A question for the oldtimers

[Programbo]

After reading several replies to a message I posted in the Media section and hearing how much Ed Garveys book "Appalachian Hiker" inspired people back when it came out in the early 70`s I got to wondering how others first learned about the Appalachina Trail back in the 60`s or 70`s..This was before the internet and backpacking magazines, etc...I recall the trail was very lightly traveled even on weekends as the trail just didn`t exist outside of a closed group..I think I first learned of it by seeing messages in the Sunday paper "Events" section announcing hikes the Maryland Mountain Club was hosting..I had outgrown the Boy Scouts by then and was seeking more serious and advanced backpacking adventures so I joined the MMC (Or was it the Mountain Club of Maryland?)..I know they maintained a section of the trail in PA for some odd reason..But that was my intro

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Being from an area near the Smokies, I've always known the AT was a long trail that ran thru the mountains though I didn't realize how long the trail was was until I got active in environmental and wilderness preservation issues in the mid-60's.

The first time I met what I now believe to be a thru-hiker was in the late 1960's. I thought the man was a sort of modern day John the Baptist wandering in the wilderness (perhaps he was foretelling of the coming of ultralight?). He was a minimialist - sleeping under a small tarp (not having a tent was heresy back then), carrying only two seirra cups & a spoon and cooking over small wood fires (no stove was more heresy). His pack had no external frame (more heresy) and looked like a day pack with a closed-cell foam mat rolled beneath it. He had a quilt instead of a sleeping bag (yet more heresy). I was genuinely concerned for his safety and well-being, but he refused all offers for assistance (except food - some things never change :D) and was very patient with this young lass who was hauling her light by that days' standards 45+ pounds down the trail.

[mrc237]

As a Scout I frist learned of the AT while on a 50 mile 4 nights camping trip in Harriman State Park in NY in 1958. We crossed the AT several times and even the Scoutmaster didn't know alot about it other than it was long. Afew 50 milers and 3 years later myself and 3 others (we had outgrown the BSA) started what we thought would be a hike from Delaware Water Gap to Maine. I think we made it as far as Bear Mountain but it was a hike I'll always cherish, canvas gear (still have that pack) no sleeping bag no pads we did have an aluminum pot for the 4 of us and ofcourse no stove. Our biggest fear was Bears (didn't see one). This was a huge adventure for 4 kids from Brooklyn. In 08' I'm planning my own 50th anniversary hike.

[peter_pan]

Progambo,

Small world, I grew up in Baltimore ( Gardenville section, northside).

For me it started with 4-5 older scouts looking for adventure... Shenandoah NP and the AT with Nat Geologic Topo maps and we were off bagging 50 milers each summer...fond memories.

Eventually, 1963, we headed to the White Mtn and Mt Washington...it whipped us that year....recon that trip taught true respect for the mountains and mother nature...

Back then the AT signs were the three inch metal square with Logo and trail name but they were galvanized steel rather than the aluminium items in the tourist shops that can be found these days....and they were a lot more common.

Pan

[Kerosene]

After the various Boy Scout camping trips and merit badges on my way to Eagle, two scouting buddies and I decided to hike the 51.5 miles from DWG to Unionville, NY in April 1973 at the tender age of 15 over our spring vacation. We were so lucky that it didn't really rain and that the temperatures were somewhat reasonable. I got the bug and did another 500 miles over the course of 6 section hikes in the '70s before moving to Michigan and getting distracted with continuing education, family and house.

[hacksaw]

1962, Boy Scouts. Climbed out of Neel's Gap after sundown (The 1949 Chevy ex-school bus broke down on the way!) with about 10 other scouts and hiked in the dark up to the summit and on down to Slaughter Gap where we made camp and slept under the stars and waked the next morning under three inches of snow! We hiked out to Lake Winfield Scott State Park under clear blue and (as we lost elevation) warm skies.

I've been hooked ever since. I think because of all the many aspects of life in the woods that were tossed our way on that short one night experience.

