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WIAPilot
06-15-2012, 17:43
BEST experience you had on the AT??
BEST experience you had on the AT??
Collecting wood with my future bride (who I met just an hour before) at Ethan Pond shelter, then sitting back and watching her build and light the fire-- even though I really like and am especially good at building and lighting fires myself.
WIAPilot
06-15-2012, 19:57
Collecting wood with my future bride (who I met just an hour before) at Ethan Pond shelter, then sitting back and watching her build and light the fire-- even though I really like and am especially good at building and lighting fires myself.
Awww. That's so sweet! What a wonderful memory!!
Can't top the firewood story. That's great!
kayak karl
06-15-2012, 20:34
the night on springer knowing i would start trail in the morn.
Wise Old Owl
06-15-2012, 20:39
Hiking with my dad, going to the pinnacle and pulpit...someday he wants to me to spread his ashes there.
Made it to the 501 shelter and spoke to an 18 yr old kid there who said his trailname was "Drop Off". I asked him how he got that name and he said.....
"Well, I was living at home and hadn't been treating my parents too good when all of a sudden they said "Let's go on a road trip". About 300 miles later I started thinking "Military School". Then my Dad pulled the car over at a trail head, opened up the trunk and threw out a loaded backpack, hiking poles, and boots and told me- "When you get your head screwed on right you can come back home". Then they drove off."
I looked at him, smiled, and said "Man that's a great trailname". Never will forget that story. The absolute best experience I had.
Energizer Bunny
06-15-2012, 21:03
When I finished my first state Georgia. Then I knew I could really do this.
ChinMusic
06-15-2012, 21:06
Oddly, seeing my first white blaze. I was hooked.
fiddlehead
06-15-2012, 22:29
Oddly, seeing my first white blaze. I was hooked.
Also the first step of any thru hike is always a great feeling.
I usually get a new "best" every day.
Best wildlife experience: Probably the time I was telling two hikers behind me that the moose tracks on the trail looked very fresh. They started laughing and I looked up to see a huge bull moose not far in front of us walking down the trail.
Worst: Maybe the bear with two cubs that false charged me and stopped 8' away.
Best finish: Knife edge one year when there was practically no one else on it. Or maybe it was the one at Springer when so many of my friends showed up to congratulate me that we have a picture with over 100,000 miles of hiking experience in it: 16297
Worst finish: the time it was so crowded on Katahdin that there rangers around yelling at everyone to stay off the grass.
Best hitchhike: long long story but this guy picked us up and was towing a trailer, his engine blew up almost at the top. We got out and walked the rest of the way where he pissed on some white rocks at the top, telling us it was his father's bones and he pisses on them every time he goes over that mountain.
Worst: Bible belters trying to convert me to their beliefs.
Best friends I've met: so many. I must say my best friends in life are people I've met while hiking or travelling.
Worst: probably the guy at plum orchard gap who stuck his ax in the middle of a blooming dogwood tree to accent the ridiculous story he was telling us. (can't say he was a friend but, he needed help)
Best shelter: Probably Fontana Hilton because it has a hot shower which I needed badly one time in a rainstorm
Worst: In the old days, many of the shelters had dirt floors and the older boy scouts would make us newbies sleep in the middle which would fill up with water when it rained. We still had a great time because he were hiking on the AT. It was called Ney's shelter and is no longer there. (been replaced by Eagles Nest a few miles away now)
The bests sure outweigh the worsts.
SawnieRobertson
06-15-2012, 22:48
The hike within . . . . Falling into my 2R after the longest day/most miles ever hiked and realizing that this is the way that we were created to live. I pondered and pondered how I could manage to stay on a trail, backpacking for the rest of my life. WIAPilot, you ask the best questions. I wish you well.
Collecting wood with my future bride (who I met just an hour before) at Ethan Pond shelter, then sitting back and watching her build and light the fire-- even though I really like and am especially good at building and lighting fires myself.
Dude...that's awesome! I'm not even gonna try to top that one. Congratulations on finding, in such a cool way, a wife you obviously love .
Cat in the Hat
TrekkerJeff
06-20-2012, 16:46
Love the comments so far. Great question WIA Pilot. We have had so many great experiences on the trail it is hard to pick the the best. In general I would say the best thing from the trail is the friends we made along the way. Some will be friends for life....Flame, Pigeon, Skidmark, Zig Zag and many others.
Probably sitting on top of Katahdin knowing I had finished the trail.
