Top 10 hikers in "AT" miles ever ?

[Ox97GaMe]

Hmm.. How many times have I heard Jack brag about miles.. ALMOST every time I am around him when he is talking to hikers. He always starts off... Hello, Im Baltimore Jack. Ive hiked the trail umteen million times. I can tell you everything you ever want to know about the trail. He liked the attention he got from the newbie hikers in GA, NC, and TN each season. That is who Jack is. And Im not the only one that would make that comment. And Ive told Jack that face to face.

And I dont have an axe to grind with Jack. Jack and I poke fun at each other all the time. In fact, I offered to pay all his expenses if he wanted to go on a hiking trip with me out west a few years back. His comment at the time was that he didnt want to go out hiking on trails that werent as social as the AT. We have our differences in opinion about a lot of things, but I would say it is far from grinding axes.

[Ox97GaMe]

Lets see.. am I jealous of Jack (or anyone else that has many thru hikes)? Nope. Acutally, far from it. If hiking the AT over and over is your thing, go for it. It isnt my thing. There are tens of thousands of miles of trails in the US to explore. My preference is to see something different.

[Mountain Dew]

Hey Mags,

Is that recent pic of Boulder ? Geez .... No hiki g for you anytime soon if it is. Orrrr do you try to go out in that craziness ?
------------------------------------

Ed Bell..... Good post and I hope you wrong. Hopefully the trolls will go away or a moderator will finally do something about them always ruining threads.
---------------------------
Lone Wolf, stop stiring the pot. If you say jack is bragging for posting his number of thru-hikes and then you turn around and post your miles..... Then either A. being true blue Wolf and stiring the pot or B. You are being a hypocrite. Either way im jealous of all those miles you have. Are those JUST your AT miles or did you count your blue blazing miles, because i thought you'd have more than 16,000 total miles along the AT. Who do you think has the most AT miles ?

S@@t, i just thought of a new thread.... Who has the most AT miles
not on foot ? I.e. Lone wolfs motorcycle......

[Mountain Dew]

Hmm.. How many times have I heard Jack brag about miles.. ALMOST every time I am around him when he is talking to hikers. He always starts off... Hello, Im Baltimore Jack. Ive hiked the trail umteen million times. I can tell you everything you ever want to know about the trail. He liked the attention he got from the newbie hikers in GA, NC, and TN each season. That is who Jack is. And Im not the only one that would make that comment. And Ive told Jack that face to face.

And I dont have an axe to grind with Jack. Jack and I poke fun at each other all the time. In fact, I offered to pay all his expenses if he wanted to go on a hiking trip with me out west a few years back. His comment at the time was that he didnt want to go out hiking on trails that werent as social as the AT. We have our differences in opinion about a lot of things, but I would say it is far from grinding axes.

I have hiked more miles with Jack than anybody else so I find your perspective curious. I have never heard Jack involved in a conversation like you described. Usually once hikers know what Jacks name is or once they realize that he has tons of AT experience they naturally ask about his miles or thru-hikes. In other words .... I am not saying that you are lying, just wrong in your perception of Jack.

Now do you have something to add to this thread in regards to miles or are you just here to "poke fun" ?

[Mountain Dew]

Lets see.. am I jealous of Jack (or anyone else that has many thru hikes)? Nope. Acutally, far from it. If hiking the AT over and over is your thing, go for it. It isnt my thing. There are tens of thousands of miles of trails in the US to explore. My preference is to see something different.

Well isn't that sweet. But shouldn't you go to threads that you care about and contribute in a positive way ? I'd love to hear some of the miles these guys have because i'm curious.... Otherwise , your negative comments about people on the list detract from tbe thread.

[ed bell]

OK, we've got Sleepy the Arab with 68,000 miles and Lone Wolf with 16,000 bonafied miles minus 24 slackpacked miles. Also there is the claim of "I bet George Ziegenfuss is tops". I wonder what else we can establish?

[Mountain Dew]

OK, we've got Sleepy the Arab with 68,000 miles and Lone Wolf with 16,000 bonafied miles minus 24 slackpacked miles. Also there is the claim of "I bet George Ziegenfuss is tops". I wonder what else we can establish?

lol pretty funny...

24 slackpack miles out of 16k is very BONIFIED !!! I've heard vicious rumors that he is now warming up to shelters..... Lol

Alright EdBell... This is what we now know...And in no particular order...