[T-Dubs]

In the mid-60s, Junior high days, a family vacation to the Smoky Mts was my first introduction that the trail existed. Hiked occassionally in that area in high school, staying in the shelters and thinking it was the best thing ever. A friend and I planned to hike the entire trail before college, then before we each got married, then before kids. I'll be retired soon and now wonder if the dream will ever come true. The spirit is strong, but the years have taken a bit of a toll.

Tom

[Gray Blazer]

My dad used to take me on the AT in the early 60's. My brother and I,being the big boy scouts that we were, decided to hike from Amicalola to the start (Mt Ogelthorpe) nd we jumped on the first blazes we saw. Unfortunately, they were FS Boundary blazes. We wondered why the AT would head straight off into the woods. Real Daniel Boobs is what we were.

[Speer Carrier]

This goes back a few years, so I hope I am remembering it correctly. I believe I first heard of the AT in the 50's. Traveling with my grandparents along what was called the Mohawk Trail in Massachusetts, my grandfather pointed out this thing called The Appalachian Trail. He said he thought in ran from Maine to the south somewhere.

I didn't think anything about it again until Bryson's book came out, and that, I guess you could say, reawakened my interest.

I became a member of the GATC, became a section maintainer, and have hiked from Springer to Fontana, and have been to Trail Days. I'm as committted to this trail as anything to which I've been committed. I mention all this, because despite the flack Bryson gets from some quarters, I would never have rediscovered the trail with out him.

[fiddlehead]

Boy Scouts for me too. I live near Port Clinton and the AT is where we would take hikes usually. I became fascinated by the idea of hiking the whole thing. Now days, it's different though. I showed my movie i made ("Really Livin") about the triple crown , to my old scout troop and they didn't seem to be into it at all. I got hell from the scout masters for showing a scene where i dipped the water right out of a stream and drank it. Oh well, everything changes. Now days, people have the internet to find out about everything. back then, we had word of mouth.

[TJ aka Teej]

I've been on and around the AT in Maine and New Hampshire since I was a toddler riding in a pack basket. At 8 or 9 in about 1965 I remember reading the sign on Baxter Peak, asking which way was Georgia, and looking South - wondering if there was another boy on a mountaintop thousands of miles away looking North.

[Kerosene]

I lived in Burlington, Vermont in the mid-60's and still remember seeing white blazes disappear up a dark wooded hill by the side of the road in the Green Mountains as my parents drove me somewhere. I didn't know anything about the Long Trail back then, but I did get a chance to thru-hike it in 1979.

[emerald]

My step-grandfather was scoutmaster in the 1950s of my local Boy Scout troop, Lower Heidelberg, Troop #1, to which my father belonged and which I later joined after it became known as Troop #423. He was hired by Daniel Boone Council, BSA in 1962 and moved to Camp Shikellamy south of Hertlein Campsite at Schubert’s Gap in Berks County, Pennsylvania where he became known as "Pappy," serving as camp ranger until his retirement. I spent 5 summers as a camper in the early 1970s at Shikellamy, known to many scouts as simply "Shik," from which I led small groups on short day hikes to the nearby A.T.

On one such hike, I remember seeing Applebee Shelter near Pilger Ruh, later removed by BMECC, circa 1975. By that time all that remained of Hertlein Shelter was the concrete pad on which it rested. It’s still there for those who may desire to look for it.

My father took our family on day hikes at Camp Shikellamy, on the A.T. and often on Pennsylvania State Game Lands #110. A favorite circuit hike would begin and end at the SGL parking lot near Shartlesville. We’d hike by the PGC’s turkey pens near Ney’s Shelter and take the A.T. south along the PGC service road to Sand Springs Trail by which we returned to our parked car.

While the A.T. no longer follows the PGC service road mentioned and Ney’s Shelter was removed and replaced by Eagle’s Nest Shelter, the service road is still a favorite place of mine to observe wildlife and creates in conjunction with the new A.T. many options for circuit hikes of various lengths beginning and ending at either the Shartlesville or PA 183 parking lots.