Gotta say +1 on the friends made on the trail. That's been priceless. I'm sure several friends for life.
brian039
06-20-2012, 17:56
The two days off that I took in Dalton, Mass. It's where I met the group that I finished the trail with. We had a blast! I had heard it before but didn't understand it before my hike that it really is about the people you meet both on and off the trail.
Walking into Harpers Ferry, finishing 1,000 miles. It was about affirming life after having been dead on an operating room table---Incredibly spiritual experience.
Mountain Mike
06-20-2012, 21:29
The people I met on the trail. Now almost 25 years later I still keep in touch & visit some from time to time.
One of best memories of the trail rejoininga couple I hiked with down south through a lot of nasty weather & last saw in Damascus. Met them again in the Mahosics. After a long dry spell while we were apart we woke to rain the next morning. We mockingly argued who was the one causing it. At one point I watched them climb down a 4' boulder & try & sidestep a puddle hitting the damp brush on the side of the trail. I said we were doing it wrong. We were going to end up soaked by end of the day anyway so I let out a holler & jumped off the rock into the middle of the puddle! Earthdog decided it looked like fun so he climbed back up the rock & did the same. The rest of the day we happily stomped through every puddle we could find & had a blast like two little kids.
June 26 1979
Second day of honeymoon.
Set camp on the top end of Wilburn Ridge near GHSP in a blowing whiteout fog near the end of the day.
A bad night sleeping on rocks.
In the morning we crawled out of the tent to crisp clear day overlooking a mile long swath of rhodies at peak bloom.
A total surprise.
We walked through the patch into Scales.
Iconic.
Every morning i woke up next to the AT, or Climbing to the top of many mountain tops like Katahdan, or Thunder head, feeling like your on top of the world now that is a great experience.
Gotta say +1 on the friends made on the trail. That's been priceless. I'm sure several friends for life.
+1 The people I met were amazing! Maddog :)
Creek Dancer
06-22-2012, 13:34
I once asked a thru hiker I met at a shelter in the SNP what was his favorite day so far. He said that every day was his favorite. :)
XrayDuke
06-26-2012, 11:46
Camping on Hump Mountain with my Brother that I hadn't seen in 2 years and my son that had just returned from Iraq. We had a drink at sunset in rememberence on Dad and talked about old times.
I'd say that hiking up Blood Mountain in GA was my best experience...all of the hikers I was hiking with had been dreading this climb. They had an elevation map, and kept staring at it and commenting about how steep it was, how awful it would be. I had never backpacked before I started my hike on Springer in 2011...and so I was an extremely novice hiker, and ill-prepared for basically everything. I somewhat felt as though I would never catch up to those around me, that I'd never love hiking as much as they did.
So when we got to Blood Mountain...there were trail angels with food at the base. I ate some sausage breakfast sandwiches and still, everybody around me was dreading the climb right before us. I suppose I took advantage of the situation because for the first time, I was the only one with the really positive outlook, while those around me were in dread. I hiked stronger then I've ever hiked that day and got to the top before anybody. The whole time up that mountain, I kept thinking to myself how it just seems like something awesome will be waiting for me at the top. I basically ran up that mountain and when I got to the top, and stopped..I just stared out in awe at the 360 degree views around me...I felt strong for the first time. Some kids up there had a bag of jolly ranchers and gave me a few, and I also remember how delicious those were..
Blood mountain is by far my best, and most vivid memory. I can see the layout of the mountain, see my feet stepping strongly in front of me. Oh, I love that mountain...*dreamy eyes*
Plodderman
06-26-2012, 14:49
No doubt about it the Greyson Highlands.
rocketsocks
06-26-2012, 15:44
Probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen was at the Delaware Water Gap,NJ.I was hiking with some fellas I had met there the day before,we had a little party,and were all a little fuzzy.Were hiking along and all of a sudden there was this whistle that filled the Woods,it got louder and louder,then someone asked "What the heck is that" I had heard this sound before,but was drawing a momentary auditory blank,then it hit me,quick,and I practically pulled a muscle in my neck as all in one motion I looked up,pointed,and said "there,right there" it was a sail plane(glider)about 50 feet above the trees,it was early spring,and the leaves weren't out yet,the plane was so close I could see the pilots sun glassed face as he looked right at us,again,one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
When the westerlies blow just right,Sail planes fly the ridge of the Kittatinnies in NJ and can cross into PA and follow the Blue mountains all the way down to about MD turn around and come back,this is called or classified as a cross country flight because of the distance involved,there is an airport near the AT in Blairstown NJ,thats where I took my first sail plane ride,and later logged about 6 hrs in a Schweizer 233 trainer.Next time you here this whistle while hiking,don't forget to keep looking up,very cool indeed.