Mormon pack goats S of Monson on my 2010 NOBO.2010-08-07 946.jpg
AT x 3
GA-ME 2010
GA-ME 2011
ME-GA 2013
East rim of Linville Gorge looking upstream toward Table Rock, Hawksbill, Sitting Bear, Gingercake, and the Falls.
Two different occasions, one warm, one cold.....blue sky above both times.....wind blowing downstream toward Lake James .... a cloud appears at the head of the Gorge, sinks, and flows towards me from miles away....down past Spence Ridge Trail....on past the Chimneys.......now below me, and the updraft is kicking the cloud upward closer and closer to my feet, dangling over the edge of Shortoff Mountain......Suddenly it begins snowing upside down and I am delighted by the clear sky above and the gravity defying frozen precipitation flying about my perch. The warm day revealed a huge cloud of Monarch butterflies....thousands of them....trekking to Mexico...........so glad to cross their path......what unspeakable joy! A cloud of butterflies.
Last edited by aficion; 01-09-2014 at 21:51.
I was on a short hike to Abrams Falls in Cades Cove one day by myself. Shortly after the trail head, there is a fork, left to go to the falls and right to another trail. I heard a bunch of people hollering so I was curious. I figured it would be safe as it was a lot of people apparently. I got close enough to see what was happening and I truly thought I was in a time warp. There were indians attacking a log cabin with bows and arrows and such. Then gunfire (with a lot of smoke) came from the windows of the cabin. I could not believe what I was seeing. After a while, they stopped, all began walking around, laughing, the settlers came out of the cabin and everybody was having a good time.
I was relieved that it was not real as it sure looked like it was. I went closer and found out they were filming a commercial for an insurance company. Spooked me though. I then went to the falls.
Oh I get it, you guys! I was confuzzled at first. Pssstt....
I'm skeered, on the trail, when I read about people like this. But, I won't let me stop me from getting out there and hiking. I promise!
maybe he was carrying hisnfuelwith him?Found out later he was making about 4 miles a day and camping in the middle of the trail, leaving the evidence of the fires he was making right on the trail.
On the Batona Tr in the NJ Pine Barrens around Christmas there was about a 60 yr old severely over wt guy wondering around in nothing but his B-day suit in the middle of the woods near no apparent roads. No pack. No car keys. No shoes. Nothing. I didn't know what was happening like if he was on drugs, had Alzheimers, had gotten lost, needed clothing, was into voyeurism, etc so I went back to see if he was OK. Seemed like just a nudist out on an unseasonably warm NJ Dec day but he did ask me a couple of times if I had seen a young male hiking group(Eddie Bauer or something) which I had seen earlier in the day. I thought it was kinda creepy as I stood 20 ft from him like he thought it nothing strange what he was doing and the possible motives behind his questions about the boys hiking group.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...type=3&theater
This wasn't an actual encounter, more like some folks living next to the trail who made a point of making their presence known. I hope they were aiming away from the trail.
Last edited by Second Half; 01-18-2014 at 16:07.
Everything is easy until you do it.
Today I hiked north of Rockfish Gap, there was a couple of inches of snow on the trail, it was 23 degrees and the wind was blowing at 15-20 mph, and along comes a trail runner in trail runners, low socks, long T, and of all things what looked like Hawaiian board shorts. Wish I had gotten a picture.
Did anyone else meet Samarai? He was an aggressive, strapping fellow who dressed in black and carried a big samara sword until one day he broke it cutting firewood. We met him at the Blackrock shelter in SNP in May 2011, as he came through NOBO. He was there long enough to scare everybody with threatening talk, get into a few arguments, then he left about as the sun set hiking on to who knows where… we were all so relieved to see him go.
I had a very strange encounter on the trail, myself. Mine was Oct. '08' on McAfee Knob. I've told the story so many times I'm tired of sharing it. But, it's just another story of someone on the trail with obvious mental health issues.
What makes these encounters more intense/scarey is the fact that there's no place to run, no place to hide to get away, often times. The only thing you can do is pray. Everything ended well that day. I think about him every time I hike to McAfee Knob. I pray that he is in a good place... safe, warm and well fed.
I saw a girl in her teens near Madison Hut with a folding toilet seat strapped to her pack.
More walking, less talking.
I wonder if you may be talking about a hiker I met in 2012 by the name of Pro Visions. This guy had been on the trail the previous two years also but had different trail names. At this time he had a large bamboo pole that he practiced martial arts with. When I got to a shelter that he was staying at, there was a couple of section hikers and they were terrified. The shelter filled up and he kept getting stranger. Upon first meeting me he asked "are your ancestors Scottish?" "No, German," I replied. "I was wondering because the Scottish were very malnourished. How many calories are you eating? Do you need food?" Then he moved on to next person. Later he started fire dancing and claimed to everyone, "fire dancing is good for sexual Lobito." He had a schizo type feel to him and as soon as it got dark he packed up and left. Everyone exhaled in relief. Five minutes later it started pouring but he never returned. I heard several crazy stories about that guy including picking a couple fights.