trail angel wanabees

[kkshaydvm.concentric]

We will be vacationing in the Smokey Mtn. Nat'l. Park area 3/28-4/7 and wondered where would be a good place to try to provide some Trail Magic and would appreciate ideas of what they might like (food, rides into town, or what?). Needless to say, we haven't thruhiked YET - someday.

[Lone Wolf]

Clingman's Dome or Newfound Gap.

[smokymtnsteve]

food and rides at clingmans and rides at newfound..

also in gatlinburg rides back to the trail..rides back to the trail are harder to find IMO....Plus you get to ride with happy and clean hiker who has washed up in town...lots of folks looking for rides at the Happy Hiker in gatlinburg

[Aubrey]

Let's not forget the Hilton (Shelter just off the AT at the top of the hill on the south side of the damn); I've had some great parties there as well.

As for what to bring - hikers are pretty easy to please. Sodas, Iced Teas, Beer, candy bars, hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, fruit - pretty much whatever we can't carry with us will put a big smile on our faces.

But regardless of where and what, on behalf of hikers everywhere, THANKYOU! That's mighty neighborly of you.

Enjoy your hike in the Smokes!

[rickb]

Personally, I think it is weird for people to head to the Trail with thoughts of feeding a thru hiker. More than that, I think its a piss poor idea.

Rick B

[Groucho]

Yeah, if you feed 'em they'll eventually have to be disposed of or relocated. This is the thru-hikers feeding bears thread, isn't it?

[Blue Jay]

I must agree with Mr. Boudrie, helping other people is just plain disgusting (??????????). What is your problem? At least we know who Wingfoot is masquerading as.

[smokymtnsteve]

oh yes being nice and playing nice with other folks is jsut plain horrible...a cold drink and an offer of a ride is just disgusting ..so disgusting that in march - april of 2000 ..played on the trail with my truck and gave ridesw and goodies to over 150 hikers...i kept a guest register in my truck ...just like a shelter register...asked for the hilkerws to leave me thier name and home city-state country...most were very grateful and we all had a great time..

fontana is a great place to visit and hikers always need a ride tro the PO and back...had 15 people in and on the truck for one trip..a very funny register entry...

"hanging one the back bumper 14 others in the truck ..hope smoky doesn't mash the gas to hard, wahoo"

[MOWGLI]

I think Rick has a really good point. Some people actually put together business cards and call themselves "Trail Angel" on the card. To me, that is Weird.

After my thru-hike, I sat at the road crossing at Rte 17A in Warwick one afternnoon in late June or early July with some friends, a bunch of sodas & beer, and lots of food. The only hiker to show up that day was E-Z Does It, who I believe belongs to this forum. I have not done any trail magic since.

To me, the best kind of trail magic is the spontaneous offer of a ride or drink, or the anonymous jugs of water left at a trailhead during a drought.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the trail magic that I received during my hike, but some of my encounters with Trail Angels were downright strange. The ones that were most magical were the unplanned, unorchestrated types.

Little Bear

[kkshaydvm.concentric]

Thanks for all the input everyone. We'll wing it and see what happens. Hey, Smokeymtnsteve, check your register - my son J. Hay (Skirty) went thru Fontana in late March 2000 on his thruhike.
Maybe he was one of the ones crammed in your truck. He's tramping NZ now so I can't ask him about trail angel controversy. I just know he always seemed to appreciate unexpected kindnesses along the way.

[Footslogger]

In all my years of hiking the AT the only trail magic I've ever experienced was a totally anonymous trash bag full of candy bars handing on a tree branch or an Igloo cooler filed with cold water/gatorade on a rather dry section of the trail.

Personally, I think what people do is their business. If someone gets satisfaction from driving out to a road crossing and offering hikers a cold drink or a snack then I say more power to them.

Some pretty judgemental comments above on this topic - maybe time to look in the mirror. Anything can be taken to an extreme ... but what is weird and what's not on an overall basis is no one person's call ?

[Jitterbug]

I'm jumping into this late, but I wanted to point out that the road to Clingman's Dome is not open to cars until conditions allow, usually sometime around or after April 1st, I believe. Call the park to confirm. Also, rides into town at Newfound Gap are much appreciated as hitchhiking was not allowed at that spot and the park service DID enforce that when I was there.

[Aubrey]

I think it is ... odd that some folks actually want others to disregard the urge to head out and be completely nice to utter strangers.

I've enjoyed trail magic of all kinds: people have loaned me their cars, their trucks. I've been allowed to stay in the homes of total strangers - alone. I've been given water when I was thirsty, hot dogs when I was hungry, a smile when I was down.

