Taboo's Of hiking the A.T

[Happy44]

what are some of the things you have done or regretted on the trail that are flat out wrong or taboo, (yellow blazing) , littering , hard drugs, being rude, stealing , ext... plz no murder/rape confessions , i also want this to be a judge free thread , i made this post because on my 2012 hike i met people who considered bad thinks ok, and i wanted to see what others here considered taboo.

i will start with my biggest regret,

just north of pearisburg va i got VERY sick and was blacking out and falling over , i ended up that morning calling my sobo thru hike over , but what i did next haunts me to this day, i left my tent near rice field shelter with a few of my things, i was not in my right mind coming down into pearisburg but what i did was littering and it was bad. i called the atc and told them that my tent was up there and donated 50$ to help with cleanup along the trail ( https://www.appalachiantrail.org/donate )

im leaving for my Nobo thru hike in about a week (march 1st) one of my goals is to pick up every peace of trash i see along the trail. i hope to see some of you guys out there


Stay Happy !

[Lone Wolf]

what's taboo about yellow blazing?

[max patch]

im leaving for my Nobo thru hike in about a week (march 1st) one of my goals is to pick up every peace of trash i see along the trail. i hope to see some of you guys out there

I suggest you avoid all shelters. You will never get out of GA if you include shelter areas in your quest for trash removal.

[ighwoman]

I concur on that. In Georgia, my biggest concern was: how much of this can I justify carrying, so I can mail it home ASAP and sell it on eBay... Mountain Hardwear pants, bivy bag, belts, AT Companion and Data books... The list goes on and on. It's really amazing how so many pieces of nice equipment becomes redundant so quickly

[Happy44]

is this really the case?

[aficion]

1: Hung my hammock in Punch bowl Shelter. Luckily no one else showed up and the shelter did not fall down.
2: Took a bird bath by the picnic table at Maupin Field Shelter, a NOBO couple showed up ten minutes later.

[aficion]

is this really the case?

Plan instead to pick up one plastic grocery bag full per day. You will make better progress and your "chore" will be done early most days. And thanks.

[Lone Wolf]

is this really the case?

heck yeah it is. southern shelters are pig stys. the fire pits are toxic

[Happy44]

what's taboo about yellow blazing?

i met 2 marines that got into a fist fight about yellow blazing, one said that the other was not a true thru hiker because he yellow blazed a part of SNP

[Seatbelt]

Sorry to admit that once I didn't cover my poo as well as I should and it was pouring down rain.

[4eyedbuzzard]

I've thrown a couple of banana peels and eggshells into the woods, pitched a tent inside a shelter, built a few small fires in places where there was no established ring (while staying as close to LNT as possible), built a fire in NJ at a shelter (ranger showed up to tell me to extinguish it), blue blazed, yellow blazed, pink blazed (I was going for all the colors), participated in public nudity and swimming in a forbidden area (skinny dipping at Sunfish Pond), carried a firearm, fished without a license . . . A definite outlaw

[squeezebox]

What about dog poop? Cover it ?

[Pedaling Fool]

I slipped and fell on my hiking pole and broke it coming down that steep hill to Dicks Creek Gap -- extremely muddy that day.

I threw that damn thing out in the woods; that's a major LNT infraction. But it felt so good, I still get a smile on my face watching that pole getting flung out in to the woods

[A.T.Lt]

Sorry to admit that once I didn't cover my poo as well as I should and it was pouring down rain.

Oh. Guilty as charged.

[HikerMom58]

The rebel in me likes this thread, very much! Ahh ha ha!!

I like posts #6, 10, 11 &13... I can relate to all of them! Woo hoo!!

[RedBeerd]

Camped at a "no camping" spot. But it was covered in a foot of snow so I assumed damage would be nonexistent.

[McPick]

Any of you ever load a bottle cap in between your thumb and middle or ring finger, hold it back by your ear (keep elbow high) and click your fingers? The bottle cap sails out like Frisbee if it's done correctly. We used to have contests when we were... well, removing bottle caps from bottles.

I came out on an AT cliff in '06 to enjoy the view. While there, a bunch of stoned out kids showed up and started throwing fire crackers off the cliff. What a racket! I looked down a saw a bunch of broken bottles and dozens of bottle caps... Some were very old, some newer. (Obviously a "locals" party spot.)

I picked up a few of the nicer bottle caps and walked into the middle of those kids. They looked at me like, "What the ****!" I said, "Hey guys... check this out." I cocked a bottle cap and clicked my fingers. The wind was perfect. It caught that cap and it sailed out into forever, down and out of sight beautifully. Those kids thought that was pretty cool. They grabbed some bottle caps and had me show them how to place the caps between their thumbs and fingers to launch them. Took a while, but some of them got it.

I have no idea how much trash there was (or still is) at the bottom of that cliff. But I do know there are a lot more bottle caps down there. And yeah... I still pick up trash every time I hike.

[Hill Ape]

took my buddy from florida and his uppity yuppy girlfriend hiking. she wanted to camp here, right here. there was no campsite. i cleared one, collected rocks from the trail, made a fire ring, lit a fire because she wanted smores. i felt like a walking LNT violation. it was a great site though, i did good work. still felt dirty for doing it.

[jjchgo]

Any of you ever load a bottle cap in between your thumb and middle or ring finger, hold it back by your ear (keep elbow high) and click your fingers? The bottle cap sails out like Frisbee if it's done correctly. We used to have contests when we were... well, removing bottle caps from bottles.

I came out on an AT cliff in '06 to enjoy the view. While there, a bunch of stoned out kids showed up and started throwing fire crackers off the cliff. What a racket! I looked down a saw a bunch of broken bottles and dozens of bottle caps... Some were very old, some newer. (Obviously a "locals" party spot.)

I picked up a few of the nicer bottle caps and walked into the middle of those kids. They looked at me like, "What the ****!" I said, "Hey guys... check this out." I cocked a bottle cap and clicked my fingers. The wind was perfect. It caught that cap and it sailed out into forever, down and out of sight beautifully. Those kids thought that was pretty cool. They grabbed some bottle caps and had me show them how to place the caps between their thumbs and fingers to launch them. Took a while, but some of them got it.

I have no idea how much trash there was (or still is) at the bottom of that cliff. But I do know there are a lot more bottle caps down there. And yeah... I still pick up trash every time I hike.

i did the same thing with pennys while out in moab, off a cliff. i'm not proud of myself but i do think i set a world record which i'm pretty proud of

[RED-DOG]

On my 2006 thru-hike I Cussed out a Section Hiker in the SNP, Oh I also did that in 2012.