If any of you have ever seen a black and white print by the late Dick Kimmel called "Easy Hiking," I believe it was taken on this service road, then the A.T. I’d welcome in particular a PM from anyone who has information about this and other photographs taken by the Kimmel brothers.

Fiddlehead, I gave a slide show to my troop after my Georgia to Maine hike in 1980 and accompanied them on their 20 mile hike for their hiking merit badges. We ended at Port Clinton, where I forded the mighty Little Schuylkill before entering town.

[SGT Rock]

Not as old as some of y'all but I started back in the 70's hiking the AT. My grandmother's people are from Western NC (Jackson County) and we would go up to the mountains to Standing Indian for family reunions. We would make day hikes on the AT and down to the John Wasklisk Memorial Poplar. The older aunts, my dad, and my grandfather would go hiking the AT with some of the side trails on overnight hikes while the younger kids stayed at the campground. When we were finally big enough we were allowed to go backpacking on overnight trips around the AT. Back then I thought the AT was all as remote and rugged as the section we were in and couldn't imagine a person starting the trail with enough food to last 6 months, their pack would be enormous! (hey, I was a kid)

It wasn't until the 1990s that I even knew someone had written anything but trail guides for the AT. Oh, I still have my dad's 1973 guide for GA, NC, TN. They have changed quite a bit since then. The old version was bound together with some sort of bolt and nut system so you could take it apart and only carry the pieces you needed and came with a hand drawn trail map folded up as one of the pages. The dang thing probably weighs a pound.

[Gray Blazer]

Hey Sarge, I have that same guide. I found it while dumpster diving at friends of the library.

[rambunny]

Girl Scouts-in 4th grade someone came and talked about it-i can't remember much about that year except that presentation. Do you see a reacurring theme here-tell every kid you know about it-i'm hoping my new granddaughters 1st steps are on the AT.

[SGT Rock]

Already take my kids and waiting to take my grandson on the trail!

[Palmer]

Growing up in Ohio, I never hiked the AT before college. However, my father was from Virginia, and he often talked about the trail. He said (perhaps facetiously) that he wanted to do a thru hike when he retired. This was back in the early 60s, when few folks actually undertook thruhikes. Sadly, he died of cancer within a year of retiring, so he never got the opportunity to achieve that goal.

I came to New Jersey for college in '69, and have remained in the East ever since. We've always lived close enough to the trail to enable me to hike on it occasionally, usually 1 - 3 night trips. My youngest daughter will graduate from college in four years. She has said that she would like to do a thruhike then, and she's willing to let me come along! A lot can change in four years, but I hope that we'll be able to do the thruhike that my father never got to do.

[SouthMark]

In the early 70's I visited the Smokies for my first time ever. They were simply awesome. I stopped in the Cades Cove visitors store and discovered two books, "The Applachian Hiker" by Ed Garvey (my grandson is reading it now) and "Hiking Trails of the Smokies" by Carson Brewer and after reading them, I became hooked even though I had never done any backpacking. I then bought "The Complete Walker" and set out collecting gear.

[weary]

During the 1930s my mother took her six kids -- or those who had borned yet -- camping for 10-12 weeks in the Dolly Copp White Mountain National Forest campground outside of Gorham, NH. My Dad showed up on weekends.

I don't remember when or how I heard of the Appalachian Trail, but we regularly climbed Washington, crossed the Presidentials on the AT, and down the Daniel Webster Scout Trail with its trailhead a few hundred yards from our tents.

A favorite hike was to start at midnight on a full moon, arrive on Washington's summit in time for sunrise, and then spend the day crossing the Presidentials and returning to camp.

My first "long" backpack began on the Imp, followed the AT over the Carters to Pinkham Notch, Tuckerman's Ravine to the summit and the Presidentials to Madison and Daniel Webster to camp. It took two nights the summer of 1942 or 43 I think -- possibly 1944.

Weary

[Amigi'sLastStand]

Dang, I'm gonna be the youngest poster here. My uncle thru hiked back in '70. Sure wasnt what it is today. I was born in '71 and the first chance he got when I was nine, he took me down about 30 miles or so in the NJ area over a three day weekend. He carried all the gear, I just walked. He always told me I never whined once, except when I had to #2 in a cat hole. I still whine about it.

