View Full Version : 1983 online trail journal
Flush2wice
03-18-2008, 20:27
I found this trail journal from Alan Strackeljahn, GA-ME 1983. I haven't read it all but what I have read is great. Some things are hard to fathom, and other things will never change. Here's the link:
http://www.2000milehike.com/index.htm
Good photos too. Here's a teaser:
3610 3611
CrumbSnatcher
03-18-2008, 20:45
thanks i saved to favorites to view later.good stuff...........
Jason of the Woods
03-18-2008, 20:47
That is fun. I was only eight but enjoyed it none the less.
jersey joe
03-18-2008, 21:39
Wow, good find flushtwice...1983....
He ate the same dinners that I did in 2002...
"Tonight's entrée became one of our staples and consisted of a Lipton's Noodles and Sauce dinner of Sour Cream and Chives flavor."
Badass....
Big miles, big pack, lot's less hostels and no internet for planning.
Is this what they meant by the good ole' days??
Glad to see hikers drinking PBR 24 years ago. At least some things will never change. :)
Badass....
Big miles, big pack, lot's less hostels and no internet for planning.
That would have been true right up to the mid 1990s, at least. The Internet had been around for some time, but WWW didn't catch on 'till much later.
Tipi Walter
03-18-2008, 22:12
It's not so easy to find old journals online but this is one of them and pretty good. I copied some of it a couple of years ago and took it out with me on a long backpacking trip. I like the old fotogs and the old gear.
Flush2wice
03-18-2008, 22:20
I like this post about the day hiking into Hot Springs. I remember the Catholic hostel he refers to. Elmer gets a great compliment here too.
http://www.2000milehike.com/may31.htm
notorius tic
03-18-2008, 22:24
Sweet find great read ty very much
The author of this journal, Gonzo (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/member.php?u=3927), is a Whiteblaze member.
Here's another good journal from that time.....
http://www.skwc.com/exile/Hail-nf.html
Here's another good journal from that time.....
http://www.skwc.com/exile/Hail-nf.html
This one is my favorite.
Some things are hard to fathom, and other things will never change.
Nothing has changed. Northbounders were soft back then, too.
Flush2wice
03-19-2008, 20:56
Nothing has changed. Northbounders were soft back then, too.
Good one, did you meet these guys? Do you have a journal to post from back then?
Programbo
03-19-2008, 22:03
I found this trail journal from Alan Strackeljahn, GA-ME 1983. I haven't read it all but what I have read is great. Some things are hard to fathom, and other things will never change.
Looks interesting..I`ll give it a good read in the next week as that is closer back towards my time period..You are right that some things never change..When I returned to the trail a couple of years ago after a loooooong interlude I found that while lots of places had changed (Shelters gone..new ones built..trail rerouted) there were still some areas that looked exactly as they did when I last walked along them 30 years earlier
Good one, did you meet these guys? Do you have a journal to post from back then?
Back then, AT hikers hiked. They didn't have time for journals. Those who wrote up their hikes did so once they were done and had something to write about, but most realized it had already been published before in Hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Flush2wice
03-19-2008, 22:34
Looks interesting..I`ll give it a good read in the next week as that is closer back towards my time period..You are right that some things never change..When I returned to the trail a couple of years ago after a loooooong interlude I found that while lots of places had changed (Shelters gone..new ones built..trail rerouted) there were still some areas that looked exactly as they did when I last walked along them 30 years earlier
I hiked most of the AT a few years after these guys. Maybe that's why I find this journal so fascinating. I also like the one Lilred found.
Like A-Train said- Big packs, big miles, few hostels. I'll add ****ty boots and bad food.
I liked how they motored through towns and road crossings that most stop at now. They never mentioned Gatlinburg.
I remember my first hiking boots were Vasque Hiker II's. Amazing I ever walked again. Add to that all the bulky wool. Those were some great memories but I wouldn't want to do it that way again. That's why I like these old journals.
I'd post mine, but when I mailed it home from Maine, it never arrived. I also lost 3 rolls of film (108 exposures).
Tipi Walter
03-19-2008, 22:36
Back then, AT hikers hiked. They didn't have time for journals. Those who wrote up their hikes did so once they were done and had something to write about, but most realized it had already been said before in Hiking the Appalachian Trail.
