Most Frightening Experience on the AT?
Anyone have any great stories??
Trying to make it into the Lake of the Clouds Hut in the Whites on July 4. As I headed over Mt. Monroe a thunderstorm hit on top of the ridge line with hail, 40 mpd winds, and hail. Scary!
"Fish Camp Woman.... Baby, I like the way you smell"
- Unknown Hinson
Second day out just past Copper Gap I was heading up Justus Mt. , almost at the top and I saw the Flash and heard the Crack at the same time . Lightning had hit the ground about 200 yards just above me. I immediatley dropped my poles and hunkered down for about 10 minutes. To me that was the most scarest thing that happened.
Tenting along the ridge below the bald on Beauty spot (just north of Erwin) when a big T-storm came along. Big gust of wind pulled out the center support line for the tent and I had to sit up the rest of the storm holding onto my hiking pole/tent support to keep the tent off me. This is while lightning is seemingly striking all around me and I'm holding onto a metal pole! The whole time I'm chanting "hope-I-don't-die".
Getting caught in a nasty T-Storm is probably the sacriest experinance you can have on any trail.
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most frightening? "Dirty Girl" with his shirt off. I'm scarred for life
From my Trail Journal - 31 Mar 2012 -
The sound of a several weeks old beard scraping across the top of your sleeping bag at 0400 in a completely dark tent sounds EXACTLY like the food-searching sniffing of a North American black bear. The sound will NOT quit until you stop frantically turning your head from side to side, trying to find out which side of the tent said sniffing bear is on. Sheeesh. Good night!
Next Most Frightening Experience: twisting sideways after hitting a mud puddle and feeling your ankle turn in ways it wasn't designed to do, knowing your hike was over for the year.
2016 - all the way.
Old Hiker
AT Hike 2012 - 497 Miles of 2184
AT Thru Hiker - 29 FEB - 03 OCT 2016 2189.1 miles
Just because my teeth are showing, does NOT mean I'm smiling.
Hányszor lennél inkább máshol?
Okay, this wasn't on the AT. It happened on the Ozark Highlands Trail while i was doing a thruhike in 2003. Lady saw me on a road getting to an alternate trail b/c of flooding caused by 5 days of rain. As I walk by her place, I hear BANG!! Then as the road curves around to her driveway, I look to my left and she has a gun in her hand!! Some kind of revolver. Over the next 10 min I had to convince her why I was out there and explain every action I made so as to not freak her out. Then when I could wait no longer, I slowly put my pack back on, said I had to get going, and backed away til I was out of her line of sight and then turned around tripled the distance between like being Wiley Coyote!!!
Crazy and nervous, seemingly agitated elderly woman in the middle of the Ozarks with a gun pointed at me. Now that was scary!!
Originally Posted by Different Socks
Dang! After that story I'd have changed my name from Different Socks to Different Drawers!
There's actually more to it, but not scary: The night before I slept under a roof covered memorial structure only yards from the cemetery, and two pi shaped things I saw nearby? Found out later that's where they place the casket while the wake is occurring.
Why is that interesting? Because it was Halloween!!
Then there was the "end of the world leader" I met on the same trail only 2 days later. She(that's right "she"), lived right along the trail in the middle of the hurricane Creek Wilderness.
Missed my return trail on a day hike while in the Whites as I was moving at a hurried pace trying to compensate for running behind schedule . By the time I pored over the maps for 20 minutes and then backtracked a half mile to the trail ,daylight was really short.
I decided to cowboy camp in 50* degree temps to avoid possibly risking injury with nighttime hiking that would've included fording swollen streams.
Last edited by johnnybgood; 06-24-2012 at 20:45.
Getting lost is a way to find yourself.
I've had it pretty easy far. I guess it was the one morning I found my poptarts crushed.
Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.
OMG ! frightening for sure.
I've had the gooey remains of a melted Snickers bar once.
Getting lost is a way to find yourself.
Funny Spokes said Madison! Stayed the night at Madison Hut. Went up Madison in a raging windstorm and light rain. Once over the top the wind was so strong we couldn't walk. Kept duck walking and literally crawling to get down off the ridgeline. Came to a small rock ledge and I stood up to step over it. When I stood up, a huge gust hit me at the same time. The gust filled up my pack cover and picked me up off the ground and moved me right toward the dropoff next to the trail. For several seconds I was sure I was about to go over a 100 foot dropoff. Finally it set me down about 10 yards from the edge. I immediately dropped to my knees and heard my girlfriend screaming at me to NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!. We crawled the rest of the way to treeline!
GA - NJ 2001; GA - ME 2003; GA - ME 2005; GA - ME 2007; PCT 2006
A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will.
—SPANISH PROVERB
Kite Blazing
Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.
Not exactly on the AT , but on Mt. Washington . Family going down the Tuckerman Ravine Trail . I was running down the trail ,
( to get back first , and eat the Neslte's Hot Chocolate mix out of the can , dry . ) I slipped , and slid , head - end pointing
back up the trail . Sliding on the wet rocks was fun , so I didn't worry about it . Looked up at my family , all whose faces were
showing sheer terror ! So , I grabbed a tiny twig , and came to a stop . My feet / legs up to the knees were hanging over the
edge of the ravine ! How far is that drop ? 100' ? 200' ? I saw First Aid box at the bottom . I guess it was for fools like me !
David V. Webber
If you want to see some crazy and insane stuff.....you should go up to Tuckerman's and watch the Spring skiing! Now that's CRAZY
GA - NJ 2001; GA - ME 2003; GA - ME 2005; GA - ME 2007; PCT 2006
A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will.
—SPANISH PROVERB
Not right on the trail,but pretty darn close.While climbing at that Delaware Water Gap,PA,a boulder the size of a toaster came whizzing by my head about a foot away,and almost hit my rope,I was on belay and climbing.We always wear helmats,for that very reason,though a helmat may not be much help in that situation,toasters are pretty big.About 2 weeks later,my partner and I heard a climber died in that very area we were in,he got hit by a boulder and fell,don't recall if he had a helmat on.The climbable rock faces there are on the Southern side,for the most part,so there is a constant freeze thaw that takes place,and that loosens the rocks.
Last edited by rocketsocks; 06-24-2012 at 19:19.
Had a tornado in the middle of the night near Mountain Crossings in a BA UL2 tent. next morning most roads were closed due to tree's being down.
Great stories... interesting, they all are VERY INTERESTING!
I planted my foot down and missed stepping on a copperhead by about 2". I stopped dead in my tracks and it coiled up and had it's mouth wide open - I could see its fangs.
I eeaaassseeeeddd my leg away very-very slowly and when I was about a foot away it relaxed and went the other way.
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