trail?

mattytru

mattytru

Active member
just finished reading a walk in the woods by bill bryson (an entertaining read, i recommend it), and naturally my first thought was, "i wonder which NSer has hiked the most miles on the AT?"

have any of you hiked any section of the AT? who has the most miles?
 
Who cares Pacific Crest trail is way better

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13321595:vandersteeze said:
Who cares Pacific Crest trail is way better

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PCT sounds pretty nuts - although my only exposure to it was from the book Wild. So i don't know shit haha.

I have done the Appalachian trail a few times. Not the whole way or even a good percentage - just 2 week long trips. Walk in the Woods is a super good read haha
 
13321595:vandersteeze said:
Who cares Pacific Crest trail is way better

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wellllllllllllllll start a thread about the Pacific Crest trail then

I have hiked a few portions of the trail in NY. I know the member AT-AT is hiking it start to finish this spring
 
my and buddy are heading to u of u this year, after we graduate we are planning on taking a year to hike it.
 
13321629:louie.mirags said:
wellllllllllllllll start a thread about the Pacific Crest trail then

I have hiked a few portions of the trail in NY. I know the member AT-AT is hiking it start to finish this spring
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Yup!! I have 20 days left of work and then its all trail for the next 5 months. I'm set to start the 31st of March.

My buddy (he lurks around NS) attempted it last year. He made it to Unionville, NY and broke his foot. He never got to finish. :-(
 
13321683:AT-AT said:
Yup!! I have 20 days left of work and then its all trail for the next 5 months. I'm set to start the 31st of March.

My buddy (he lurks around NS) attempted it last year. He made it to Unionville, NY and broke his foot. He never got to finish. :-(
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so cool man. Really want to do something like this - perhaps on bike tho. good luck - have an awesome time and stay safe!
 
I hiked it. Good times. I've done a fair amount of other long distance backpacking and running as well.
 
13321683:AT-AT said:
Yup!! I have 20 days left of work and then its all trail for the next 5 months. I'm set to start the 31st of March.

My buddy (he lurks around NS) attempted it last year. He made it to Unionville, NY and broke his foot. He never got to finish. :-(
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That's so sick. Hope you have an awesome time and be sure to report back to NS with all the good stories you will have for us.
 
Grew up with it literally a mile from my doorstep. Never hiked its length, but spent a lot of time in a bunch the PA, and some NH, sections.
 
Thank you guys for the support. I plan on making a thread before I leave and updating it here and there through my trip. I will also have a blog that i'll try to update on the weekly.
 
My uncle did the whole thing.. He couldn't do it all in one fell swoop unfortunately because his brother died part way along, but he got back on the trail as soon as he could after the funeral. Then my mom and his daughter joined him for Katahdin at the end.
 
I thru-hiked (NOBO) in 2006 when I took a year off between high school and college. Was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

I'll be doing the PCT in 2017 after grad school.
 
I live really close to it in PA (Waynesboro & Chambersburg) and have hiked it just around here! it's so so beautiful!!
 
13324187:savvy_ski said:
I live really close to it in PA (Waynesboro & Chambersburg) and have hiked it just around here! it's so so beautiful!!
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Ever been to the Raven Rock shelter in MD? its the Ritz of shelters back in the woods, being close enough to catch sunrise at high point on shrams is just a bonus
 
13324596:ghosthop said:
Ever been to the Raven Rock shelter in MD? its the Ritz of shelters back in the woods, being close enough to catch sunrise at high point on shrams is just a bonus
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300th post ;) I'm going to have to check it out! I actually have a friend that lives on Raven Rock Road!!
 
There's a guy who works at snow with me who is probably like mid 60's and is the raddest guy I know. He does like extreme trail running or something where his buddy drops him off by heli in the middle of nowhere and he tries to make it home for dinner. He hikes the entire trail every couple years. He's told me some nasty hiking horror stories but he loves it.

Once I get the balls to drop out of school, that's one of the first things I'm going to do.
 
13323165:AT-AT said:
Thank you guys for the support. I plan on making a thread before I leave and updating it here and there through my trip. I will also have a blog that i'll try to update on the weekly.
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If you need to re-up on the not part of it give me a shout. I'm pretty close.
 
Definately on the bucket list.

-Bike across the country

-Hike the Appalachian

-Hike the El Camino in Spain
 
Dan aka palecelery hiked it through to NY.

I thought about it. I think I'll probably end up doing one of the other trails.

I'll have to talk to more people who have done the AT but I'm just scared of having people being weird on in. I'm a people person, I really am, but I wouldn't be hiking it as some midlife crisis or couple month break from iphone or whatever.

One of the biggest reasons I might hike one of the other trails. Get out in nature for a while, away from crowds, and the people out there want to be there. I've heard some pros and cons to all of them but I want to do it at some point.

Another problem is getting off early in the winter, would probably have to 2 stage it to pull it off.

Thinking of hiking the Te Araroa in new zealand. Idk though. Not poor but tough for me to just drop a few grand to not work.
 
