Looking at my 2014 guide it is more like 8 or 9 that are well defined but they are typically like 500 feet, sometimes less.Originally Posted by tdoczi
Geez, I wish I had my maps.
Like I said in my last post, I'm going off memory and I seem to only remember 3 or 4 humps, but that's not to say there are not more I definitely know it's not flat), maybe those just stuck in my memory because they were the largest. At some point (at least in my mind) it seems kind of is pointless to count a bump as part of the roller coaster if it's below a certain size, maybe that's why I seem to only remember 3 or 4 humps.
Damn, I wish I had my maps...
this is most, but not all of it, and is a pretty lousy scale.Screen Shot 2015-07-02 at 10.45.18 AM.png
Yeah, I went looking for the map as well and I found an image of the same map I had and it's more than 3 or 4 as I said above, but (in my defense) those other ones are just too tiny for me to really consider as climbs, despite them being back to back; furthermore, there are some relatively flat areas in there.
Another big factor when looking at profile maps is checking the vertical exaggeration scale, depending of the scale some areas can look very scary, but be really not much at all. Here's a good depiction of that https://www.google.com/search?q=vert...93b-lScXn5c%3D
Here's the map I used when I hiked the roller coaster section between Rod Hollow Shelter and Snicker's Gap
https://www.google.com/search?q=elev...LBbVXIsP7tc%3D
I have heard it said (probably trail lore) the Roller Coaster was one of the areas that contributed to the PUD acronym (pointless up and downs).
My understanding is that the trail is a roller coaster in that area rather than gaining and maintaining the ridge line due to private property and inability to get easements.
BTW, that map goes beyond the northern boundary of the Roller Coaster section. The roller coaster section is between Rod Hollow Shelter and Snicker's Gap, but the map goes about 4 miles north of Snicker's Gap, i.e. outside the roller coaster section. However, it does look like it starts about at the beginning of the RC.
well in reading any profile you have to look at the vertical exaggeration and not just be impressed, one way or the other, but the contour line. that goes both ways, you can make something really had look really flat if you dont exaggerate it enough.
your map looks about like what my map at home looks like. at a glance its not that bad, and again, i dont mean to say it is, but anyone care to find a harder 20 miles in the very large area i've outlined? SNP has a few long, slow ups, followed by long, slow downs, with excellent footing the whole way. MD, PA, NJ are nearly flat aside from very widely spaced occasional short, steep climbs, as is east of the hudson, NY and CT. MA is sort of like SNP, minus any good views from the tops of any of the mountains. the only possible equal is west of hudson, ny.
Just a heads up if you're planning on camping in that section, I saw a post a week or so ago that David Lesser Shelter is closed at the moment for some renovation.
When we went through there, EVERYBODY stopped at D Lesser to get water. Water is a ways down a blue-blaze, but not hard to get. Next water is a few hours away. As I recall, we counted around 30 tents/hammocks set up below the shelter. Maybe the camping area is still open?
I hiked the roller coaster a few years back. I remember mild excitement at finally reaching one of the noted stretches of the Trail. I, too, was not overly impressed. The Bears Den made a much bigger impression. I love hot baths!! <G> At my level of fittness, all of the trail is "hard".
I reached Vermont this year. You wanna talk 'hard" I think there to South Maine defines it pretty well.
Grinder
AT hiker : It's the journey, not the destination
There seems to be some confusion of where the northern boundary of the RC section is located. I said it's located at Snicker's Gap, but after going back and reading other's posts, both here in other sites on the web, many claim it's a section of about 14 miles long, which would put the northern boundary ~4 miles north of Snicker's Gap (the descriptions of the southern boundary are all about the same).
I've always remembered hearing that it ended at Snicker's gap, but I've never seen a sign, the only sign I've seen is the one in vicinity of Rod Hollow shelter (pic below)
The ATC site doesn't clearly define the section, but they also seem to have the northern boundary at Snicker's Gap
http://www.appalachiantrail.org/abou...state/virginia
Excerpt:
"In northern Virginia, the Appalachian Trail follows a long, low ridge, including a notoriously strenuous “roller-coaster” section south of
Snickers Gap."
Sign in vicinity of Rod Hollow Shelter
I suppose it is your definition of bad when some people say it isn't that bad and some say it is terrible. In my hikes, and specifically with my AT this coming spring, I look at challenges as the reason I am there. If it wasn't challenging and everyone could do it easily then I wouldn't be doing this. Overcoming challenges is where the feeling of accomplishment comes from for me.
thanks guys, I know its a pain in the ass, I just wanted to know where it started from HF...... I can handle it...
eveready
the northern end of the roller coaster is quite clear......... It is located in N. Maine.
PATC map profile Snickers Gap to Chester Gap
IMG_0541.jpg
there a couple more miles of it north of there on the next map. it definitely starts maybe 2-3 miles before bears den.
It's starts just north of Rod Hollow and ends just south of Raven Rock (a few miles north of Snickers Gap).
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