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View Full Version : What do you guys know about the ADT?



sdh59
11-15-2013, 06:21
You have the AT, the PCT, and the CDT which all go up and down the US, but the American Discovery Trail is the only trail I know of that goes across the US laterally to connect coast to coast. However, that's really where my knowledge on this trail ends. There's a real dearth of information out there, even if you go to the ADT's website, so I'm trying to scope out people's ideas about it. Is it something that can (realistically) be thru-hiked?

If you don't know anything about the ADT feel free to go here (http://www.discoverytrail.org/news/index.html) and check it out!

aficion
11-15-2013, 06:39
You have the AT, the PCT, and the CDT which all go up and down the US, but the American Discovery Trail is the only trail I know of that goes across the US laterally to connect coast to coast. However, that's really where my knowledge on this trail ends. There's a real dearth of information out there, even if you go to the ADT's website, so I'm trying to scope out people's ideas about it. Is it something that can (realistically) be thru-hiked?

If you don't know anything about the ADT feel free to go here (http://www.discoverytrail.org/news/index.html) and check it out!

They got ritalin for that, if you can get thru the website which has been reported to be slow:).
No seriously, it has been thru hiked, but I think it involves more road walking than most here would consider ideal. Might be great for people that like to walk through and get to know small town America.

Old Hillwalker
11-15-2013, 07:17
Mike "Lion King" Daniels has made a film about his walk on the ADT. Just run a search for Lion King American Discovery Trail.

Coffee
11-15-2013, 10:22
I read an interesting trail journal on the ADT a while back.

http://www.trailjournals.com/GottaWalkADT

The Snowman
11-15-2013, 17:37
the ADT has a board of its own on WB you might have better luck than here.

Dogwood
11-15-2013, 18:46
Thread topics like this remind me of my first time to Manhattan going to the top of the Empire State Building. After much timely frustration and feeling lost adrift in a very tiny boat in a sea of skyscrapers, concrete, glass, steel and people I finally got someone to tell me where the Empire State Building was. "You're in front of the Empire State Building" was the man's reply. All I had to do was notice the words on the building, what intersection I was near, what the building looked like etc. Don't people know how to do an internet, WB, etc search?

Slo-go'en
11-15-2013, 20:44
I looked into it and even bought the guide books such as they are. Since 80% of the route is road walking and the 20% which isn't is kinda remote (like through Nevada where you need to do a lot of water catches) I quickly decided that this would be a trip I would not enjoy nor want to do.

A cross country bike ride would be a more enjoyable trip. At least you'd get across the midwest a lot quicker which has to be insanity to walk across :0

Dogwood
11-16-2013, 02:21
That's what I took from my bit of researching the ADT 2-3 yrs ago - ridiculous amount of road walking TO ME FOR ME even if it mostly was on back country roads. Not knocking what others see as what's right for their treks. My conclusion - if I was inclined to walk east/west across N. America I'd come up with my own east to west route(parts of the ADT included) and make no BIG deal about having to say I "thru-hiked" a "named" hike/route. I took the same thing from my research. I'd rather combo bicycle tour/hike it over two-three yrs branching out from the main route to even a greater number of cultural, NPs, architectural, botanical sites, music venues, etc

Paul the Brit
11-17-2013, 00:40
Josh seehorn is currently completing the trail and has a great website http://outdoorjosh.com/ check out his video blogs

Spirit Walker
11-17-2013, 02:14
If you want to walk coast to coast without all the hiking through cities, you might check out the C2C route. It connects the PNWT with the NCT. There's still a lot of roadwalking, but not as much as on the ADT.

Ken and Marcia, who hiked the ADT a few years ago, said that the western part was very remote and beautiful. However, water is a huge issue in places.

MuddyWaters
11-18-2013, 00:16
What do you guys know about the ADT?
I know exactly what Wikipedia says, and not a word more, and probably quite a bit less.

But, I do know that Josh Seehorn (amplexus) halfway video is awesome.

Different Socks
11-18-2013, 16:24
I looked into it and even bought the guide books such as they are. Since 80% of the route is road walking and the 20% which isn't is kinda remote (like through Nevada where you need to do a lot of water catches) I quickly decided that this would be a trip I would not enjoy nor want to do.

A cross country bike ride would be a more enjoyable trip. At least you'd get across the midwest a lot quicker which has to be insanity to walk across :0

80% is road walking?!! Where do you get your statistics from? Trail walking for the ADT invloves, roadless/trail walking in Nevada/Utah, 2/3's of the route in Colorado in the heart of the Rockies is trail, trail in the Sierras, the Finger Lakes trail in NY, 100's of miles of rail to trails, the Buckeye Trail of Ohio, ad much more! Soagain I ask, where do you get a figure like 80%.
I mean even the AT uses rail to trails as well as the PCT and the CDT.

Slo-go'en
11-18-2013, 19:34
80% is road walking?!! Where do you get your statistics from? Trail walking for the ADT invloves, roadless/trail walking in Nevada/Utah, 2/3's of the route in Colorado in the heart of the Rockies is trail, trail in the Sierras, the Finger Lakes trail in NY, 100's of miles of rail to trails, the Buckeye Trail of Ohio, ad much more! Soagain I ask, where do you get a figure like 80%.
I mean even the AT uses rail to trails as well as the PCT and the CDT.

One should never rely on memory alone. I guess what I was thinking is 80% of the trail can be biked. One 1/3d of the ADT is on paved road. Another 1/3d is on unimproved road like jeep trial, gravel road, rail to trail and other open spaces. 1/3d is on actual hiking trail. In my mind, anything which isn't actual hiking trail is road walking, paved, unpaved, old railroad bed. It all amounts to the same thing.

BTW, the Fingre Lakes trail is not part of the ADT and the AT does not use any rail to trail paths. It does use the old C+O tote path for a few miles out of Harpers Ferry, but that's not a rail trail.

Different Socks
11-18-2013, 20:25
One should never rely on memory alone. I guess what I was thinking is 80% of the trail can be biked. One 1/3d of the ADT is on paved road. Another 1/3d is on unimproved road like jeep trial, gravel road, rail to trail and other open spaces. 1/3d is on actual hiking trail. In my mind, anything which isn't actual hiking trail is road walking, paved, unpaved, old railroad bed. It all amounts to the same thing.

BTW, the Fingre Lakes trail is not part of the ADT and the AT does not use any rail to trail paths. It does use the old C+O tote path for a few miles out of Harpers Ferry, but that's not a rail trail.

The AT does use rail to trails--the Virginia Creeper Trail, which is a 34.3-mile rail-to-recreation trail. The section the AT uses goes thru Damascus. Quoted from the Data Book, "The AT shares the Creeper route north of Damascus for 300 yards and again 10 miles north".
My mistake about the FLT, I was thinking of the North Country Scenic obviously.