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ki0eh
10-09-2017, 10:05
I haven't seen any discussion on WB about this fellow's 2017 hike paralleling the AT from Alabama to NY, with an interesting way of skipping over the less complete sections of Great Eastern Trail:
http://www.bedore.org/2017_Alabama_New_York_Plan.html#Table

Parent link, including trip reports (may be buried further, by his subsequent adventures)
http://www.bedore.org/

Benton MacKaye's vision included the A.T. as part of a network of trails. Seems like few dare to hike other than point to point in a single guidebook. Perhaps this will inspire some to look beyond the bubble, in ways that could be personally more meaningful.

Time Zone
10-10-2017, 00:49
Thanks for posting this. I find the layout of his pages very hard to follow; could you hint at the "interesting way of skipping over the less complete sections"?

I like the vision of a network of trails, and would say that the value of hiking less heralded trails goes well beyond being personally more meaningful; it can be meaningful to the entire hiking community. May they all be well-blazed and trodden/maintained, but apart from that, vive la différence!

ki0eh
10-10-2017, 09:22
He, instead of the multiply disconnected Cumberland Trail (TN), incomplete Pine Mountain Trail (KY on VA line), non-existent Pike Energy Trail (KY) and mostly non-existent TuGuNu (southern WV); followed the Georgia Pinhoti over to the Benton MacKaye Trail, Bartram, Foothills, Mountains-to-Sea (NC-MST), into Trail Days and hitched to Pearisburg to follow the GET (Allegheny/Headwaters/Tuscarora/C&O/MD Green Ridge/Mid State Trail (PA-MST) mostly, with an excursion over to West Rim Trail and back to PA-MST on a rail trail/Crystal Hills Trail) north into NY State.

Starchild
10-10-2017, 11:44
...I like the vision of a network of trails...

The network of trails was the concept of the Long Path in NY. It was planned as only points of interest and the hiker chose the path between them as they wanted to. This caused the trail itself not to go anywhere fast, till they just put in the trail and the concept was abandoned. It's good in theory but impractical in reality, if implemented the path would become the shortest/most convenient route with a occasional alternate, very much like how the El Camino French way is. For the AT yellow blazing would become much more common, even walking the roads instead of over mountains for the purists.

kf1wv
10-15-2017, 20:29
Cherry-picking GET-component trails and mixing them with other trails into a unique adventure (which is awesome) has little to do with hiking the GET itself. The current end-to-end GET route -- both trails and road connectors -- is a journey through culture, history (particularly Civil War), and small communities up close and personal. If a hiker is waiting until the GET is completely off-road, s/he will be waiting a very, very long time. Complaining about what "isn't" dismisses what "is." The GET needs support, not apology.

I loved my SOBO last year and am currently hiking the southern half again.

73, kf1wv




He, instead of the multiply disconnected Cumberland Trail (TN), incomplete Pine Mountain Trail (KY on VA line), non-existent Pike Energy Trail (KY) and mostly non-existent TuGuNu (southern WV); followed the Georgia Pinhoti over to the Benton MacKaye Trail, Bartram, Foothills, Mountains-to-Sea (NC-MST), into Trail Days and hitched to Pearisburg to follow the GET (Allegheny/Headwaters/Tuscarora/C&O/MD Green Ridge/Mid State Trail (PA-MST) mostly, with an excursion over to West Rim Trail and back to PA-MST on a rail trail/Crystal Hills Trail) north into NY State.

ki0eh
10-16-2017, 11:43
I believe Mr. Bedore (I have not met him) didn't claim to be hiking the GET specifically, but hiking from Alabama to NY perhaps inspired by the GET, but substituting other parts of the network to accommodate his own desires, and what he was able to uncover in his evidently unusually thorough map and information searches.

To me, that's a more interesting and fruitful approach than to be mileage collecting, or demanding a single guidebook to go with a single blaze color, or developing a guidebook that claims the trail goes where it doesn't go, but HYOH for sure.

Here's another example of a network hike (well beyond the GET, but this link focuses on the parts included nearby) http://www.pjwetzel.com/search/label/Great%20Eastern%20Trail