View Full Version : couple random questions......
clegg318
04-21-2008, 13:12
hi.....got a couple randoms here....
1. Where are the hiker boxes? I dont want to pass through towns,passing up some good stuff left by fellow hikers.
2. Am I able to set up a tent anywhere on the trail? Im going to be a solo hiker and want to be able to go off the trail alittle bit and just set up shop....is this always possible? will park police yell at me? is the trail so narrow at points that being alone would be impossible?
Thanks for help
hi.....got a couple randoms here....
1. Where are the hiker boxes? I dont want to pass through towns,passing up some good stuff left by fellow hikers.
2. Am I able to set up a tent anywhere on the trail? Im going to be a solo hiker and want to be able to go off the trail alittle bit and just set up shop....is this always possible? will park police yell at me? is the trail so narrow at points that being alone would be impossible?
Thanks for help
I'm sorry to say there is not a clear-cut, easy answer to either of your questions.
1) Hiker boxes are just about anywhere hikers congregate, from Post Offices to hostels to outfitters.
2) The owners or land managers of the land through which the trail passes makes the rules of where you can camp on their respective sections. Sometimes the rules are quite confining, and strictly enforced, such as in National Parks, AMC territory, and State Parks. Other times you can pretty much do whatever your conscience will allow.
Guidebooks generally have section by section information on both of the above subjects.
bigcranky
04-21-2008, 14:16
2. Am I able to set up a tent anywhere on the trail? Im going to be a solo hiker and want to be able to go off the trail alittle bit and just set up shop....is this always possible? will park police yell at me? is the trail so narrow at points that being alone would be impossible?
No, no, maybe, and sometimes. But really, it's not a big deal.
In general, you can set up a tent anywhere you like along the trail. In some places (like the national parks), there are specific rules about camping locations. In other places, the trail runs along a steep hillside, or along a rocky outcrop, or through a town, and it's just not a good spot.
After a couple of weeks, you'll be able to spot a good campsite quickly and easily.
Blissful
04-21-2008, 14:32
I'm sorry to say there is not a clear-cut, easy answer to either of your questions.
1
2) The owners or land managers of the land through which the trail passes makes the rules of where you can camp on their respective sections. Sometimes the rules are quite confining, and strictly enforced, such as in National Parks, AMC territory, and State Parks. Other times you can pretty much do whatever your conscience will allow.
Guidebooks generally have section by section information on both of the above subjects.
There are also some states with regulations as well. Like in Pennsylvania (check the thread on camping in state game lands) and there is no camping but in designated areas in MD and CT.
And it is more than just being yelled at. You could get fined. And there are ridgerunners in many places that have the no camping rule.
clegg318
04-21-2008, 14:33
thanks for the responses......whats a ridgerunner?
Bare Bear
04-21-2008, 14:38
I love to meet other hikers out on the Trail but I have to admit that the very best nights were spent alone in quiet one person camps where I could lay there watching stars and solving all of lifes problems. (I solved them all by deciding to just worry about my world not everyone elses too). My favorite one was near Bemis Stream and I truned down an invite to town, laundry and dinner, by two little old lady day hikers to stay there by myself. The next morning I had a young bear tearing at a tree for grubs not fifteen feet away! One of my best memories ever. Read the guides and you will soon recognise a good spot. Keep LNT in mind please.
clegg318
04-21-2008, 14:57
another quick question.....will i have to hitchhike? I will if i have to, but is it really necesarry? are some of these towns that vital to my resupplying, that if i dont get there I will be screwed? (and the only where there is to............hitchhike :))??
Lone Wolf
04-21-2008, 14:59
another quick question.....will i have to hitchhike? I will if i have to, but is it really necesarry? are some of these towns that vital to my resupplying, that if i dont get there I will be screwed? (and the only where there is to............hitchhike :))??
unless you have a cell phone to call for a shuttle or walk the road to town yes, you'll have to hitchhike
The thing that switched me over to hammocks was the difficulty of finding a flat area to place a tent unless you are at a shelter. I would rather not have to walk to a shelter if i am tired and maybe would like to walk on past a shelter before stopping for the day. Finding the flat spot is difficult, at least for me. On my last trip, which was with my wife, I took the tent for her, and stopped way early on a uphill climb because i found a spot and did not want to chance going on and having to stop on a uphill slope due to being over-tired.
clegg318
04-21-2008, 15:40
hmmm, im gonna check out hammocks, sounds like they come in clutch, what about when its cold out though? and are the drivers friendly in the areas i have to hitch rides?
wilconow
04-21-2008, 15:42
There are places to throw down a tent all over the place, that's not a good reason to get a hammock
another quick question.....will i have to hitchhike? I will if i have to, but is it really necesarry? are some of these towns that vital to my resupplying, that if i dont get there I will be screwed? (and the only where there is to............hitchhike :))??
