An Appalachian Trail News Blog

Protecting the Trail in the US Supreme Court

2020-01-23T20:31:00.001-05:00

The never-ending threats to the Trail continue (which is what "never-ending" means, I guess).

Anyway, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline builders want to run the pipeline through the George Washington National Forest and across the Appalachian Trail at the same time. It can't legally do that. Because the Trail is in the National Park System.

This article by Sharon Buccino and Gillian Giannetti, titled "A Walk in the Woods: Pipelines and the Appalachian Trail" appears on the National Resources Defense Council blog, and does a good job of explaining the legal issues and the state of the suit before the honorable court. Case is currently scheduled to be heard on 24 February.

Reflections from 2019 Thru-Hikers

2020-01-23T19:59:00.001-05:00

Cari Pattison, a 2019 Appalachian Trail thru-hiker, has compiled a set of brief remarks from a lot of people she hiked with last year that are worth reading.

They'll either bring back memories of past hikes, or help you with the mental preparation for a future long distance hike.

It's all on "The Trek" website under the title "How the Hike Changes You: Reflections from 2019 Appalachian Trail Thru-Hikers" and the date of 21 January 2020.

Devils Backbone Brewery and RVs

2020-01-23T19:47:00.002-05:00

The Devils Backbone Brewing Company - which hosts lots of Appalachian Trail thru-hikers each year for a cooling adult beverage if not also with a tent site for the night - has gotten local approval for "a special use permit application to allow 47 wet RV sites — meaning they have a water and sewer hookup — and 10 future cabins to be extended-stay campgrounds. Travelers would be able to stay for up to 180 days."

[Back in the day, "wet" in a paragraph about a brewery meant something else, but we'll just leave it there as an unintended pun.]

"The campsite is located at 30 Three Ridges Lane in Roseland," Virginia. Rachael Smith wrote the article in the "News and Advance" published by the Nelson County Times, 22 January 2020.

Thru-hiker Lucy Parks on Hiking While LGBTQ

2020-01-23T19:35:00.000-05:00

Thru-hiker (finished on 12 September 2019) Lucy Parks writes in "Outside" on 22 January 2020 about being an LGBTQ Appalachian Trail hiker. Lucy's conclusion: "being LGBTQ made my time on the trail harder."

Read about this hiker's experiences, and maybe think about how you will react and what you will say -- and not say! -- when you become aware that someone on the Trail with you isn't like you. Or, if you yourself are LGBTQ, take heart and maybe think of Lucy as a role model.

Here's the article

Harpers Ferry Bridge Outage

2020-01-23T19:18:00.001-05:00

"When a partly destroyed walkway over the Potomac River in Harpers Ferry might be rebuilt is uncertain, a National Park Service official said" according to the story by Tim Cook in the 22 January 2020 issue of "Spirit of Jefferson" published in Charles Town, WV. (Most of the article is behind a pay wall.)

Link to article

"Crofton man finds answers hiking 2,185 miles on the Appalachian Trail"

2014-11-17T06:54:00.001-05:00

That headline is from a neat article about a recent thru-hike completion. Includes photos of a snowy Katahdin summit, with newly-minted thru-hiker Jason Feild wearing a pin stripe suit. Good accomplishment over 6 months, a week, and 6 days. Now he's got a great accomplishment to talk about in job interviews. The article by Tim Prudente was published on 13 November 2014 in the Capital Gazette from Annapolis, Maryland.

Hikers Hurt During Trail Days Parade at Damascus

2013-05-18T22:10:00.001-04:00

Many news sources, including the Knoxville News, have the story tonight as "Up to 60 injured after car drives into Va. parade." The lead sentence in the Associated Press story reads:

An elderly driver plowed into dozens of hikers marching in a Saturday parade in a small Virginia mountain town and investigators were looking into whether he suffered a medical emergency before the accident.

Further down the police chief is quoted to the effect that the driver "was participating in the parade and he had traversed the Appalachian Trail in the past. Multiple witnesses described him as an elderly man."

As of the time this is blog post is being posted, the web site of The Damascus Times did not have anything on the story. (They did have a picture of "Miss Bethany Quesenberry, a 7th grader at Damascus Middle School, [who] was crowned 2013 Miss Appalachian Trail Days...." though, that had gone up earlier, before the accident during the parade.)

Fictional Rescue on Baldpate

2013-02-10T10:28:00.001-05:00

Paul Doiron writes on the Independent (UK) website under the title "Five-Minute Memoir: A steep learning curve on the Appalachian Trail" in what I believe is an excerpt from his crime novel "The Poacher's Son." It's an account of the narrator's very near miss in a lightning strike.

