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meat803
12-04-2014, 04:11
Making one last plea for a thru hike partner. This is the first leg of my 2015 AT thru. Please contact me if anyone is interested in joining me.

JBEN
12-04-2014, 08:21
I'm thru-hiking the Alabama Pinhoti SOBO Jan31-feb6 starting at Jackson's Chapel TH and ending at 603A TH. I don't know how that would fit into your plans since you are probably hiking NOBO. I was planning to SOLO since I only have 7 days to do it. I'm about a 3-3.5mph hiker.

JBEN
12-04-2014, 08:30
What are your dates you were thinking on starting? I may could tweak things to flip to NOBO depending on your flexibility to my start date.

meat803
12-08-2014, 12:30
My start is Feb 1st. As much as I would love to join you, I think I would only be holding you back. My comfortable max hiking speed is 2.5-3 mph. Anything after that and it is an Ironman competition. For the success of my AT thruhike, I definitely dont want to hike 20+ miles a day right from the go. 20+ mpd are easily doable and have done this before. Im just concerned that a week of them right from the start may wreck me. I have to force myself to throttle back and go easy for the first month or two.

I wish you luck and if both are plans go accordingly, I will see you on the trail in crossing. I'm hitching the road walks anytime I can find a ride. Are you going to have a cell phone? It would be cool to contact you on your progress and maybe adjust my camp location to yours for the night we cross.

takethisbread
12-08-2014, 15:03
Making one last plea for a thru hike partner. This is the first leg of my 2015 AT thru. Please contact me if anyone is interested in joining me.

If you want people to hike with maybe you should try April 1 or so? The chances are slim someone will stay with u as a feb 1 start. Early starters have a higher quit rate .


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

JBEN
12-09-2014, 08:42
I'm hitching the road walks anytime I can find a ride. Are you going to have a cell phone? It would be cool to contact you on your progress and maybe adjust my camp location to yours for the night we cross.

First of all, I want to applaud you for the desire to start where the Appalchain mountain chain starts/ends. The Alabama Pinhoti is a jewel that could easily be a part of the famed AT. You will have a 1-up story when on the AT as you talk to other Thru-Hikers. So kudos to your endeavors!

I'm sure you've done your prep on the AL Pinhoti. The only road walk you have is from Flagg Mt to 603A Trailhead. Georgia on the other hand has multiple road walks compared to Alabama.

As far as cell phone coverage, that is spotty at best on the Pinhoti due to the remoteness of the the trail. You might be able to get a text out when on a ridge. I usually just place my phone on airplane mode to conserve the battery; only switching off airplane to check for possible messages periodically. I guess that could be our plan...to text locations with time and date. Turn it on when on the ridges to see if it can be delivered.
Since I am very familiar with the Ala Pinhoti, if you have your daily mileage plan, I could probably decipher the plan according to day, average speed, and shelter vacinity to see if we can meet up to share a camp. Maybe email me (private message me for the email) the trail plan if you would like.
Also, I will be going the weekend before to strategically place food/H2O caches (keeping consumable weight as low as possible) where the trail crosses over different roads along the entire trail so I won't have to stop to resupply @Cheaha Store and/or hitch to Heflin. If you wanted to mail-drop to me your AL Pinhoti supply, I could cache them strategically too.

-JBEN

gubbool
12-16-2014, 00:39
Attention... Wrongly marked water on Rebecca section near Bull Gap

So ....There is no water in the area of Bull Gap.

With one exception the reliable water marked on my APT map is there. And the water 20 yards before that source is good. On the GPT only the water marked on the trail up from the Highpoint TH was not there. Get water either at the tresel a half mile before or BUY water at Shan's Corner before. The free tap water tasted odd to me.

Mail drops are accepted at the Cheaha Camp store.

hikehunter
12-16-2014, 01:05
I will be starting Springer mountain on Jan. 30th 2015...... If you r looking for someone to share the hike send me a PM.
I plan to do 10 plus miles a day. Weather will be a factor in the forward progress.....

meat803
12-16-2014, 02:13
I have decided to forgo the Pinhoti this year. I don't think solo hiking 300 miles is my cup of tea. This coupled with the fact my job has changed the deal they made with me and I am being terminated 60 days after my vacation runs out. A little more money in the bank before I walk away from my job.

LAF
01-12-2015, 17:44
I have decided to forgo the Pinhoti this year. I don't think solo hiking 300 miles is my cup of tea. This coupled with the fact my job has changed the deal they made with me and I am being terminated 60 days after my vacation runs out. A little more money in the bank before I walk away from my job.

Sorry to hear about the change of plans since I will be thru hiking the Pinhoti this year - starting on trail Feb 23rd; I'm linking to the BMT to the AT. If you change your mind, let me know.