13326560:Bombogenesis said:
You should probably google "the knife edge katahdin" or "presidential range", then watch a your IQ jumps from 37 to 38
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i live in the presidential range and its not that cool
 
Pacific Crest Trail:

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Appalachian Trail:

DVD-ScenesFromTheAT023.jpg


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Essentially, both you and your arguments are incredibly stupid. Both trails are thousands of miles long. Both have tremendous variety and beauty, and both have their less impressive, fairly mundane sections. Why try to put down one to build up the other? This thread was about the AT. Go take your effluence elsewhere.
 
Also, the Pacific Crest Trail is graded for stock. The entire trail can be ridden, while on a horse. The trail is mostly even, with only moderate inclines. The Appalachian Trail has many, many sections where one must use both hands and feet. The AT is full of rocks, boulders, scrambling, squeezes, and steep climbs. There is a reason people usually hike the PCT a bit faster than the AT, even though the PCT is significantly longer.
 
I've hiked a lot of the AT in the northeast, beautiful stuff.

that's sick what AT-AT is doing! take maddd pics breddaaa
 
13326607:iFlip said:
Also, the Pacific Crest Trail is graded for stock. The entire trail can be ridden, while on a horse. The trail is mostly even, with only moderate inclines. The Appalachian Trail has many, many sections where one must use both hands and feet. The AT is full of rocks, boulders, scrambling, squeezes, and steep climbs. There is a reason people usually hike the PCT a bit faster than the AT, even though the PCT is significantly longer.
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Precisely. As you mention all three trails have there ups and downs. I'm just super stoked. If this one goes well, I can see the triple crown being in my future.
 
13326598:iFlip said:
Pacific Crest Trail:

pct002border.jpg


20131130_090605.jpg


Appalachian Trail:

DVD-ScenesFromTheAT023.jpg


Franconia_Ridge.jpg


Essentially, both you and your arguments are incredibly stupid. Both trails are thousands of miles long. Both have tremendous variety and beauty, and both have their less impressive, fairly mundane sections. Why try to put down one to build up the other? This thread was about the AT. Go take your effluence elsewhere.
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Almost all of the at resembles an average mountain hike in Colorado. Keep patting yourselves on the back for enjoying something so lame and unimpressive.

And yeah, the PCT goes from the desert at sea level to an amazing array of environments. The AT's got like 2 types of terrain and climate.

Real hardcore.
 
13326743:Lord_Byron said:
Real hardcore.
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Are you seriously trolling an AT thread? or is your worldview so limited that you're actually trying to shit on AT in some kind of eastvswest thing?

maybe you're being such a dick because the east is getting such great snow, I know I'm jealous
 
13326752:theabortionator said:
Anybody done any of the continental divide? Thats the one that interests me most in the states
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I've hiked a little of the CDT. Remember, it's more of a "route" than a trail. It involves a large amount of road-walking, which does not appeal to me. Granted, many of those roads are dirt roads that do not frequently see traffic, but it is still road walking. The desert stretches on the Southern part of the CDT stretch on for sooo long.

I've also hiked some of the PCT. It is beautiful, I will agree with that. The Sierra is amazing. The deserts are beautiful in their own way. It is an amazing trail.

I've also thru-hiked the AT. It's fantastic, varied, and beautiful. The trail changes character so many times. From the rolling hills of the Shenandoah to the endless rocks of Pennsylvania (easily the worst state on the AT, in my opinion), to the rugged White Mountains, to the lakes of Maine...it has so much character.

Additionally, I have backpacked through the desert Southwest, end-to-ended the Long Trail at a far above-average pace, have ran the Grand Canyon Rim-To-Rim-To-Rim in a day, done some ultra runs elsewhere, and just in general climbed, mountaineered, hiked, backpacked, biked, and canoed in most parts of the US and Canada. We live in one of the most varied countries in the world. The three major hiking trails, the AT, CDT, and PCT, encompassing so many miles each, show a major cross-section of America. They are each unique, beautiful, and varied. No one would want to hike for several months through one type of terrain. And luckily, no one has to on any of these trails.
 
Ive done all of the NH and Maine section of the appalacian trail, plus the canadian section that noone does, but it does go into canada technically.
 
13326992:Rosa_Park said:
Ive done all of the NH and Maine section of the appalacian trail, plus the canadian section that noone does, but it does go into canada technically.
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Considering the International Appalachian Trail runs through New Brunswick, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and then Labrador, I'm calling bullshit.
 
I've been on at segments in Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. Some were pretty short segments though and the longest trip I've done is only about a week (with some side loops off the trail). Oddly, I don't think I've ever been on it in PA, where I grew up.

Speaking of folks much more badass than me, my wife is friends with this woman (http://appalachiantrials.com/inside-pros-packs-liz-snorkel-thomas/), who holds the women's record for the fastest unsupported hike of the trail. She did the whole thing in 80 days unsupported (meaning she carried her own stuff rather than carrying a daypack and having a shuttle driver carry the tent/food/etc).

I love that trails like this exist. It just makes the world a cooler place.
 
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