Appalachian Trail

[RunningBum]

I passed Dripping Rock today. There was some trail magic just up the hill from the road crossing. I'll be in Waynesboro tomorrow.

Nice! I don't know who does that, but one time I did about 5 hours of weed whacking and came upon that at the end, and decided I was entitled to one of those beers. It might be the local naturist. I know he puts out water jugs down by the next spring. First time I saw him out hiking, I thought, "with no shirt on and khaki shorts he almost looks like he's nak--DOH, HE'S NOT WEARING SHORTS!" I've only seen him twice. That's enough.

When you came to that rock outcropping about 2 miles past Dripping Rock, looking back at Wintergreen, you can see my house if you know where to look. I'm down the mountain a couple rows below the last condos that are on the ridge.

 

[SteveNU]

Not long ago I read AWOL on The Appalachian trail. Really enjoyed it and I'll be following your progress. Maybe I'll leave some trail magic for you when you get up in our neck of the woods here in New England.

 

[imoldernu]

This is going to be fun!....
For y'all who will be following ikubak here's a really great interactive scalable map of the trail....
Appalachian Trail Map
Takes a minute to load...

As an old New Englander, the map brings back great memories of when we lived on the Mohawk Trail in Massachusetts (crosses the APP) near Williamstown MA., and later as a traveling district manager, crisscrossed the trail many times, as my stores covered all of new England, from Connecticut to the top of Maine, a 1400 mile one way trip.. As a kid, we traveled the green mountains of Vermont, to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, so the lakes and mountains and towns on the map brought back some very old memories.

And so, ikubak... will be following your adventure, with envy and pleasure.

Best wishes for a great adventure

 

[f35phixer]

It was a dream to do this, then I got old... I will live vicariously thru you.... SO HAVE YOU DONE PCT already���������� or is that next after a year off? oh the memories, we would leave work on Friday, drive out to shenandoah and winter camp , hike the trails to somewhere new, come home Sunday... repeat the next weekend.

 

[ckelly78z]

Bucket list item for me, but a new pacemaker says otherwise,,,still do local day hikes though, and ride my MTB.

 

[f35phixer]

OMG. I’m in, you people need to experience this, day ONE video, rain ice Rain Ice...... Your a tough dude and DW what a trooper after surgery to see you off..... I’m binge watching this channel

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

As a long-time reader and occasional contributor to the forum, I retired and started traveling more. I am currently hiking the Appalachian Trail and vlogging it on YouTube if any AT aficionados are interested. My trailname is Papa John and the YouTube channel is PJ on the AT. I put out videos when I get to a town and have wifi.

I am currently in northern Virginia about to enter the Shenandoah National Park. If you are into hiking and adventure, I hope you enjoy my perspective on the trail.

Loving retirement!

I've done some sections in Vermont, Mass, NY. I will try to follow your progress and if I am around bring you some trail magic when you get near some of the Northern Mass parts of the trail. Do you like craft beer?

(I will also be traveling portions of the summer and might do some hiking on the Continental Divide trail.)

 

[f35phixer]

Sorry just finished day 2, my trips to the AT trail was January 1980 ON time frame when it was let’s do the AT and then go back to work in a year....... well they didn’t have water proof socks back then, there were still people doing AT AND PCT, hard core...... as an example.

 

[flintnational]

Good luck. I have a done a little less than 400 miles. I may get back on the trail later this year.

 

[Ronstar]

Count me as one of the jealous ones! I want to thru hike the AT, but DW has other ideas.I've only done a few 5 mile sections. Have a great time ! And I'll tune in to your youtube channel.

 

[Odiedog]

Good luck. I start SOBO tomorrow near Buena Vista, VA so just missed you. Going for 4 weeks this time.

You staying at Stanimal's tonight? I stayed there last year. He runs a great operation, prompt shuttle pick up, great time meeting a bunch of "older" hikers. Did the Chinese buffet, worth the walk.

I'll check out the YT channel. Haven't followed anyone since Early Riser a few years back so it will be interesting to see how ya do.

Femadog (on the trail)

 

[ikubak]

Good luck. I start SOBO tomorrow near Buena Vista, VA so just missed you. Going for 4 weeks this time.