Their "plan was to climb the AT and then trek to a remote clearing." So they hiked a mile up from the road. There the 3 hikers stealth camped on Baldpate and one nearly dies from the lightning. The narrator keeps him alive while the 3rd member of their party hikes back down the mountain for help. A very long rescue it was. It took 5 hours for the one guy to get down the mountain and back "with a paramedic, a park ranger, and two game wardens." Then it took them another 4 hours to carry their buddy down in a litter, and 20 minutes to drive to a hospital. It could happen, I guess. And does.

Thru-hiker Barbara Allen's Talk

2013-02-10T10:10:00.001-05:00

From the KnoxNews web page from the Knoxville (TN) News Sentinel dated 7 February 2013:

HIKER TALK Appalachian Trail thru-hiker and Knoxville native Barbara Allen will give a free talk about her recent adventure at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 12, at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 2931 Kingston Pike. Last year, at age 71, Allen hiked all 2,180 miles of the A.T. from Georgia to Maine. The trek took her six months. Along the way she forged deep friendships with her fellow thru-hikers, and by the time she reached the trail's northern terminus atop Mount Katahdin, she had lost 35 pounds. Allen's presentation is hosted by the Harvey Broome Group of the Sierra Club. The event is free and open to the public.

Thru-hiking at age 71! That's all that needs saying.

75-year-old Completes His Section Hike!

2013-01-20T21:59:00.002-05:00

Applause for John Lyon, whose section hike of the AT is reported by Aileen Streng on the InsideNoVa.com web site under the title "Four Seasons man, 75, hikes length of Appalachian Trail."

He lives in a community called "Four Seasons" (I don't think that was his Trail Name).

By coincidence, Lyon's birthday is the trail's birthday: 14 August 1937. And he finished his 2,000 on Katahdin just days before his -- and the Trail's -- 75th birthday.

The article also records the finished section hike by David Brickley who, by chance, lived near Lyon in Northern Virginia, but only met each other in a shelter in Maine last year.

Inspirational!

Jennifer Pharr Davis Spoke in Chapel Hill

2013-01-19T19:54:00.000-05:00

Speed hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis spoke recently at Fleet Feet Carrboro in North Carolina. A story about her appearance by Randy Young titled "Pharr Davis relates memories from the Appalachian Trail" appeared on the Chapel Hill News & Advocate web site on 16 January 2013.

Pharr Davis, author of "Becoming Odyssa" and "46 Days," spoke about hiking the AT in general and about her 46 day hike in particular. Article has several good quotes giving a good sense of what she talked about.

Hiking Chaplain Heads Out in April

2013-01-19T19:37:00.001-05:00

Many of our national parks have chaplains each summer (I was one on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and then at Mammoth Cave) to serve the spiritual needs of staff and visitors through a group called "A Christian Ministry in the National Parks."

Now our Appalachian Trail will have one, too, but with a different sponsor. As reported on the SWVA.com web site in a story by Wayne Quesenberry titled "Wythe man is on an Appalachian Trail mission," 26-year-old Josh Lindamood has completed a chaplaincy training with the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Lindamood intends to "be a spiritual presence on the trail," and not a proselytizer. His work is the result of the work and prayers of Pastor Alan Ashworth of New Hope Union, Green Valley and Pine Grove, Bland County, Virginia.

Help the ATC at Boiling Springs

2013-01-19T19:20:00.001-05:00

"The Appalachian Trail Conservancy needs volunteers to staff its visitor center at Children's Lake in Boiling Springs, Cumberland County. ... The ATC trains the volunteers and then expects them to work three-hour shifts on weekends and holidays, when staff generally is not in the center, which is also a regional office of the ATC." This all according to the Marcus Schneck article titled "Appalachian Trail Conservancy seeking volunteers for Boiling Springs center" appearing on the Patriot-News web site on 18 January 2013. Go sign up. It'll be fun.

Hier's Body at Tricorner Knob Shelter Identified

2013-01-19T19:13:00.002-05:00

"Park rangers ID hiker's body found in Appalachian Trail shelter"" is the title of a story on the WATE.COM channel 6 television station web site. Posted on 18 January 2013, the story reports the identification of the hiker as Mr. Richard Lemarr, age 50, of Knoxville, Tenn. His body had been found in the Tricorner Knob Shelter on Wednesday, 16 January. Lemarr had left Newfound Gap on the previous Saturday morning intending on hiking the 30 miles to Davenport Gap in North Carolina. Rest in peace.

Buzz Trexler's Hike in the Smokies

2012-05-20T21:54:00.003-04:00

A series of entertaining, interesting stories about preparing for and then hiking though the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the Appalachian Trail. Somewhat inspired by Bill Bryson's book, Buzz Trexler -- the managing editor at The Maryville (TN) Daily Times -- tells us how he and a few buddies fared out there on a very crowded section of Trail.

