The AT - Anybody Here Done It?

[garyg]

Saw an article today, thought maybe someone here had done the AT - I've been on just a couple sections, Tennessee/North Carolina & Maine, but wondered if anyone else has? I recall a legend of some Special Forces Dude going end to end in like 70 days .. Here's the trigger .. 'Nimblewill Nomad,' 83, is oldest to hike Appalachian Trail - https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/national/2021/11/07/nimblewill-nomad-83-is-oldest-to-hike-appalachian-trail/

 

[Zig the Pirate]

I have. What would you like to know?

Do it!

 

[MrSpeedy]

I've only done sections in GA and NC/TN. In Georgia we've done Amicalola Falls to Neels Gap. In NC/TN we have done Fontana to the NOC and Winding Stair Gap to the NOC.

I'm actually heading to Georgia next week with my wife to finish the Georgia section. We are doing Deep Gap (NC) to Neels, about 52 miles. We are looking at a couple of cold nights; going to be in the low-to-mid 20s.

I'm also preparing to do the Smokies section of the Benton Mackeye Trail the week after Christmas (solo trip) but that will be a different post.

The current FKT (supported) for the AT is 41 days, 7 hours, 39 minutes by Karel Sabbe - a Belgian dentist. The self-supported record is 45 days, 12 hours, 15 minutes by Joe "Stringbean" McConaughy.

 

[garyg]

Glad to see there's some guys here who have - how crowded is it these days? My forays were decades ago, the northern section I did on ski's just a couple days in January (saw no one), the Great Smokies part was hiked mid-March. My recollection of the speed records is as obviously dated as myself . I am thinking about getting back out after one son starting up backpacking recently.

 

[Whisky]

My wife and I headed north at the NY/Connecticut border and hiked about 80 miles 10yrs ago. It was an experience for sure. Met a lot of cool people and one guy that was REALLY strange. It was a big change from hiking out west where you tend to hike to the top of a mountain then walk for a distance along the mountain. It seems like the AT trail planners intentionally have you have hike up one side and then down the other over and over again. I admit to feeling a little claustrophobic in the trees, no wide open vistas anywhere. I would love to go back and through hike it but I’d probably be close to 65 before I’d be able to take the time to do it.

 

[MrSpeedy]

how crowded is it these days?

Way more crowded than it used to be, but it also depends on when and where. If you try to hike the southern part anytime during "the bubble" (March - May) of thru-hikers it will be incredibly crowded. It thins out as you go north and people quit their hike. Popular sections are always going to be busy unless you go way off-season. The Smokies and Shenandoah National Park come to mind.

 

[garyg]

Way more crowded than it used to be, but it also depends on when and where. If you try to hike the southern part anytime during "the bubble" (March - May) of thru-hikers it will be incredibly crowded. It thins out as you go north and people quit their hike. Popular sections are always going to be busy unless you go way off-season. The Smokies and Shenandoah National Park come to mind.

Makes sense - we used to do the Smokies during spring break (mid March then) and saw few long distance types up there .. I imagine the thru-hikers wouldn't have gotten that far north by then except the speed walkers maybe. The last trip was early November and there weren't many backpackers though we only criss-crossed the AT ..

 

[MrSpeedy]

Makes sense - we used to do the Smokies during spring break (mid March then) and saw few long distance types up there .. I imagine the thru-hikers wouldn't have gotten that far north by then except the speed walkers maybe. The last trip was early November and there weren't many backpackers though we only criss-crossed the AT ..

In mid-March you'd only see the hearty souls who started in February.

 

[FL shaver]

If I had 5 months to kill, I'd do it!

I have hiked from lower Amicalola Falls, on the AT approach trail, to Springer Mountain once. The day was memorable for the encounter with a yellow jacket nest about a mile in from the upper falls. The clothing of the three kids and I were literally covered in yellow jackets. I was stung 7 times. The kids were tough, though, and hiked the rest of the way to Springer Mountain and back that day. My son stepped over a copperhead ("I thought it was a stick," as he shrugged his shoulders!) at one point! It was over 20 miles due to a "shortcut" back.

When I was in high school, my parents bought a cabin in Monson, ME. Monson is the last town on the AT before the 100 Mile Wilderness if you are heading north. The driveway to the cabin began on a gravel road, right where hikers would emerge from the woods, and head down to town, past abandoned slate quarries, for supplies. It is the last bit of civilization before some of the toughest hiking on the AT to Katahdin.

I guess I was on the AT July 3rd, too. Did a hike in the Whites. Caps Ridge Trail up to Mount Jefferson, across Clay, to Washington, past the Lakes of the Clouds Hut to Monroe, then back to the hut and down Amonoosuc Ravine Trail. The stretch on the Crawford Path from Mt. Wahington to Monroe is the AT. You can get some warm grub up there!

Two day hikes don't count for much on the AT, but we sure saw a lot of beauty!

 

[Heron]

I've only done a few sections in New York and New Jersey