Appalachian Trail

[Butternutsqoosh]

I have a bee in my bonnet about hiking (a portion) of the Appalachian Trail ... has anyone ever done this? I'm watching endless documentaries about it and ordered loads of books, would really love to do it, but could only do a weeks worth!

Have you read Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods"?
It's all about him walking the trail

I love that Bill Bryson book! They made it into a film as well.
I did some (easy level) hiking in Maine at the end of last year. Enjoyed it. Watch out for bears though!

You've probably come across her, but look out for "homemade wanderlust" on youtube. She hiked the AT a few years ago as a first time backpacker and has gone on to do the PCT and other long distance hikes. I find her blogs really interesting to watch - I would love to do the Pacific crest trail one day.

Was also going to recommend Bill Bryson - wonderful writing

Placemarking because I so want to do this, but I’m too much of a scaredy-cat!

I watched the movie the other week and promptly ordered the book which I am slowly working my way through so I don't finish it too quickly! Also ordered a few other books including how to plan it! Will look up that lady, thankyou!

I've stayed in Maine near the end of the trail, so hiked bits of it. There are some lovely camps round there, log cabins, lakes to canoe on, hiking trails to explore. I would highly recommend it.

Is it the Appalachian Trail in The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon?

For some reason I love watching youtube documentaries about this and the other trails but have no real desire to do it myself. Agree Homemade Wanderlust is worth a watch.

Have you thought about doing a UK trail - there are loads of thse.

Love the BB book and film. Harbour dreams of doing the AT but know deep down its never going to happen. It's not quite the same but closer to home, take a look at researching the West Highland Way. Beautiful scenary throughout, some challenging terrain, wild camping possible and will only take a week or less. Also, no bears...

I've done a couple of sections of the AT. I'm massively into hiking and Bill Bryson is my favourite author so A Walk in the Woods was my inspiration to try the AT. I've done a 7-day section through Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, including Clingmans Dome which is the highest point on the trail, and a smaller section in Shenandoah NP in Virginia in the same trip. I've also done a few day hikes on the AT in Vermont when I was on holiday there. Multi-day hiking is one of my life's passions, it's one of the main reasons why I moved to Canada a couple of years ago. I did the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island last year, 75km of rough, slippery, steep, muddy terrain in 6 days, it was a crazy but amazing experience!

My daughter walked 1700 miles of the PCT two years ago.It took her the entire Summer.She spent about two years preparing for it.She went alone,but after the first couple of days she was never alone.

According to the people she met the Appalachian trail is considerably more dangerous,not unusual for people to get attacked on it.The general opinion is that the PCT is safer.

Can you join an organised tour?

We did 7 miles of it in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Some parts of the trail you don’t see anyone for hours. We didn’t. We also didn’t bother leaving our names in the trail register thingy so if we got lost know would’ve known. Up 3300 ft twice in a place called the cannonballs. Bears in the wood as it got dark and we hadn’t seen anyone since the early afternoon. Seriously shit scary. No jumpers etc. Proper clambering over rocks and down steep muddy steps.
So basically if you’re not a fuckwit and do everything different from us, you’ll be fine. We were never so glad to see human beings again.

It is amazing but we thought ‘how hard can it be?’ Turns out to be very hard indeed. No joke

My relative was just about to set off when lockdown forced a change of plan. She'd been planning on doing the whole thing from end to end for a number of years, and she and her bf are absolutely gutted at the moment.

They don't know when they will be able to go - everything on the entire length of the trail is still completely shut I think.

Get the app - walk the distance - for your phone. I downloaded it a few weeks ago, you activate it when you leave the house and it tracks how far you go. I've currently walked all the portion of the trail through Georgia, and 31.6 miles from the North Carolina/Tennessee border.

Nothing like doing the real thin but certainly gives you a taste for just how FAR it is.

Whey a wonderful ambition. I read the Bill Bryson book years ago. Last year we hiked a couple of stretches with our young kids through Shenandoah national park in Virginia. It was stunning and I would love to hike more.

Best of luck. If you make it, please report back

Also, I'm quite in awe of these bear stories. I arrived in Virginia expecting to be overrun by the creatures, but despite days of looking....not a sniff of a bear ( still a fabulous trip though).

I'd be more worried about limes disease from ticks than bears! I hear it's crowded these days and you have to worry about creepy types now and then. I wouldn't be put off, but I wouldn't hike alone.

I’ve done a bit of it by accident. When I lived in New York my DH and I took a trip upstate to bear mountain with a flask of tea and a couple of biscuits. We decided to follow this “Appalachian” trail and gave up after a few hours as it never seemed to end 😂 it is beautiful especially in the fall.

@SockYarn have you looked at The Conqueror? The Appalachian Trail is one of their distances. You load your miles on the app (also does automatically from Apple Watch etc) and you can see your progress along the trail. There is a medal at the end. I’m not doing that one (Route 66) but it’s a brilliant app and so motivating

Read Cheryl Strayed's book about this.

I regularly hike alone but I wouldn't do a major multi-day or backcountry hike as a lone female. I did the Tennessee and Virginia AT sections with 2 female friends from a hiking club. We saw/heard a couple of black bears, but I see black bears and grizzlies all the time on my regular hikes in the Rockies near to where we live in Calgary - I took the photo on a hike in Banff National Park last week - he was stuffing his face in a meadow about 40' from the trail we were on. He moved away as soon as we made some noise. I always carry a hunting knife and bear spray clipped to the waist belt of my backpack, it's essential for hiking in bear country. Tbh bears aren't a concern for me, cougars are much rarer but much more dangerous/scary. Two men out mountain biking near Seattle just a few days ago were attacked by a cougar and one of them was killed. The biggest concern when hiking as a lone female is other people though unfortunately, but the bear spray is partly for that too.

@SockYarn which app is that.

I'm never likely to walk it in reality but it'd be nice to walk it virtually

Reminds me of Criminal Minds and all the murderers living on the trail and bodies buried!