If you read the various guidebooks, you will find the distance from the trailhead to town. Many times, it's close. However, there are places where the trail crossing is way out of town. In this case, you will appreciate a ride.
Cabin Fever
04-21-2008, 16:29
There are plenty of campsites. In the south, you can camp at the shelters which are ~10 miles apart. Usually at least one camp site in between each shelter so that means there is a site at least every 5 miles. There are typically more than that if you count the camp sites left behind by other tenters. If you are a real Leave No Trace'r, then it won't matter where you camp because there will be no trace.
Blissful
04-21-2008, 16:34
Often times you can find rides simply by hanging out in a trail parking area, etc., and asking around. We got rides from day hikers that way.
Ridgerunners are guys and gals that patrol the trail, usually covering specific parts of the trail to make sure hikers know about leave no trace trail ethics and rules for camping, etc are being obeyed and for general trail info and assistance. Many times they will stay overnight in the shelter areas. We saw them in the Smokies, in PA, in CT/ MA, in NH and at Abol Bridge in ME.
paradoxb3
04-21-2008, 16:58
those weren't random questions. these are random questions:
1. What is baby powder REALLY made from?
2. Does anyone remember that episode of Buffy where the bad guys tried to escape with jetpacks, and the 2nd one knocks himself out on an overhang? That was a good one!
:D
Pennsylvania Rose
04-22-2008, 10:39
I hate the word random. My 14 yo daughter uses it every other sentence...at random.
max patch
04-22-2008, 11:09
another quick question.....will i have to hitchhike? I will if i have to, but is it really necesarry? are some of these towns that vital to my resupplying, that if i dont get there I will be screwed? (and the only where there is to............hitchhike :))??
No, you don't have to hitchhike. I hiked with a guy on my thru whose goal was to only walk during his hike. He never got in a car once.
But thats unusual. Nearly everyone hitches.
envirodiver
04-22-2008, 11:10
I hate the word random. My 14 yo daughter uses it every other sentence...at random.
Wow that was like random...for real
another quick question.....will i have to hitchhike? I will if i have to, but is it really necesarry? are some of these towns that vital to my resupplying, that if i dont get there I will be screwed? (and the only where there is to............hitchhike :))??
Thru-hikers will soon have so much confidence it'll be no big deal to hitchhike. Fears drop away. Worries bannished to the wayside.
And normal everyday people will be thrilled to offer you a ride. Thrilled.
At US 30 and the AT, about milepoint 1100 or so northbound, four to six lanes of traffic and an 18 wheeler switched lanes to pull over to give me a ride. I gave him the Cooke's tour of Gettysburg and he dropped me off at the Days Inn in Gettysburg. The woman at the front desk checked me into a hotel room for the night and told me to pull my car around the side of the hotel. I told her I didn't have a car. She said, "Well how did you get here?" I told her I'd walked. She asked me, "Well where'd you walk from?"
I ended up getting every single discount that Day's Inn offered, plus all kinds of coupons for free meals and rides around town. All the employees of the Day's Inn came out to meet me -- they didn't know what the Appalachain Trail was -- they just wanted to meet someone who'd walked all the way to their hotel from Georgia.
Up someplace in the Northeast a couple out for a weekend drive saw my thumb above the six foot high weeds from about a hundred yards from the road. Way far away. I'd heard their car coming so I stuck my thumb up in the air. They'd stopped. I hiked on up the AT to the road and they were waiting for me. "We saw your thumb up above the weeds when we drove past." I climbed into the back of the Volvo and they said, "Are you a thru-hiker?" I said yeah. "Wow you sure look like you in great shape." They took me down to some teeny tiny general store where I started lunch with 2800 calories of Haagen-Daz as an appetizer.
I think you'll find the people along the Appalachian Trail are the kindest, most helpful people you'll meet in your life.
Datto
most of the time you don't even need to put a thumb out. most local people along the trail recognize hikers and go out of their way to give us rides. thank-you to all of them.
I hate the word random. My 14 yo daughter uses it every other sentence...at random.
random is in itself random just think the spelling of the word random is in a gun ho random order i mean its R-A-N-D-O-M just two vowels the entire word thats why i like hawiian lots and lots of vowels its not so random it has a sense and order unlike most of the random English language it was so randomly invented, on random chance so many years ago in a place that just randomly became the united states...which when you think about it is a random name for it along with all the random borders to states i mean really KENTUCKY owns most of the OHIO river in that portion of it just a really randomly drawn line i should say random is as random does , life is like a box of randoms , ribbed ofcourse but ofcourse the ribs have to be ribbed randomly otherwise its RIDGED which is just plain wrong