You staying at Stanimal's tonight? I stayed there last year. He runs a great operation, prompt shuttle pick up, great time meeting a bunch of "older" hikers. Did the Chinese buffet, worth the walk.

I'll check out the YT channel. Haven't followed anyone since Early Riser a few years back so it will be interesting to see how ya do.

Femadog (on the trail)

I stayed at Stanimal's in Glasgow a few days ago and will stay at Stanimal's tomorrow in Waynesboro.

 

[ikubak]

It was a dream to do this, then I got old... I will live vicariously thru you.... SO HAVE YOU DONE PCT already���������� or is that next after a year off? oh the memories, we would leave work on Friday, drive out to shenandoah and winter camp , hike the trails to somewhere new, come home Sunday... repeat the next weekend.

No plans for the PCT at this time. I'm focused on the AT for now.

 

[ikubak]

I've done some sections in Vermont, Mass, NY. I will try to follow your progress and if I am around bring you some trail magic when you get near some of the Northern Mass parts of the trail. Do you like craft beer?

(I will also be traveling portions of the summer and might do some hiking on the Continental Divide trail.)

Do I like craft beer....who doesn't?!? I stayed at Devil's Backbone Brewery last night. They have camping spots for thru hikers. It will be a while before I am in MA. My dad used to live in West Boylston and Dorchester.

 

[braumeister]

I stayed at Devil's Backbone Brewery last night. They have camping spots for thru hikers.

Doing some research for possible section hiking so I'm always looking for good info. How did you learn about that place and what they offer? Any leads to that kind of detail would be appreciated.

 

[gerntz]

I saw about 100' of it last week at Clingman's Dome.

 

[HarveyS]

Good luck! Dream of mine to thru-hike.

 

[RunningBum]

Doing some research for possible section hiking so I'm always looking for good info. How did you learn about that place and what they offer? Any leads to that kind of detail would be appreciated.

There is a guidebook everyone uses that has that kind of info. I don't want to risk getting it wrong so I'll let someone else give the name. I pick up a lot of hitch hikers at Reid's Gap looking for a ride down there. First couple times I asked how they knew about it, they said "It's in the book!"

btw, the guy who founded Devil's Backbone was a home builder and built my house. He built the brewery too. His son has taken over the home building business.

 

[RunningBum]

I watched yesterday's youtube, that was great! On my home turf! I don't really backpack, but I do a lot of trail runs in the area. One of our hard core trail runs is in that section. We start at the highway 56 crossing, by that suspension bridge. Go up the AT north, and at the 2nd Mau-Har trail crossing (2nd shelter) we take that back to 56, for about 13 miles. Then we reload our running packs at the car, and go up and down the Priest, another 8 miles or more depending on how far over the top we go. I figure if I can do that I can take on about any race. I haven't done that in a few years.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

What a wonderful series of vlog entries on the AT! It's been a dream of mine, but I'm sure I'll never do it.

Your days 60-62 are in my neighborhood. Dragon's Tooth, McAfee's Knob, Tinker Cliffs, Hay Rock (not sure that's noted in your guide books, but it's between Tinker Cliffs and Daleville - in winter it looks like a haystack on the crest of Tinker Mountain from the valley below) are all within easy reach of my house and I plan to do some of them this summer.

 

[ikubak]

Doing some research for possible section hiking so I'm always looking for good info. How did you learn about that place and what they offer? Any leads to that kind of detail would be appreciated.

I learned about Devil's Backbone Brewery by watching YouTube videos of other hikers. If you are researching section hikes, you might want to check out the All Trails app. It gives you a lot of information about hiking trails and it's free. For the AT, I use an app called Guthooks. It's about $70 for the entire AT but it's almost a necessity for a thru hike.

 

[braumeister]

Thanks! I'm getting inspired.

 

[RunningBum]

Oh yeah, Guthooks. I know hikers who swore by that. You can buy it by the section if you aren't planning to do the whole thing.

 

[aaronc879]

In the first 45 days, I was cold for about 35 days. There were a few snow days too.

Was that a plan or a mistake? Did you leave extra early to avoid early crowds or hot temps later on he trek?

 

[ikubak]

Was that a plan or a mistake? Did you leave extra early to avoid early crowds or hot temps later on he trek?

I left early to avoid the crowds.