I agree. Now, why can't that 2 volume set be put online?
I like this post about the day hiking into Hot Springs. I remember the Catholic hostel he refers to.http://www.2000milehike.com/may31.htm
The Jesuit who ran this facility was educated at the novitiate which abutted the property I now own.
When I dropped off my supply cache enroute to Springer Mountain in 1980, he asked where I was from. I told him he likely never heard of the place.
Since he insisted, I told him where and he replied he spent some of the happiest years of his life where I was raised and still live today.
It was yet another lesson the AT taught about how small the world is and how friendly a place it can be.
Some German prisoners of war helped pick apples in The Green Diamond. More than a few who left Germany after the war settled here.
I agree. Now, why can't that 2 volume set be put online?
Those two volumes were our "Internet...." back in the day. :D
I spent a half year or so reading those two books as part of my prep. Made a lot of trips to the library, constantly renewing the things.
To be honest, a lot of the journals were boring. That's why I found Bryson's book to be so enjoyable, when it came out -- about six or seven years after my own thru-hike attempt.
One thing I learned from those journals was the diversity among thru-hikers -- so many different attitudes toward hiking, different reasons for hiking, different approaches, different preparation. Some were out for a big adventure, some were on spiritual quests, some were looking for physical challenge, etc.
saimyoji
03-20-2008, 09:02
BOK shelter hasn't changed much.
http://www.2000milehike.com/w10d20_Trashed_Shelter.htm
What's BOK? (as in "BOK shelter" ?) Too many acronyms...
Flush2wice
03-20-2008, 09:19
What's BOK? (as in "BOK shelter" ?) Too many acronyms...
Bake Oven Knob
Bake Oven Knob
Ah... agree, then. I didn't actually see the shelter, but it was evident from other "scenery" that this was a venue for local yout' hanging out and doing what yout' do... :rolleyes: Any shelter or campsite with easy road access is doomed.
My AT hiking is very limited. I have read a few of the online trail journals. One big difference that seems to jump out at me is compared to many of the journals I read now, how few stops at hostels he has made. Town stops were an in and out affair. I have only ready the first few weeks but he is into the GSNMP and I don't think he has taken a zero yet. Maybe that is due to his late start.
Flush2wice
03-20-2008, 09:36
Ah... agree, then. I didn't actually see the shelter, but it was evident from other "scenery" that this was a venue for local yout' hanging out and doing what yout' do... :rolleyes: Any shelter or campsite with easy road access is doomed.
Yep. I remember the George Outerbridge shelter was worse.
My AT hiking is very limited. I have read a few of the online trail journals. One big difference that seems to jump out at me is compared to many of the journals I read now, how few stops at hostels he has made. Town stops were an in and out affair. I have only ready the first few weeks but he is into the GSNMP and I don't think he has taken a zero yet. Maybe that is due to his late start.
There weren't nearly as many hostels back then as there are now. And with fewer hikers on the trail, fewer partiers as well. Town stops weren't driven by the urge to drink I guess.
Yep. I remember the George Outerbridge shelter was worse.
Not in my experience -- Outerbridge shelter is a bit run-down, but nowhere near as trashy. The caretaker must have been busy. But yes, it's subject to invasions by locals, as it's an easy 20-minute hike from the trailhead down by the Lehigh River.
I disagree about people not keeping daily journals because they were "too busy hiking".
Otherwise you have to ignore Thoreau, the journals of L&C (and their Sgts and a few of the enlisted men), etc.
I suspect, much like today, some people love to write. Some don't. And there are people in between.
Finally
One thing I learned from those journals was the diversity among thru-hikers -- so many different attitudes toward hiking, different reasons for hiking, different approaches, different preparation. Some were out for a big adventure, some were on spiritual quests, some were looking for physical challenge, etc.
Much like today?
I have the two volume set myself. What I love are the similarities rather the differences.
The desire to be outside, to be walking, to enjoy the Appalachian Trail.
It might not be deviating from the intended topic of this thread to discuss how things have changed and how they have remained the same. Mags, I was being mildly over-the-top and simply posting a stereotypical "back in the good old days" reply earlier as I suspect you realized.