I found these stories, the preliminaries and those from the actual trip itself, all good reads. You will, too. If Trexler ever writes a hiking memoir, I think it'll be very well received.

So, then, here are links to the stories:

Pre-WalkColumns:

Every journey begins with a single step -- onto the Wii balance board Originally published: 2011-12-20 Last modified: 2012-04-19
You need to learn which voices to listen to on the trail Originally published: 2012-01-06 Last modified: 2012-04-19
Don’t dig a new hole when trying to fill one in your spirit Originally published: 2012-01-16 Last modified: 2012-04-19
He ain’t heavy; he’s my hiking brother Originally published: 2012-01-19 Last modified: 2012-04-19
Filling in ‘Missing Link’ on a fall weekend Originally published: 2012-02-23 Last modified: 2012-04-19
Getting over the Humps not always easy Originally published: 2012-03-16 Last modified: 2012-04-19

"A Walk in the Smokies" columns:

There was something cosmic about deciding to take ‘A Walk in the Smokies’ Originally published: 2012-04-19 Last modified: 2012-04-25
Join The Daily Times for ‘A Walk in the Smokies’ Originally published: 2012-04-25 Last modified: 2012-05-17
A Walk in the Smokies: Severe weather alerts don’t deter mountain hikers Originally published: 2012-04-28 Last modified: 2012-05-17
Through-hikers filling shelters along the way Originally published: 2012-04-28 Last modified: 2012-05-17
Photo gallery from hike

Triple Crown for Hough and Hunsicker

2012-05-20T16:23:00.000-04:00

The title "Idaho couple hikes 3 major National Scenic Trails amid romance" kind of tells it all for the article by Rich Landers of the Spokesman-Review which appears in the 17 May 2012 Tri-City Herald from Kennewick, WA.

Phil Hough and Deb Hunsicker hiked the AT in 1997, the PCT a couple years later, and the CDT in 3 sections during 2008, 2009 and 2010. Best part: they still like each other. About the AT,

"The AT is by far the most sociable trail," Hough said. "It has more people and more of a trail culture. It's been around longer and has hostels and businesses geared to hikers. It's a good place to cut your teeth on long-distance hiking because the infrastructure makes it more forgiving."

Mountains might be bigger in the West, but the trails are steeper on the AT. "They didn't know how to make switchbacks when the AT was built," he said. "It wasn't designed to accommodate stock animals. You find more ruts, roots and mud. It takes as much time to hike 2,100 miles on the AT as it does for 2,700 miles on the PCT.

"One of the most noticeable differences is the signage. You don't even need a map to find your way on the AT.

Hunt Trail to Katahdin Stream Falls on TV

2012-05-20T11:24:00.001-04:00

Okay. I've been away from here for a while. There's actually no dearth of AT news. It there were, it would be easier to keep up with.

Anyway, today I came across a news report on WABI-TV channel 5 ("The Spirit of Maine") which consists of video and sound of a hike from Katahdin Stream Campground up to Katahdin Stream Falls. Reporter Rob Lydick is accompanied by ranger Andy Vitze. Nice shots of the Trail, of the terrain, of the stream and the Falls. If you've been there it'll bring back (probably good) memories; if you haven't, it should whet your appetite.

The story transcript on the tv station's website is titled "Roaming Rob: Katahdin Stream Falls". It was posted on 18 May 2012 in the evening.

Park Service on Smoky Issues

2012-05-19T17:18:00.000-04:00

The Maryville Daily Times from Maryville, TN carries "Park spokesman responds to hikers' questions, concerns about backcountry management" based on Buzz Trexler's conversations with Bob Miller, management assistant and spokesman for Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The questions posed are:

Why can through-hikers camp outside when the shelters are full, but not section-hikers? Does it really matter who is being put out to tent?
Why are horses allowed, but not someone’s Brittany spaniel? If it’s because horses are a means of transport, then how can you stop off-road vehicles?
If you can not enforce what shelter policies you currently employ, how will you be able to enforce the pending pay-for-use shelter policy? It seems there are too few rangers.
Some even suggested that perhaps the Park is actually trying to deter backcountry and through-hikers. How do you respond?

See related articles in the paper about a weeklong hike that Trexler and two buddies took toward the end of April aimed at finding out what Bill Bryson and Katz missed when they skipped some of the Smokies.

National Trails Day at ATC Headquarters

2012-05-19T16:49:00.000-04:00

An 18 May 2012 ATC press release available on pr.com is titled "African-American History Hike to Celebrate National Trails Day" and outlines the activities connected with National Trails Day at and around the ATC headquarters on 2 June 2012 10:00-2:00.

