View Full Version : Do you ever get tired of hiking the same sections?
So... tomorrow/Fri/Sat my wife and I are going to hike the 30 mile section from Devil's Fork Gap to Hot Springs....
Man, I've hiked this section so many times I can almost close my eyes and hike it from my Lazyboy.
Trouble is, it's a section my wife has never hiked it and she wants to hit the hot tubs after the hike so there's no negotiation.
I guess I should be happy - I could be sitting at home watching the grass grow. :) Last weekend we went to Damascus and rode bikes on the Creeper Trail - that was pretty cool....
You ever hike the same section so many times you weren't enthused about hiking it anymore?
And to take 2.5 days to hike what I would normally hike in 1 good day is going to be a challenge in itself....
Bootstrap
05-04-2011, 17:07
No. It just doesn't happen. I love to go back.
Sometimes I'd rather see something new, but I've never worn out a section of trail yet.
harryfred
05-04-2011, 17:16
I have hiked from my front door to Birch Run or Toms Run shelter more times than I can count. All it cost me is some snack food and whatever I want to eat for supper. I always enjoy the time just walking, the night in the woods, and meeting other hikers. My wife will go on very short afternoon hikes with me and she is maddenly slow still I would not trade the time she spends with me doing something I love for anything.
Tipi Walter
05-04-2011, 17:44
I could spend 10 days on a 30 mile section. Going to the same place over and over again has its merits---you know where the water and campsites are. Anyway, bag nights are bag nights, whether in the front yard or on the AT or inside a wilderness area. It's all about bag nights.
bulldog49
05-04-2011, 17:49
Any time I hike with my wife is special. The fact I'm doing something I really enjoy with the most important person in my life makes it special, no matter what or where it is.
Ashevillian
05-04-2011, 18:00
Living in Asheville, I've hike the southern NC, the GSNP, and Fine's Creek to Big Bald numerous times. Sometimes it gets old, sometime's exciting with the changes in the weather, sometimes interesting when the seasons flip. But like you it does get old sometimes. I actually was going to PM you today to get some good section ingo from Erwin north.
ATsawyer
05-04-2011, 18:04
I've hiked Central District Shenandoah repeatedly, but usually with a crosscut saw and I always find something to cut. Stopping to buck up a blowdown during the various seasons of the year makes every hike just a little bit different.
I've hiked some of the same sections of the PCT 3 times and a few of them as many as 5 times. There are always new people to meet, pretty flowers to see, different weather conditions, something to make the experience new.
bigcranky
05-04-2011, 18:28
I just love getting out. We do a loop at Mt Rogers at least 2-3 times a year. It never gets old.
It hasn't happened to me yet. I'm still getting to know the areas better and better every time I get out there. I enjoy bumping into hikers, especially when they think the area is dry and barren so that I can point out the nearby water resources, maybe even a swimming hole or waterfall, and then show them that the horrible 'desert' plants they were mindlessly walking past are actually edible and that many of them were used as alternatives for various things during WWII and the oil crisis...and I still have a LOT to learn.
88BlueGT
05-04-2011, 18:28
I certainly get tired of hiking the same sections. 3 is usually my limit. And unfortunately, I've done every section within 3 hours of me atleast 3 times....
Problem is, after you do all of the local trail than you have to start traveling and thats when it becomes complicated. Taking buses, trains, hitching, getting picked up and dropped back off at your vehicle, back tracking, etc.
fullhardt knob from evry direction posibe but whtevs... saddly VA311-220 is also loseing its awsomeness to me but the views on that tretch make it worth while specialy with a freind or somthin..
pattydivins
05-04-2011, 20:08
I've hiked the Golden Eagle Trail (9 mile loop) in PA 4 times and I always finish to myself thinking that I cannot wait until I get the chance to do it again. If there is something I really enjoy about a trail, it feels like a reward to hike to it and it never gets old.
AegisIII
05-04-2011, 20:43
There are trail sections I've hiked multiple times without getting bored of them, and then there are trails I get bored with hiking them for the first time. Thankfully that second category is smaller than the first.
Cabin Fever
05-04-2011, 21:02
You can never hike the Roans too many times.
