View Full Version : What did the trail do for you in 2008?
Ron Haven
12-21-2008, 18:05
The A T friends I meet is always special to me.
Slo-go'en
12-21-2008, 18:15
Yeap, one of the best things about the AT are the people you meet along the way, be they towns people, trail angles or other hikers. Many of these people you would have never meet anywhere else. I meet the former Lt Governer of VA in a shelter this spring, along with people from all walks of life.
The trail brought me several new and awesome friends.
The trail also taught me that I can do anything I set my mind to. I might be slower, I might be heavier, but if I take my time I will get there.
It also taught me patience and to just go with the flow.
bikerscars
12-21-2008, 23:34
the trail kept me sane :-?
Downhill Trucker
12-22-2008, 06:04
The trail for me in 2008.
A couple of trips, but one a great section hike. Introduced some new people to the trail. Made it to the Crampton Gap shelter. Stayed in Corbin Cabin in the snow. Caught trout in a trickle in the High Sierra. Stood on Jefferson Rock in Harpers... later I stumbled through town drunk and walked through the graveyard.
Saw a lot of rock, leaves, flowers, toads, snakes, and many strange lizards. Walked through snow, sleet, hail, rain, sun and the worst... hot dark humidity. On the trail I encountered a mountain lion in Hetch Hetchy. I met Wisconsin Dave and Southern Harp at Bear's Den and I hope Mr. Nice Guy and Cripple made it SOBO!
The trail... from the trails outside my house to the trails that I've been longing to hike for years have all been rewarding to me this year.
I hope next year we can enjoy and appreciate our trails even more.
Mrs Baggins
12-22-2008, 07:47
The trail brought me several new and awesome friends.
The trail also taught me that I can do anything I set my mind to. I might be slower, I might be heavier, but if I take my time I will get there.
It also taught me patience and to just go with the flow.
I got to meet Shoe and hike with her twice :D. I met many wonderful people, learned I manage on my own and don't need my husband to always be there to help, learned not to be so afraid of things that go bump in the night.
I hiked the southernmost AT section in New York, rehiked a section in MA with the "Fools", thruhiked :p the North-South Trail in Rhode Island, and did the "Hundred Mile Wilderness?" (Hungry, Mild, WHAT Wilderness :p) in Maine, and climbed Katahdin). Quite a bit more than I did in '07.
The Trail kept me in shape and gave me some new friends. It gets me out of the city and out of myself, too.
Blue Jay
12-22-2008, 09:48
6 months of extreme pleasure.
slowandlow
12-22-2008, 11:19
A month and a half of pleasure for my wife and myself, followed by a month of pain for my wife while recuperating from lyme disease.
Sailor (The other one)
12-22-2008, 12:44
Made me want to hike more.
Section hiked and day hiked Southern and Central Virginia a lot in 08. Fueled the desire for a thru-hike in 09.
The trail kept me from strangling the life out of someone.
I met the best story teller since Andy Griffith, RON HAVEN!!!
Hikerhead
12-22-2008, 14:18
It made me buy myself a bike... The milage I did in 3 days now only takes 1 day. :)
Blissful
12-22-2008, 15:39
I hiked SNP with a wonderful new WB friend Mercy and her dog, Mercy. Loved it. :)
The trail made me hungry to hike, but chewed me up and spit me out in Maine... It's like a cruel lover I keep coming back to again and again.
Alligator
12-22-2008, 16:50
On wooded roads, my son now looks around a says, "This looks like where we go hiking." Santa is bringing him a Dueter Fox 30:sun.
It made me realize that I'm a lot older than I thought I was! :(
Johnny Thunder
12-22-2008, 18:34
It made me appreciate Chicken Sandwiches.
Ask not what the trail did for you, but what you did for the trail?
Me? I helped build over 4 miles of new trail in Alabama and did several miles of trail maintenance in 2008.
Ask not what the trail did for you, but what you did for the trail?
Me? I helped build over 4 miles of new trail in Alabama and did several miles of trail maintenance in 2008.
excellent point, I too did trail maintenance. Along the AT I removed downed limbs and picked up liter from the trail as I hiked across five states.
What did the trail do for me in '08?
Mostly, it sat in North GA, calling me: "Steve - come hike!"
I did a 45 mile hike with my buddy back in April: Mooney Gap to Unicoi Gap. This allowed him to earn his 80 mile patch from GATC!
It also allowed my wife and I to "visit" for a day trip on Bear Mountain when we went to New York in October to visit my son at school.
I did several other backpacking trips in '08: February trip to Shining Rock, short trip on the Chattooga River Trail, blueberries on Shining Rock in August, but would really like to have done more on the AT!
TrippinBTM
12-22-2008, 20:28
6 months of extreme pleasure.
hell yeah. Best time of my life. It made me new friends, more self-confident, and gave me a burning urge to hike more by driving home the point that that is where I really want to be.
Oh, and yeah, I also did trail maintenance: sometimes I'd flick twigs off the trail as I hiked. :cool:
joshua5878
12-22-2008, 21:01
The A T friends I meet is always special to me.
I don't know if I read this in a book or on WB but I will always remember a Thruhiker saying that his favorite part of hiking the AT was eating dinner, lunch & breakfast always in a different place! I quit my job a week ago today, leavin Feb 1st to pick up my brother in PA to bring him down to FL to do some shake down hikes, then leaving in Early March from Springer to Maine!!!
TrippinBTM
12-23-2008, 07:33
Yeah, the constant mobility is nice. I miss being a nomad. Congrats on your upcoming attempt; youve made the first step, may your successive steps take you all the way to Maine :)
RadioFreq
12-23-2008, 10:03
Spent a week-and-a-half on the Superior Hiking Trail in August as part of a shakedown.
Before that it was, "I think I can." Now it is, "I know I can." The trail doesn't lie.
:) T-minus 69 days....and counting. :)
Ron Haven
12-27-2008, 22:44
I met the best story teller since Andy Griffith, RON HAVEN!!!Andy can tell some huh?Not that it helps Andy any but me and him share one thing in common.We are both from NC.:-?
Bare Bear
12-30-2008, 03:04
I got to meet around 150 of the 2008 thru hikers at Stecoah Gap in April.
I was fortunate enough to get in a few hundred miles myself in four pieces.
I stayed at the Two Wheels Only (Woody Gap/Suches) camp for the first time and found it awesome. The two mile road walk sucks though.
I found I miss Miss Janet.
I found I could live without stopping in Duncannon overnight.
I found that it is really dry in Ga in August. Hot too, even in the mountains.
I found that you can make a 35 mile hike 'around' Clingmans into a nice 3 days until it rains and is 35F for the last day. Hiking up the Mt Collins Trail to the AT in the dusk and rain was scarier than I thought it would be. Alone, seeing "Aggressive Bear Danger" signs every hundred yards. It is the second time in my life of solo hiking that I was worried I had bitten off too much.
I found that I am at peace on the Trail and that thinking about all my trail friends was almost as good as them actually being there.
Bare Bear
12-30-2008, 03:06
BTW my 'around Clingmans hike' was in October.
Silver Bear
12-30-2008, 19:29
This is my first year of back packing. 150 miles of the AT, another 200 or so in the Smokies. 25 pounds lighter, no more Lipitor. Haven't been out for 30 days and am missing it. My wife says she misses me, but also says I am much happier. I am thinking very hard about a thur in 2010.