Order your copy of the Appalachian Trail Passport at www.ATPassport.com
Green Mountain House Hostel
Manchester Center, VT
http://www.greenmountainhouse.net
People seek the "freedom" of the Trail, but some consider it a license to do whatever they want. Mercifully, this does not apply to the majority of hikers I've met. But...as the number of hikers increases (estimated 11% increase of NoBo's at Springer this year) the effect of the self-entitled becomes more prominent. Maybe it's time for the "silent majority" in recent hiker classes to speak up and for HYOH to be banished from the lexicon. Old fossils like me are not relevant in this conversation--the Trail will never be like it was back in the day, but let's try and keep it a meaningful personal challenge and significant life experience.
Cosmo
Thank you to the ranger for repairing the sign so quickly. I try to repair vandalism, pick up trash, correct bad behavior (without being a purist trail nazi ) and make the experience a little better for the next hiker, as so many have done for me. Little things do add up, and even though I know a thousand people may have hiked the same section in the past year, I enjoy that feeling of being alone in the unpolluted woods when I step along the AT.
heavy drinking and drugs seem to go along with unthinking and destructive behavior. Why are you out there? I can get trashed at the local bar, don't need to spend my rare vacation drinking and destroying property. Maybe these folks have too many DUIs. Perhaps someone can come up with a HUI (hiking under the influence) citation. Maybe we can coat em with honey and leave em out for the bears.
thank youtube
Terry Coyle. There have to be sad cases like him in the world. I'll have to admit I watched his videos years back. They mostly involved his mooching weed and majic mushrooms, as well as making an appeal for a woman who will "understand" him. Poor bastard. One year he was giving advice from his tent in his sister's backyard somewhere in Florida while he waited out the winter. He had some good tips, but often came off like a big cheese because he had been on the trail so much. By the angle of the cover up of a tatoo on the left side of his neck, (looked he was covering up a SS Nazi tat), I wondered if he was a bit of a supremacist. Who knows? His latest gig was a year or so ago when he announced he was giving up trail life to support himself selling beers and mixed drinks at Greatful Dead concerts. All the while collecting disability check for some unknown malady. And he set up a GoFundMe site to try and repair his allegedly ailing van, the of which will no doubt fuel his $9 a pack cigarette habit.
At least he has the van to sleep in during inclement weather.
It takes all kinds, and Terry is one of them.
As far as partying goes on the AT, if you want one, you'll find one.... just like in normal life.
Oh, and I stopped by the Doyle Hotel in Duncannon early last fall and asked the lady who co-owns it with her husband about Terry Coyle. She told me he was banned from the Doyle for life because he wanted to tape himself smoking weed in the bar. She told him she didn't want to lose her liquor license because he was a stoner.
The thing is that they are not kiddies, although they are clueless. I was a fraternity member in college and every homecoming, without exception, would bring alumni in their late 20's to their 40's coming back to party like they did when they were 19. I wonder if they ever caught on that we weren't laughing with them, we were laughing at them. Same deal for these idiots.
His latest gig was a year or so ago when he announced he was giving up trail life to support himself selling beers and mixed drinks at Greatful Dead concerts
well...........
the Grateful Dead havent toured since 95 soooooooooooooo..............
and yeah, the offshoot band has been on the road for the last couple of summers (i see 5 or 6 shows a tour) but i dont think its enough to sustain a lifestyle anymore...
I will be at the show in Raleigh NC this year. Looking forward to it.
me too.....
was figuring plans out this past weekend for what shows im doing...
looks like maybe atlanta, definitely raliegh...........maybe darien, more than likely blossom and not sure about alpine valley yet............thats a long drive for me...
then turn around and do a bunch of phish shows....
Awesome. I have a busy summer so I will only be able to make one show but driving down with my brothers that day and got a hotel for the night. My brother went to the Playing in the Sand shows down in Mexico this past year and said it was awesome. We all went to the show in Washington DC but they skipped that one for the summer tour. Hopefully they come back in the fall.
My brother went to the Playing in the Sand shows down in Mexico this past year and said it was awesome.
nice...............had a bunch of friends that went down for that....
too rich for my blood and as a non drinker, an all inclusive place isnt up my alley......
Trail Days will get out of hand and explode one of these days. Damascus old timers will talk about the old days when they had this thing called "trail days'. In the Navy we used to have this thing called "Tailhook". I'm thinking that one of these years they will be calling out the Virginia National Guard.
I just checked his gofundme and he has over $9,000 donated. There are people donating as recently as last week. It’s amazing how foolish some people are. Seven did far more damage to the trail than Riff Raff has done simply because of his social media reach. It would be great if he could be scrubbed from the internet and banished from the trail.