The Cleaner
05-04-2011, 22:10
If you can take a notebook for a register @ Jerry's Cabin shelter.I was there Sunday nite and someone left a very small,pocket sized one and it was about full.Also don't take the Jerry Miller trail by mistake which seems to be happening to some NOBOs again.....LOL....
Tennessee Viking
05-04-2011, 22:15
I always liked the Bald Mtn ridgeline because of the exposed trail, views of Rocky Fork, and the gravesites.
I say the sections with the least amount of views were the least entertaining ones. Holston, Iron, south of Indian Grave.
The Cleaner
05-04-2011, 22:15
Warning the gnats are bad and biting too:eek:
If you can take a notebook for a register @ Jerry's Cabin shelter.I was there Sunday nite and someone left a very small,pocket sized one and it was about full.Also don't take the Jerry Miller trail by mistake which seems to be happening to some NOBOs again.....LOL....
I'll drop a notebook off on the way by, no problem.
I like the Jerry Miller trail - I've taken it the last 2 times I've hiked that section because it's all downhill and a lot quicker to Devil's Fork Gap. :)
BTW, along the same lines... The Roundtop Ridge trail on the south side of Rich Mt. is the old AT route into Hot Springs and saves 5.5 miles off the current AT route into Hot Springs. I took this trail out of Hot Springs last week and it's a slow, gradual climb on good tread all the way to the AT. It saves almost 3 hours of hiking and you get to miss the climbs out of Hot Springs that the current AT has.
I got VERY tired of hiking the stretch between Rte. 4 and Hanover in Vt.-NH. after doing it a third time with bronchitis in the summer of 2005. Other than that, I'm happy to hike with others mainly to show them the sights most other places. :)
The Cleaner
05-04-2011, 22:46
I'll drop a notebook off on the way by, no problem.
I like the Jerry Miller trail - I've taken it the last 2 times I've hiked that section because it's all downhill and a lot quicker to Devil's Fork Gap. :)
BTW, along the same lines... The Roundtop Ridge trail on the south side of Rich Mt. is the old AT route into Hot Springs and saves 5.5 miles off the current AT route into Hot Springs. I took this trail out of Hot Springs last week and it's a slow, gradual climb on good tread all the way to the AT. It saves almost 3 hours of hiking and you get to miss the climbs out of Hot Springs that the current AT has.
Ask Sarge&Weaver how they liked the JMT....LOL
be happy you live near the AT ... where you get some hills and few bugs
I feel the same way down here in NW Florida about all the trails in my area, I've hiked them so many times I could do them blindfolded....most of which are flat, and most of the year the weather is miserably hot and humid, and saturated with ticks, mosquitos, yellow flies, chiggers, fire ants, (what did I leave out?)
Torreya State Park is the closest thing we have down here to north GA type hilly terrain, but after years of hiking the 15 miles of trails in that park, I'm bored to death with it most of the time. I'm ready to move north or west, anywhere to get away from this friggin Gulf coast humidity. Hiking in this humidity literally sucks the life out of you.
enjoy the hike!
Bootstrap
05-05-2011, 01:08
You can never hike the Roans too many times.
I've tried. And I have to agree with you.
earlyriser26
05-05-2011, 07:23
Hiked the Smokies 7X. Never get tired of it. Haven't done it in over a decade. Maybe it is time for number 8? Well, maybe someday. Heading for Front Royal today for a quick 2 day hike. Finishing up the southern half of the AT this year. Just a few more miles to go.
After driving 6 hrs to reach the AT at its closest point to home, usually for only a few days' outing - happy even if I've been to the same area many times.
Yeah, I guess I sounded a bit ungrateful.
I do feel fortunate to live so close to the AT and so many great trails and I'd rather hike back and forth between Erwin and Hot Springs than not at all for sure.
