Most Memorable AT Highlights

[Downunda]

I'm sure that you like me have many memorable AT highlights, but have you bothered to put pen to paper? I hiked the AT commencing in 2000 and completing in 2002. As a friend (Boomer 007) was going to hike the AT in 2010 I wanted him to live in the moment and cherish the memories. To help motivate him I sent him my most memorable AT highlights (below).

Downunda's Most Memorable AT Highlights

1. The wonderful people, young, old, rich and poor, on the trail, in the hiker hostels and in the country towns. I met some real characters all with a different life story, some of them sad and some compelling. Great times were had chatting and laughing around the campfire and in the shelter

2. Two episodes of shin splints and one painful knee. Injuries that collectively put me off the trail for a total of 15 days creating the fear that I may not be able to continue

3. In North Carolina I caught a glimpse of a number of marmots just before they dove into a stream (they saw me approaching)

4. One morning whilst hiking alone through the forest (on a gentle uphill grade) I noticed how absolutely still and quiet it was. No birds, no wind. The only sounds I could hear were the occasional creaking of my backpack straps along with my foot fall. I’m sure I could hear my heart beating

5. Stormy… I happened at night in a shelter in the Smokys during a wild thunderstorm. The shelter was packed, so much so that two young hikers (Hollywood and Chalkboard) lay crossways in the shelter entrance. It must have been about 8:00pm and out of the storm came a petite female “senior” hiker. She introduced herself as a retired FBI agent who’s trail name was “Stormy” The trail name came from the fact that each time she did a section hike the weather was atrocious.

Stormy announced that she was going to sleep outside in her hammock but asked for a little room at the edge of the shelter to cook her dinner. It was an almost unbelievable spectacle as she fired up her tiny Trangia alcohol burner and effortlessly cooked a three course meal no less (soup, mains and a desert). After the meal Stormy then disappeared into the night not to be seen again! After she left some a wag at the back corner of the shelter (Relic) said he wouldn’t have been surprised if Stormy had whipped up a sponge cake!

6. It was at Cow Gap Shelter in Virginia… After dinner I was in my tent by the pond and was totally exhausted and dehydrated. The amazing thing was the racket being kicked up by the Peepers in the pond. There must have been thousands of them. One would start peeping then another, then another until hundreds more had joined in. Then they would suddenly stop and a few minutes later it would all start over again. This must have gone on for over an hour! I never did find out what a peeper was.

7. The mosquitoes and the flies… how did I survive them!

8. Two extremely difficult northbound climbs, one was The Priest in Virginia (how many false summits can there be?). The other was the Mahoosuc Arm in Maine. Other climbs may be steeper or longer but these were the ones I really felt

9. Meeting up with my long time friend from Digital, Steve Webber. Steve took time off from work to meet me at Dalton Massachusetts. We spent a couple of days together male bonding and just relaxing. A time I will always treasure

10. Spending the night alone in “The Dungeon” at the Lake of The Clouds hut at the base of My Washington. I have never been so cold for so long. I had all of my clothes on and I still couldn’t stop shivering.

11. Amazing cloud formations seen during the northern Maine summer and meeting a family from Portland out in the middle of nowhere who were having a picnic at the side of a logging road

12. Camped alone beside Rainbow Lake in Maine… It was early evening and I was lying in my tent listening to the gentle rain accompanied by the haunting cry of the Loons. It was a magical experience never to be forgotten

13. Sitting on the trail on a mountain top in somewhere in Maine gorging on wild blueberries that were growing abundantly on the edge of the trail. It was heaven. I’ve not tasted blueberries like that since.

14. Pegleg (Richard Turcotte), the late manager of the Andover Hostel. I'll never forget his friendly welcome and the can of coke when he picked up us exhausted hikers from the trail. R.I.P. Pegleg.

[fiddlehead]

Hiking from Glencliff NH to Mt. Katahdin ME is one BIG highlight. (especially Mahoosic Notch)

[Jim Adams]

Downunda,
Peepers are small frogs, usually small green tree frogs.