Lone " shelter lover" Wolf has 16k
Baltimore Jack has about 24k
Wingfoot has about 11k
Ward Leonard has about 25k
Trek has about 15k
Sherlock and circuit Rider have about 15k
Seiko has about 27k

what about Heald ?

[Mountain Dew]

Oops..... Before I get chastized....

Warren Doyle has 30k

and if you add heald's miles we might have the top ten here.

[ed bell]

lol pretty funny...

24 slackpack miles out of 16k is very BONIFIED !!! I've heard vicious rumors that he is now warming up to shelters..... Lol

Alright EdBell... This is what we now know...And in no particular order...

Lone " shelter lover" Wolf has 16k
Baltimore Jack has about 24k
Wingfoot has about 11k
Ward Leonard has about 25k
Trek has about 15k
Sherlock and circuit Rider have about 15k
Seiko has about 27k

what about Heald ?

I don't think you know much more than you did when you started the thread, but it's still fun to read.

[Mountain Dew]

Well, thanks to Nean, I have gotten a little closer to some peoples actual miles. I was a little off on a few of those hikers. I'm glad that you find it fun to read. My starting this thread was a sincere curiousity. People that claim to not care can't even stop coming to this thread, which shouldn't surprise me. I wonder if those people listen to music they hate and watch shows they hate ?

I was very careful in my opening post to clearly state that this is not about White Blazes... Atleast the purist/blue blazer crap hasn't started. Perhaps I should have put this in the straight forward section.

[ed bell]

No need to put it in straight forward......and there is nothing wrong with your thread. I just doubted that you would get any info from the "horse's mouth". You did, however, get 16,000 miles minus 24 slackpacking miles from LW.

[Nean]

Heald has around 16 or 17 I think. Heck, Annie had close to 15.

[grayw0lf]

Oh, to be independently wealthy to where one could just hike for years on end...

[grayw0lf]

Please know I say that out of 100% pure jealousy!

[Lone Wolf]

Oh, to be independently wealthy to where one could just hike for years on end...

easy to do when you're not married, have no kids, don't own a home and have a seasonal job

[Cookerhiker]

No one's mentioned Stumpknocker but he's got a bunch of miles. And it's not like him to proactively brag about them. Even if he chose to, he's out there hiking instead of posting on WB.

No matter how many and who comprise the list, I suspect there are hikers who aren't on WB, don't publish trail journals, keep to themselves, and rack up the AT miles in a very quiet fashion.

Re. Jack's alleged bragging, I haven't been around him too often but I've never seen him brag about his miles. Even when he's dispensing advice to newbie and oldbie hikers, I haven't heard him say "I've done X thruhikes and covered XX,XXX miles." And for all his thousands of WP posts, the only (rare) times when he reports his stats is when someone directly asks him or goads him.

[Blue Jay]

I've hiked over 68,000 miles on the AT.

I was going to mention you as rarely do I hike and not see you in the shelter logs. Also don't forget Stumpknocker, not only does he have tons of miles but they are mostly with beautiful women.

[Yahtzee]

Mt. Dew, George hiked 6-8 miles on the AT just about everyday. He lived near the trail in Bland. He was the hiker who was shot on the trail on Jan. 1. near his home about 8 years ago. If I recall correctly, he was in his late sixties at the time. The bullet passed thru one side of his torso and came out the other side. The doctors told him the only reason he lived was the fact he was in such good shape.

You might remember him. He and his wife, Murray Ann had a flyer posted on the IGA in Bland and took in hikers.

[Nean]

Oh, to be independently wealthy to where one could just hike for years on end...

A common misconception and one that makes me chuckle- it has nothing to do with wealth- NOTHING. It's ALL about priorities.

It helps if you don't measure success as money and material possesions....

[Blue Jay]

No matter how many and who comprise the list, I suspect there are hikers who aren't on WB, don't publish trail journals, keep to themselves, and rack up the AT miles in a very quiet fashion.

This is correct, for example I often meet a very old guy who has two girl friends, one in Vermont and one in North Carolina. He has been walking the AT seasonally between them for decades. Very quiet only talks to me because I often give him beer. I prefer completion number over miles, because I doubt many people are able to calculate the mile number with any degree of accuracy. At this time I have completed the AT 3.7 times (possibly 3.783). This does not count repeat miles like Mass. and southern Vermont which I have done countless times. I know exactly which miles I need to reach 4 times, and may do them eventually. I realize this is quite less than all of those we are talking about, however it may give you another way to argue.