I've just realized lately that there are so many trails that I want to hike and only so much time.. Re-hiking the same section of trail seems like a very inefficient use of time.
hikerboy57
05-05-2011, 08:13
I dont think I will ever get tired of franconia ridge.ever.
i've hiked a lot of the 1st 500 miles of the AT at a couple times and some of it much more than that. GA is a section I do not care to repeat. I never get tired of the Grayson Highlands/Mt Rogers area or the Standing Indian area. Did Standing Indian Loop in March and hiking Partnership to Damascus after trail days. O yeah...don't forget Roan area....:)
mweinstone
05-05-2011, 08:29
things that happen when i hike the same section over and over:
i brag about knowing the section well and then have trouble finding the pinnicle .
i give directions that include where to pee and where not to poop.
ive named trees greek letters and say hi when i hike by," hi alfa!, hi zeta!"
i pass the same lazy boy recliner in the woods watching its journey thru the striations of time and decay.
i throw rocks at the snakeholes comming up unseen that i know about, letting the bastards know whos back on the block.
i bring guidbooks and maps knowing strangers dont trust my directions.
and the number one thing that happens when i hike the same trail over and over is:
i never remember where anything is or witch way to go.
I dont think I will ever get tired of franconia ridge.ever.
:) Franconia Ridge is awesome. The climb from Franconia Notch - wow.....
the goat
05-05-2011, 08:44
So... tomorrow/Fri/Sat my wife and I are going to hike the 30 mile section from Devil's Fork Gap to Hot Springs....
Man, I've hiked this section so many times I can almost close my eyes and hike it from my Lazyboy.
Trouble is, it's a section my wife has never hiked it and she wants to hit the hot tubs after the hike so there's no negotiation.
I guess I should be happy - I could be sitting at home watching the grass grow. :) Last weekend we went to Damascus and rode bikes on the Creeper Trail - that was pretty cool....
You ever hike the same section so many times you weren't enthused about hiking it anymore?
And to take 2.5 days to hike what I would normally hike in 1 good day is going to be a challenge in itself....
i ran the same section of trail 4 times a week for the better part of two years. never got tired of it.
If you can take a notebook for a register @ Jerry's Cabin shelter.I was there Sunday nite and someone left a very small,pocket sized one and it was about full.Also don't take the Jerry Miller trail by mistake which seems to be happening to some NOBOs again.....LOL....
I dropped off a new register at Jerry's Cabin Thursday. The little bitty composition book was still there - no one had even written in it.
We tented there Thursday night - about 15 people were there all together.
Place was pretty clean too which is unusual.
WingedMonkey
05-07-2011, 21:09
I dropped off a new register at Jerry's Cabin Thursday. The little bitty composition book was still there - no one had even written in it.
We tented there Thursday night - about 15 people were there all together.
Place was pretty clean too which is unusual.
That's why they call him The Cleaner
:sun
WingedMonkey
05-07-2011, 21:12
That's why they call him The Cleaner
:sun
From Shaka's Trail Journal
When I arrived at the Jerry's Cabin Shelter, a trail maintenance volunteer named Cleaner was already here, keeping a nice fire in the fireplace and providing good area knowledge and conversation. Cleaner comes up about every two months and cleans out all of the rubbish from the shelters. Which is nice.
Blissful
05-07-2011, 21:52
Hope the hike went well. Having the wife along I'm sure made it a new experience, even if the trail was the same. :)
Have to say, I don't get the fixation on the AT... there's a wonderful variety of trails up and down the Appalachian Corridor... why not explore those less crowded trails?
Hope the hike went well. Having the wife along I'm sure made it a new experience, even if the trail was the same. :)
Thanks - it was a great hike. Having a hot tub at the end of the hike was a real nice way to end it. Our next hike will be from Davenport Gap back to Hot Springs - again... :)
Have to say, I don't get the fixation on the AT... there's a wonderful variety of trails up and down the Appalachian Corridor... why not explore those less crowded trails?
I'm there.. Just finished the BMT and I've been spend lots of time in both the Cherokee and Pisgah National forests. Going to hike the Bartram trail in July....
The AT does make a good connecter though.
fullhardt knob from evry direction posibe but whtevs... saddly VA311-220 is also loseing its awsomeness to me but the views on that tretch make it worth while specialy with a freind or somthin..
i went for a hike today and well im gonna revisse this to im just depressed when i hike alone so i gonna say this is false