View Full Version : One last BMT post :)
This non-professional, non-extreme hiker who has quaffed at least dozens of different types of beer, just posted his BMT journal up for your reading pleasure:
http://www.pmags.com/joomla/index.php/Outdoor-Writings/Benton-MacKaye-Trail-Thru-Hike-Journal.html
If you just want my overall impressions of the trail w/o the purple prose, go here:
http://www.pmags.com/joomla/index.php/Outdoor-Writings/Benton-MacKaye-Trail-Thru-Hike-Journal.html#bmt-impressions
I challenge 100 hikers to read this without falling asleep, shutting off their computer in sheer disgust or wonder why they wasted so much time when they could be watching a cute little video on dolphins (http://www.avclub.com/videocracy/10274/) instead!
SGT Rock
03-17-2009, 19:17
Nice.
puddingboy
03-17-2009, 19:19
In your opinion would you say that the BMT is better than the southern AT?
SGT Rock
03-17-2009, 19:20
Just different. To say it is better is totally subjective.
puddingboy
03-17-2009, 19:21
In what way would you say it is different?
SGT Rock
03-17-2009, 19:38
In what way would you say it is different?
My take on the differences:
1. More remote. There are not as many access points along the BMT. That said, there are also more miles of road-walk. I know this sounds contradictory, but once you hike it, you get it.
2. Less "constructed" there are only two official Shelters on the BMT. You can count Springer Mountain Shelter though since it is 0.1 miles from the southern terminus. There are also less bridges, signs, and other trail constructions. In the Smokies you will do some fording that you don't see on the AT in the southern section.
3. The BMT feels "wilder". The BMTA doesn't maintain the trail to the same grooming standard as the AT. It is narrow, lots of brush along the sides, and the trail goes in some funny places. There are sections though that are old roadbed. Also something to note, a number of BMT miles are the old AT in places. So when you hike it, you are sometimes walking in Earl Schaffer's footprints that AT hikers haven't walked in 62 years.
4. More challenging. There is not a breadcrumb trail of blazes -there are sections of the BMT that go miles without blazes. You need to have a map and know sort of how to use it. You will not be able to hike "by the numbers" with a trail guide like you can on the AT.
5. Less peripheral support. The BMT is about what the AT was in the 1940s. There are not hostels, hotels, shuttles, trail angels, trail magic, and all the other stuff the AT has garnered in the last 30 years or so. When you hike into "town" (using that loosely) no one knows what you are doing. A lot of time no one cares, and sometimes people think you are a bum or hobo.
There are probably some more things, but that is off the top of my head.
The BMT is a little more rugged, offers more wilderness, more diversity, fewer hikers, far fewer shelters, more knobs and puds, and more wildlife
SGT Rock
03-17-2009, 19:57
The BMT is a little more rugged, offers more wilderness, more diversity, fewer hikers, far fewer shelters, more knobs and puds, and more wildlife
What he said.
I really can't add to much more than what was said so well above.
Essentially, it is a hike for those who do not want a connect-the - dots- hike in the southern Apps.
I loved my time on AT. At this point, though, I don't think I could hike the AT again. Too well defined and genteel in some ways.
The BMT is a bit more wild and rough around the edges. (That's a good thing!)
It is not better or worse...just different. And like all things in life, it comes down to what YOU want.
puddingboy
03-19-2009, 19:45
If im right the BMT connects to the AT at the end, so technically I could thruhike the BMT then get on the AT and go north to kahadtin.
Correct me if im wrong.
If im right the BMT connects to the AT at the end, so technically I could thruhike the BMT then get on the AT and go north to kahadtin.
Correct me if im wrong.
Not wrong at all. It would probably provide a neat alternative to a traditional AT thru-hike. You may be shocked at how many people you see after hiking so long by yourself, though. :)
SGT Rock
03-21-2009, 20:30
If im right the BMT connects to the AT at the end, so technically I could thruhike the BMT then get on the AT and go north to kahadtin.
Correct me if im wrong.
You are totally right. That was what I was doing last year at this time. Unfortunately I got hurt and had to get off. But I did the first 300 miles on the BMT. You could even just use a part of the BMT to do the AT.
The AT and the BMT cross at Springer Mountain, just past the FS42 parking lot, they are the same trail from about Three Forks to the Long Creek Falls turn off, they cross again in the Smokies just past Shuckstack Firetower, and then they meet again one more time at Davenport Gap.
So if you are starting during the crowd and don't want to hike in it - you could do the southern section of the BMT and then get back on the AT in the Smokies after it has had time to thin out a bit. Or you could hike the AT all the way to the Smokies, then decide you don't want to hike shelter to shelter with all the crowds so you get off the AT there and hike around to the AT again. There was some talk a while back of the ATC even recognizing the Smokies section of the BMT as an authorized alternative to the AT for people who still wanted to claim 2000 miler status. I don't know if that was ever approved.
When I hike Springer to the Ocoee River 4 years ago, I never saw another hiker during the entire 5 1/2 days I was out. Try that on the AT in late May any where in the south.
Nice reports on the BMT Mags.
This non-professional, non-extreme hiker who has quaffed at least dozens of different types of beer, just posted his BMT journal up for your reading pleasure:
http://www.pmags.com/joomla/index.php/Outdoor-Writings/Benton-MacKaye-Trail-Thru-Hike-Journal.html
If you just want my overall impressions of the trail w/o the purple prose, go here:
http://www.pmags.com/joomla/index.php/Outdoor-Writings/Benton-MacKaye-Trail-Thru-Hike-Journal.html#bmt-impressions
I challenge 100 hikers to read this without falling asleep, shutting off their computer in sheer disgust or wonder why they wasted so much time when they could be watching a cute little video on dolphins (http://www.avclub.com/videocracy/10274/) instead!
Awesome dolphin video! Do you have a good one on manatees?
Oh, and nice journal, too. You put in some big mileage days.