A preliminary question

[timbo59]

I'm an Aussie living in Florida these days, and I'm in the early stages of planning to do the entire trail next year on my own.

I've been doing a bit of homework on various aspects to the hike, but one that has me a tad concerned are a few points I've read here and there about one or two sections of the trail that come across as fairly hazardous in the descriptions I've read. Don't get me wrong, I've tackled stuff on my own hiking back in Australia that I look back on and wonder where my sanity was to attempt them, but I'm also in my mid 50's now and just want to nail down exactly what I might be dealing with so I can anticipate any problems.

As for bear encounters, do any trail hikers, especially those going solo, bother to take bear spray along? We have bears roaming our neighborhood constantly, and I've come across them in Yosemite, but I've never come across them in the wild, and even though I've read up on all the literature about what to do when encountering one I certainly have no knowledge of what the average trail hiker does or doesn't do in terms of securing themselves against potentially aggressive behaviour while hiking alone. I'm guessing most people just wing it and count on natural fear of humans to get through any occasional encounters? I thought about taking along some kind of little bell or other noise maker to help alert any animals to my presence, but figured that it would drive me crazy hearing the damn thing hour after hour, day after day!

It's kind of funny actually, all I ever get from people here are about the potential dangers from hiking in a place like Australia with all of it's venomous snakes, yet aside from basic common sense and knowing what to do if bitten no one really gives them a thought and just gets on with it, other than developing a radar for looking to the left and right of the path as you walk along to keep an eye out for them. On the other hand we don't have large carnivores to worry about when out and about hiking, or woods full of crazy hunters looking to shoot anything that moves during hunting season!

[Walkintom]

Some areas on the trail are definitely tougher than others. Nothing is what I consider particularly hazardous as long as you're taking just a bit of care with yourself. No special equipment needed, etc.

Bears are really not a worry for me. Every single bear we've encountered has run like the dickens with a couple of notable exceptions.
1. In SNP. We come around a curve and a bear is coming towards us along the trail. Bear becomes aware of us and goes crashing off the trail downhill. Stops after 20 feet and peers at us. I yell. Bear literally looks behind him as if to see who I could be yelling at since he's obviously not who I would be yelling at. We hike away as he sits there apparently believing that we don't see him.

2. In NJ. We are hiking through vast numbers of blueberry bushes laden with ripened berries. A bear sits 30 feet off to the side of the trail raking whole branches into his mouth and pays us no attention as we appear. Yelling and waving poles over heads gets him to look at us briefly before going back to eating. Both ears are tagged; this bear has not only met humans but likely knows which days they order pizza. Five terse minutes of yelling and waving later, he grudgingly shifts about 10 feet and looks at us as if to say 'There. Is THAT enough space for you???' and goes back to eating.

While either of these two bears could have been hostile, they really weren't. They were BUSY. Busy being bears and just trying to go about doing that without us interrupting them.

Never had problems with food, except for a couple of shelter mice. Saw a couple of snakes, but no issues there either. Not stepping on them is key to not being bitten.

Hopes this helps.

[illabelle]

Tom is correct. Bears on the AT are not an issue. A bigger problem is bugs.

[Spirit Walker]

Have run into numerous bears hiking. Most ignored us or ran away. One habituated bear took our food. He got hiker food almost every night that summer. I don't know what eventually happened to him. He was very fat. They don't want to hurt you, they just want dinner. Hang your food in areas with bears and don't sleep with any food in your tent. You'll know from the registers where there is an active bear in the area. As others have said, ticks are a much greater danger.

As to difficult trail: I have a phobia about falling. There are a couple places on the AT I found scary, but I thought of all the people who had hiked the trail and those who hike it every weekend with much less experience than I. If blind people can do it, and people on crutches or the man without a stomach or people carrying small children or the 80 year olds -- surely I could do it. And I did, one step at a time. On my second thruhike, those same places that had scared me on my first hike ended up being the most fun. I knew I could do it, so I enjoyed the rock scrambles and steep climbs.

[Wyoming]

There is no part of the AT that is really difficult in terms of rock scrambling. A few areas of what are called class 3 and very occasionally a step or two of class 4 (here that is the level before ropes are supposedly required - but not really for some level above that). Now if you are really afraid of heights then you will be a bit unsettled a few times but even then there are no really bad spots. Some pretty steep stuff but only by hiking standards - nothing by climbing standards. After all there are people lots older than me hiking the trial every year.

Eastern bears are nothing like the bears in the Sierras. Much milder and lots smaller in general. Though in NY and near by you will find some that are 500 lbs occasionally.

[Another Kevin]

Some areas on the trail are definitely tougher than others. Nothing is what I consider particularly hazardous as long as you're taking just a bit of care with yourself. No special equipment needed, etc.

Exactly right. At least in prime hiking season.

The winters Up North are another story - they do require some technical gear (snowshoes and poles, ice axe, crampons, ...) and skills to use it. But nobody does long-distance hiking Up North in the winter. We switch to peak-bagging.

For most risks in life, "if you hear about it on the evening news, you don't have to worry about it." Bear attacks on humans are vanishingly rare, which is why they make the national news. (But never leave food or gear unattended, because habituated bears will find it, eat one and shred the other.)