I started out with the intention of keeping a journal as do many today. I even carried a soft-covered book with me for that purpose in which I ultimately wrote little more than where I camped each day and my mileage.
After my hike, some asked if I intended to write a book about my AT hike. I really did believe I had nothing to add to Rodale's book and while my hike was important to me, it wasn't really a big deal.
It might not be deviating from the intended topic of this thread to discuss how things have changed and how they have remained the same. Mags, I was being mildly over-the-top and simply posting a stereotypical "back in the good old days" reply earlier as I suspect you realized.
I started out with the intention of keeping a journal as do many today. I even carried a soft-covered book with me for that purpose in which I ultimately wrote little more than where I camped each day and my mileage.
After my hike, some asked if I intended to write a book about my AT hike. I really did believe I had nothing to add to Rodale's book and while my hike was important to me, it wasn't really a big deal.
Your post gave me a good laugh!
The first NOBO I passed suggested a journal, and I picked up a small Pac Man notebook in Monson. It has the dates and stuff in it, but not much else. A rather weak attempt.
But I do recall being to damn tired to write in it!
I was excited to learn of those 1983 journals, and was hoping that I would discover that I shared a shelter with one of those guys, but no such luck.
I think that one thing that was different "way back when" was just how important the shelter registers were. Boy, did I look forward to reading them!
One word of advise on that. When you get to the AMC Huts, write a lettrer or such in thier registers for you to read 20+ years later. You will probably be back sometime, and they keep them in the huts forever. I wish I had done that, rather than being too busy hiking!
Just a thought.
LIhikers
03-21-2008, 06:37
....., but most realized it had already been published before in Hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Back in the day, when Rodale Press had a book of the month club, my wife and I chose those books because nothing that month really caught our interest. WE didn't have an intrest in hiking then, and who knew that 30 years later we'd read those books over and over and over :)
My AT hiking is very limited. I have read a few of the online trail journals. One big difference that seems to jump out at me is compared to many of the journals I read now, how few stops at hostels he has made. Town stops were an in and out affair. I have only ready the first few weeks but he is into the GSNMP and I don't think he has taken a zero yet. Maybe that is due to his late start.
I took my first zero at Hot Springs. First town stop was Fontana (mail drop.) The zeroes got to be an issue at Erwin and beyond... :o :D :rolleyes: :eek:
Tipi Walter
03-21-2008, 09:38
It might not be deviating from the intended topic of this thread to discuss how things have changed and how they have remained the same. Mags, I was being mildly over-the-top and simply posting a stereotypical "back in the good old days" reply earlier as I suspect you realized.
I started out with the intention of keeping a journal as do many today. I even carried a soft-covered book with me for that purpose in which I ultimately wrote little more than where I camped each day and my mileage.
After my hike, some asked if I intended to write a book about my AT hike. I really did believe I had nothing to add to Rodale's book and while my hike was important to me, it wasn't really a big deal.
When I really started living outdoors and backpacking back in the late 1970s, I did keep a fairly decent journal of all the places I camped and the gear I used, but I wish I had a camera back then to record my old tents and companions along the way. Those early days now seem almost mythic and glorious, but where is the proof except in my peanut brain??
So to all those newbie backpackers out there preparing for a life of living out, write down some stuff, take fotogs of your tents, and keep pumping nylon without a break, so when you turn 60 and you're camping along some winter river bank, you'll have something to look at and think about.
Oh, I had that covered! I started at Amicalola Falls with a full-sized SLR, 3 lenses, macro filters, a lightweight tripod and about 6 rolls of 36 exposure Kodachrome 64 and 25.
I started out a slackpacker even though I had no idea what it meant. Before long, I determined hiking the AT required another game plan if I had any hope of reaching Maine. Ingenious adaptability, you know? I grew up watching Wiley Coyote.;)
I finished his journal today. A real good read. The end of the journal seemed almost anticlimatic and sad, like you knew it was over and not much left to do. I suppose many feel the same way about thier hikes
astrogirl
03-28-2008, 22:18
This one is my favorite.
Steffanos journal is a favorite of mine too.