Nice list!

My list,
An afternoon on Springer.

Lying beside the trail in GSMNP with the wild flowers blooming, out of cigarettes for 2 days and WingFoot putting a lit Marlboro between my lips as he walked past.

Spending a beautiful morning and afternoon on the bald at Carver's Gap.

Meeting Miss Janet and knowing immediately that we would be friends forever.

Hiking 27 hours straight attempting to get to see my family on time and then stopping for a quick break and falling asleep under a tree until the next day.

Too much trail magic to ever pay back.

Every day in N.H. and Maine.

Doing it al with Ziggy.


geek


geek

[Jedeye]

Waking up to the sound of moose splashing in Lake Moxie, ME.

[Llama Legs]

...the bears and the trail magic.

[Miss Janet]

What a great list to be on!!

Downunda,
Peepers are small frogs, usually small green tree frogs.

Nice list!

My list,
An afternoon on Springer.

Lying beside the trail in GSMNP with the wild flowers blooming, out of cigarettes for 2 days and WingFoot putting a lit Marlboro between my lips as he walked past.

Spending a beautiful morning and afternoon on the bald at Carver's Gap.

Meeting Miss Janet and knowing immediately that we would be friends forever.

Hiking 27 hours straight attempting to get to see my family on time and then stopping for a quick break and falling asleep under a tree until the next day.

Too much trail magic to ever pay back.

Every day in N.H. and Maine.

Doing it al with Ziggy.


geek


geek

[The Counselor]

Great post! Makes me pine all the more for the start of my first section hike in May.

[Namaste]

I didn't thru hike but I did spend the summer of 2008 hiking from Katahdin into NH near the Presidentials. It was a very rainy season but the highlights were:

fording the rivers
meeting tons of great people
pancakes at Tim Harrison's at Pierce Pond
spending what seemed like an eternity getting thru the Mahoosics in the pouring rain
seeing lots of moose
peace and quiet like I'll never know beyond the trail

[swamp dawg]

Kicking back at the shelter at Pierce Pond at the end of a great day talking with Stinger and Tim Harrison. We were fortunate to have a majestic sunset while listening to the call of the loons on the pond. Life is good on the trail in Maine and the red, white and blue pancakes were out of this world the next morning at the lodge.

[Roughin' It]

being out of water, hiking 7 miles to the next water sources, and a racoon was taking a dump in it....

[Croft]

Stopping by the "party" campsite about 4 miles north of Damascas just before trail days. There were about 15 hikers there, most of whom I had met and camped with before. They handed me an ice cold beer, were passing around a--er, "cigarette", and asked what I did for a living. The memory of the instant silence when I said I used to work for the DEA was priceless.

[Ontiora]

Running into a bear on a mountain in southern NY, and then finding trees with very noticeable claw marks on them located around a nearby shelter --made for quite the night.

[fredmugs]

In no particulary order......

1. First rattlesnake encounter in PA.
2. First bear encounter in SNP
3. McAfee Knob and Tinker Cliffs during peak fall color season
4. NOC to Fontana Dam in one day
5. Summiting Katahdin on a very injured knee.
6. Surviving the drought in 2008 that forced me off the trail near the James River.

Hopefully this year I will complete all of my sections.

[Trailweaver]

The very first night I ever slept on the trail, I heard an owl calling, and it's call was unlike anything I'd ever heard - really, it was different than the usual owl call. It was so melodic it was like a song, and it lasted 30 minutes or more. Beautiful.

Another real highlight for me was making it to Bly Gap and the NC state line. I was thrilled to see my first state line. I'd hiked all day alone, and was going to be disappointed at making it to the line and not having a way to get my photo made with the sign. . . just as I got there, some folks came along from the north. Trail magic!

[DLANOIE]

My first border crossing, Maine/New Hampshire.
Fording rivers in the 100 mile wilderness
All the trail magic
The people I met