ATGumby11
02-16-2015, 17:16
Sorry to hear about the change of plans since I will be thru hiking the Pinhoti this year - starting on trail Feb 23rd; I'm linking to the BMT to the AT. If you change your mind, let me know.

That's great. My girlfriend and I are starting March 1st at Bull Gap and going to the AT as well up to Fontana Dam. We hope to do 15-25 miles a day with an average of 18-20. It would be great to see others out there. I am curious what you are using for maps? There are some excellent resources online but I haven't figured out how to print them yet so that we can carry them with us. What's your strategy?

Happy Hiking

gubbool
02-16-2015, 21:44
even without maps, the Al/Ga Pinhoti will be quite doable but you will need to be watching - something that I don't do so I depend on a gps.

for the he Alabama section see Solo's maps at http://www.pinhotitrailalliance.org/

The Georgia Pinhoti Association's Guide maintained by Marty Dominy is a turn-by-turn guide for the Georgia Pinhoti which is very good.

http://lifeat2mph.com/pinhoti/Eighth_Edition_AUGUST_2014.pdf


It would help to review on-line maps before hand to know where you are going to get any type of resupply.

lifeat2mph.com/pinhoti


You will find that the BMT has few blazes on the trail and has a couple of places that you can go wrong - so I suggest getting Sgt Rocks guide book; taking only the pages that you intend to hike.

http://bmtguide.com/

If you reach Reliance TN too early the outfitters will have not opened for the season; so send a drop box ahead to BMT Reliance Fly & Tackle

LAF
02-20-2015, 14:29
Basically doing as gubbol suggests: using his gps data with a gps app on my iPhone (GAIA) and I've condensed the thru hiking data from the PTA (http://www.pinhotitrailalliance.org) into a small booklet I printed out and also have on my iPhone - it combines the AL and GA pocket guides into one (and I just use the south to north data from the pocket guides).

I do have a printed map of the AL PT that I ordered from the National Forest Service: http://www.nationalforestmapstore.com/product-p/al-13.htm

good map, a bit heavy but will take a beating and has good details of the PT from the start of Section 3 (FS 603A / Rebecca Mtn) to GA. I will carry this map due to the recent announcement that the Forest Service is removing all the trail blazes for the sections passing thru Dugger Mtn and Cheaha Wilderness areas.

Oh yeah, I did order Sgt Rocks BMT guidebook; he may provide a pdf to you was well if you want (I asked and that is what I'm taking, the pdf on my phone)

and in case you're wondering, the SIM on my iPhone stays off as does the wireless and bluetooth. This means that only the GPS is active and I can turn that off as well if I feel I don't need it for a while. Those measures along with carrying a 6000ma external battery backup means the phone retains its charge for quite a long time. works for me :-)

safe hiking and hope to see you out there.

gubbool
02-21-2015, 00:14
regarding phone & power. If you use the phone to take pictures then you will really need to watch your habits. I recommend taking pictures of every one that you meet; pictures of landscape are usually better done by someone else :) but pics of fellow hikers are one-of-a-kind.

In '08 my phone was pre-smart and had a decent camera with a small screen and I never had a problem with keeping it charged up. Still I carried one of those power adapter things that used two AA's. Light weight and I always had extra AA's for my gps so I was never going to find myself wishing for power.

side note, I carried one of these for my backup light. It was well tested during '08 and never failed me. I still keep one handy when I travel.

Mini Dynamo Flashlight Keychain or something that fits this description: MaxSale 2 LED Mini Dynamo Wind-up Hand Crank LED Flashlight Keychain; it's the shipping that will kill you unless you can get it local or on Amazon Prime. it is only wind-up device that I have ever found to be worth the effort; 'Keychain' is operative word.

marti038
02-23-2015, 09:41
the Forest Service is removing all the trail blazes for the sections passing thru Dugger Mtn and Cheaha Wilderness areas.


Huh?

(obligatory 10 character limit typing)

The Solemates
02-23-2015, 10:45
Huh?

(obligatory 10 character limit typing)

was just there this past weekend. dugger area is still blazed

LAF
02-23-2015, 11:18
Huh?

(obligatory 10 character limit typing)
They haven't removed the blazes yet but have announced they will to keep in line with the "wilderness" designation which states no blazes in wilderness areas (at least in AL). See the Pinhoti trail alliance website

gubbool
02-23-2015, 21:38
That wilderness blazing policy seemed to be somewhat flexible back in '08. Currently he Pinhoti is well blazed thru & thru; but the Benton MacKaye is not.

edit....

An afterthought. My idea of well blazed is 'functional' and not 'annoying' There could, and probably should, be more blazes in some areas. I kind'a like having to check my location/trail occasionally. In '08 the A.T. was annoying, there was never ever any sense of adventure because the blazes were never more than eye-sight apart.