Years ago, it was a common sight in New Jersey to see a human working one end of a blueberry patch or cranberry bog while a bear was working the other.

Most thru-hikes end before the start of fall deer season, so hunters are a minimal concern. I'm careful, so I wear orange even in spring turkey season, but mostly hunters and I get along pretty well.

The key nasties to defend yourself against are ticks, mosquitoes, blackflies, and waterborne microbes. The best safety advice is to wash your [expletive deleted] hands.

[peakbagger]

If you are headed northbound you will build skills as you go. There is plenty of skills building with rocks in southern New England and the Long Trail in Vermont, Once you do the cross country from the Maine Junction in VT to Mt Moosilaukee in NH if you adjust your miles downwards and get good weather, there is nothing dangerous in the whites that some common sense wont solve. Where folks get into trouble is trying to force through at their prior pace or trying to go out above treeline on a nasty day. You may need to do a zero or a half day to wait out the weather.

You may want to check out this trip report on Mahoosuc Notch which is claimed by many as the hardest mile on the AT http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthrea...osuc+Adventure

[Another Kevin]

There is no part of the AT that is really difficult in terms of rock scrambling. A few areas of what are called class 3 and very occasionally a step or two of class 4 (here that is the level before ropes are supposedly required - but not really for some level above that). Now if you are really afraid of heights then you will be a bit unsettled a few times but even then there are no really bad spots. Some pretty steep stuff but only by hiking standards - nothing by climbing standards. After all there are people lots older than me hiking the trial every year.

Exactly right. I've hiked trails with spots that were harder than the worst places of the A-T, with a move or two that needed placing full body weight on the hands, or circling a ledge narrower than a boot, at treetop height. It's been years since I hiked the Whites or Mahoosucs, but I don't remember anything like that on the A-T even there. Where it's exposed, it's easy - like walking down a sidewalk with a 1000-foot curb.. Where it's hard, the runout is safe. There may be individual moves that are about a 5.2, but with solid ground two feet below you and workarounds if you decide they're not for you.

In climbing circles, there's some debate whether class 4 even exists, since a climber that's experienced enough to grade a route will free-solo a 5.4 or so without even blinking and call it a class 3.

[atraildreamer]

Don't worry about it...enjoy your walkabout, mate!

[4eyedbuzzard]

Bears are rarely a problem. Use bear boxes, hang food bag, etc., where necessary. Hunters aren't out until later in fall. Wear orange if hiking during hunting seasons. The most dangerous critter on the AT is the tick due to Lyme and other tick borne diseases. Use DEET on person and treat clothing, including boot uppers, with permethrin. You are MUCH more likely to "get hurt" by foot blisters, sunburn, injured knees (all those downhills), falling or twisting an ankle (pay attention to foot placement), sick (hygiene and water), burns (stoves, hot water, campfires), insect stings, etc.

[timbo59]

Sorry for the belated response, but I've been busy the last few days.

Thanks for the helpful responses - the points about problem areas was definitely of interest, especially the ratings - that certainly helps to clarify things.

As for the hunters, I was just being humorous in counterpoint to conditions in Australia, as I've already done my homework on hunting seasons and the requirement to wear orange in appropriate areas.

With regard to insects, same again, though it's not as if we don't have our fair share of problems in Australia with them when hiking in the east - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixodes_holocyclus - plus we also have Lyme disease down under as well. Throw in mosquitoes bearing nasties like Ross River virus and so on, and we do tend to take care with bugs when out and about in the bush.

As mentioned, I have done my fair share of solo long distance hiking back home, typically off the beaten track and without possibility of seeing another human being along the way or of being rescued, so I basically know how to take care with regard to injuries, blisters, water, and so on. I just needed clarification on AT conditions, because I'd been wandering if I needed to take rope and my rappelling gear as a safeguard (clearly I don't) after reading descriptions of some areas (coming down some shoulder or other up north? Mahoosuc Notch as mentioned above?) which some people gave fairly graphic descriptions of regarding how hairy their descents had been. But that kind of things is relative to experience, as someone has already pointed out, and prudence suggested getting clarification on the matter given that I've never been to the areas in question.

As for the bears, clearly they're no different to the ones we have locally and which I've come to know reasonably well. As an example, I was patting a stray cat one day when it got rather frisky, and when I got up and turned round to see what was bothering it found that the local resident female, who must be between 350lb - 400lb, was wondering up behind me with two cubs in tow. She was literally only ten yards from me as I stood up, and I half expected an attack because of the cubs - I just looked at her and yelled "go away" in hope, to which she placidly complied, turning around and trotting back down the driveway from where she'd come. We've had her lying on our porch at other times, lounging on our front lawn, and bringing neighbors trash to our yard to munch on. Then there was the time I woke up one morning thinking an earthquake had hit while I was staying n Yosemite, only to look out the window of my van bleary-eyed to find two bears rocking my van to see if anyone was inside - as soon as I bashed on the side they took off. So I guess from what I'm reading that the black bears on trail are pretty much the same as those elsewhere and not much trouble as long as you use common sense and store food properly.