The "moderate one mile guided hike will begin with a tour of the ATC’s Visitor Center and end by following the Appalachian Trail downhill past numerous scenic spots and historic structures. At each historic site, a Harpers Ferry Park ranger will give an interpretive presentation about its significance." (They don't mention the uphill portion to get back to the starting point!)

Kweli Kitwana, A.T. Ambassador to Bolivar and Harpers Ferry, will lead the hike, along with longtime Harpers Ferry Park rangers and historians David Fox and Guinevere Roper.

At the end of the hike, participants will be have the opportunity to hear a presentation from Marcia Fairweather about her 15-year section-hike of the A.T. Ms. Fairweather is also a board member of the ATC, the first African-American to serve in this role.

Sounds like a good time.

Hot Springs Trailfest

2012-05-18T22:12:00.000-04:00

The lead paragraph in the Asheville, NC Citizen-Times story on 17 May 2012 that's headlined "Hot Spring celebrates 17th annual Trailfest" reads:

The Hot Springs Community Learning Center hosted the 17th annual Trailfest in downtown Hot Springs Friday, April 20 - Sunday, April 22. Traditionally this festival is centered around the hiking community stopping hikers for a day or two as they travel through Hot Springs on their Appalachian Trail journey. This year the celebration extended to the greater community calling everyone to get outside. Over 250 people heard the call ....

The rest describes the fun events.

Hiker Rescued in Virginia

2012-05-18T22:07:00.000-04:00

Lynchburg, Virginia's News and Advance newspaper's web site has a brief note today about a "Hiker rescued in Bedford County".

The Bedford Fire Department, on its website, described the incident on the Appalachian Trail near Sunset Field.

Hiker is described only as a male, and a local resident. He was helicoptered out after his 20 foot fall.

Avalanche's A.T. Book Reviewed

2012-05-18T16:39:00.000-04:00

A book review for “Avalanche & Gorilla Jim – Appalachian Trail Adventures and Other Tales” by Albert Dragon (published by Morgan James Publishing) appears in the Mainline Media News. It is written by Ralph Collier, dated 17 May 2012, and titled TOURS & DETOURS: Philadelphia lawyer goes on Appalachian Trail hike and writes book about it.

The review doesn't say when "Avalanche" (Philadelphia lawyer Albert Dragon) hiked, but it seems to have been recently. "Gorilla Jim" was his hiking partner for more than half the Trail. Sounds like an interesting read about an older hiker. Collier writes that Dragon

has practiced law for over five decades and was looking forward to his life-long experience and sabbatical to pursue a dream of hiking the daunting Appalachian Trail, a feat men half his age would find challenging.

So, what, he must be in his 70's?

Buzz Trexler's Hike in the Smokies

2012-04-26T17:28:00.000-04:00

Buzz Trexler, the managing editor at The Maryville (TN) Daily Times puts together a hike on the AT in the Smokies with a couple friends. The results inclue a series of articles in the paper, beginning with: "There was something cosmic about deciding to take ‘A Walk in the Smokies’." That article introduces Bill Bryson's book to the paper's readers and then lays out his idea.

The plan: Put in at Clingmans Dome and take out at Max Patch, just outside of the Park boundaries – the very place where I first set foot on the Appalachian Trail in the late 1980s when my Sunday School class was staying at Sterchi Lodge.

He hopes to be able to update readers from his iPad. This story was Originally published: 2012-04-19 14:14:32 and Last modified: 2012-04-25 16:19:34

High Schoolers Hiking

2012-02-06T21:55:00.000-05:00

The Daily Progress from Charlottesville, VA on 5 February 2012 has an article by Eileen Abbott titled "More schools turn to the outdoors for learning."

One of the schools profiled is The Tandem Friends School which takes students "on a 40-plus-mile backpacking expedition on the Appalachian Trail" each year. The school is expanding its program of outdoor education to include other activities.

Wayne Bailey Talks Trail at PA Show

2012-02-06T21:42:00.000-05:00

Carlisle, Pennsylvania's The Sentinel from 5 February 2012 carries an article by Matthew Ciccocioppo headlined "Eastern Sports and Outdoors Show begins Saturday".

The bulk of the article is about a presentation sponsored by the ATC.

The Conservancy has had a presence at the show for several years, but for the first time they offered a "Back Packing 101" seminar, show coordinator Kimberly Williams said. The seminar took place at 5:30 p.m. in the small arena Saturday.

Retired Alabama school teacher, Wayne Bailey is the quintessential instructor, having backpacked nearly 10,000 miles in the last 10 years. Bailey introduced himself saying, "I am not the smartest guy but my hiking techniques have come from experience."

Bailey had about 50 people at his presentation on his 2007 AT thru-hike. He also did the PCT in 2009 and the CDT in 2010