He envies me today for getting ready to do mine, and is finacially helping out a bit. I just called him to ask how he heard of it, and he said Grandpa always walked it when he could. Grandpa's gone now, but I would have loved to have heard his stories. See ya on the trail Grandpa.

[SGT Rock]

Hey Sarge, I have that same guide. I found it while dumpster diving at friends of the library.

It is cool how they put that thing together. I compared mine to the 1990something edition I have at home of the same area - interesting to see what has changed and what it still the same. Well at least it was to me.

[Amigi'sLastStand]

Dang, I'm gonna be the youngest poster here. My uncle thru hiked back in '70. Sure wasnt what it is today. I was born in '71 and the first chance he got when I was nine, he took me down about 30 miles or so in the NJ area over a three day weekend. He carried all the gear, I just walked. He always told me I never whined once, except when I had to #2 in a cat hole. I still whine about it.

He envies me today for getting ready to do mine, and is finacially helping out a bit. I just called him to ask how he heard of it, and he said Grandpa always walked it when he could. Grandpa's gone now, but I would have loved to have heard his stories. See ya on the trail Grandpa.

Talked to my uncle on the phone after I posted. He said Grandpa hiked in his usual attire ( blue cotton farmers pants, a white tee, and leather boots ). He used a hobo stove, his army canteen and two-strap-duffle with clothes, food, etc slung over his shoulders. He filtered water with a clean sock and charcoal from a fire. Poured his water through the sock into his mouth. ( Hey, I forgot I had learned that in survival school ). His tent was a canvas tarp that he coated with pine sap. His sleeping bag was sewn by my Grandma made from parachute silk and blankets.
This all musta weighed a ton for a guy 5'6" 130lbs. He was stong as an ox, but damn. I still miss him. See ya on the trail, Grandpa.

[fiddlehead]

I wonder if it was a clean sock? probably not. that's hardcore!

[Gray Blazer]

It is cool how they put that thing together. I compared mine to the 1990something edition I have at home of the same area - interesting to see what has changed and what it still the same. Well at least it was to me.

I posted some pics in the gallery today . The little red book is the guide I'm talkin' 'bout. Is it the same one? I love the way it comes apart and the hand-drawn fold up maps.

[Cookerhiker]

After reading several replies to a message I posted in the Media section and hearing how much Ed Garveys book "Appalachian Hiker" inspired people back when it came out in the early 70`s I got to wondering how others first learned about the Appalachina Trail back in the 60`s or 70`s..This was before the internet and backpacking magazines, etc...I recall the trail was very lightly traveled even on weekends as the trail just didn`t exist outside of a closed group..I think I first learned of it by seeing messages in the Sunday paper "Events" section announcing hikes the Maryland Mountain Club was hosting..I had outgrown the Boy Scouts by then and was seeking more serious and advanced backpacking adventures so I joined the MMC (Or was it the Mountain Club of Maryland?)..I know they maintained a section of the trail in PA for some odd reason..But that was my intro

I grew up in Northern New Jersey where the closest part of the Trail was Harriman Park, locale of the first blazes. My parents and other relatives were members of the Green Mountain Club whose New York Section had a facility on Lake Tiorati. So we were up there all the time, going on day-hikes and canoeing on the lake. I remember as a pre-teen taking a hike when my mother pointed out that this trail we were on stretched from Maine to Georgia. Later as a teenager when I joined the Club, I met Dick Hudson who was one of the early 2,000 milers - he's mentioned in Garvey's book. He presented a slide show one evening at the Club lodge.

Shortly after moving to the DC area in 1972, I read Garvey's book but didn't attempt my first backpack until 1977 in Vermont, Manchester to Bennington. It was very trying (especially on the knees) but I went back for more.

Incidentally, the Green Mountain Club NY section seceeded from the GMC in 1999 and is now known as the Thendara Mountain Club.