I've run into massive parties set up along the trail. Parties like the Rat Patrol's, Stick's party at Washington Monument State Park in '96. These are BIG, well-planned, affairs. And not a single person was left unsatisfied, untouched, unmoved by the sheer generosity of these folks.

And yes, I've run into those competitive trail angels as well.

"Ride with me!"
"No! Ride with ME!"

I flip a coin and say, "Thanks for the ride."

About the only trail magic that I disagree with is really nothing more than a difference in taste. I don't want to see huge cookouts/affairs in the middle of, say, the 100-mile wilderness. Others might so - have fun and clean up when you're done.

But to slam all trail magic, and those that give of themselves to create it, is ... well, perhaps not entirely thought through.

[MOWGLI]

Originally posted by Footslogger
In all my years of hiking the AT the only trail magic I've ever experienced was a totally anonymous trash bag full of candy bars handing on a tree branch...

Footslogger, I hear ya, but do you think leaving a bag full of candy bars on a tree branch in the woods is a good thing? Something that should be encouraged? It flies in the face of Leave No Trace, which is what we should be promoting.

http://www.lnt.org/

Bears and other wildlife could just as easily help themselves to those candy bars, make a mess, and associate humans with those kinds of treats. IMO, not a good thing.

Little Bear

[MOWGLI]

Originally posted by kkshaydvm.concentric
...my son J. Hay (Skirty) went thru Fontana in late March 2000 on his thruhike.

Hey Mama. I spent some time with your Son "Skirty" during my thru-hike in 2000. I thoroughly enjoyed the time that I spent with him. Please tell him "Little Bear" from 2000 says "hey" next time ya talk to him.

Little Bear
GA-ME 2000

[rickb]

For anyone interested, here is a PDF link to an older issue of "The Register", in which the editor writes of Trail angels and thier impact on the Appalachian Trail experience.

http://www.appalachiantrail.org/abou...e/RGsprg00.pdf

I don't see this as an area where everything is black and white, but rather where there are many shades of gray. A parent of a thru hiker who keeps a few extra oranges in his pack and keen eye out for hikers who might need a ride while he enjoys time out with his family has a different kind of "magic" to offer than someone who stocks a cooler in the woods with sodas. And that kind of "magic" is different than a 40-something guy like me who is eager to relive a time 20 years ago by waiting at a road crossing for the current crop of thru hikers. And different still from the person on the AMC site a few years ago that was looking to find a specific thru hiker to share magic with, because her journal was so darn inspirational. And that is different from finding magic in a connection with a stranger who has just learned what a through hike is, and spontaneously expresses some of thier sharred excitement with a coke.

I am being judgemental, sure. Not of any individual, however. Just of how everything comes together. Like the editor of "The Register", I too think that there is something important about preserving "The Appalachian Trail Experience". That's articulated in the PDF, also.

Rick B

[Footslogger]

TNJED ...I'm not advocating a practice of hanging huge bags of goodies on tree branches. But again, it's a question of "degree". The bag I had mentioned earlier was a relatively small K-mart shopping bag and from what I saw it got emptied in a matter of 5 mintues by passing hikers. As I recall now, the hiker grabbing the last candybar took the bag and stuffed it in his pocket.

Trail magic, at least to me, is a pleasant surpise but certainly not a key factor in making my hike enjoyable.

[Aubrey]

Oops, forgot about that one, TNJED! Looks like I'm guilty of my own admonishment - didn't think it through! Gotta agree with you on that one. It is nice to grab a soda and a candy bar - but in the bigger picture you are correct. The good that comes out of that bag doesn't compensate for the potential bad. I also believe in LNT and I have to admit that a bag full of candy is Trace Left Behind.

But otherwise...

Still love the trail magic!

Rick, Just read John's editorial. Hmmm.

I disagree with his conclusion eventhough I agree with some of his arguments. As he states, the trail's purpose is to serve as a "...means of sojourning amoung these lands [Appalachians], such that the visitor may experience them by their own unaided efforts." This comes right after he allows that if 20 or 30 people are asked what the AT experience should be, you would get as many disparate answers. That's key.

The mission statement he rests his case upon itself rests upon the word "opportunity." My response is simple. If a hiker believes that trail magic represents an outside influence which would effectively negate an "unaided" hike, then the hiker is under no obligation to accept any.

The one point John raises that does give me pause is his concern about governmental regulation should something befall an attendee at one of these soirees. But this has to placed into context. There is no law stating it is illegal to give food to another. There may be places on the trail where you might need a permit to set up, but in most places, this just isn't so. John fear's a possibility. I submit that fear alone is not a reason to disallow these gatherings. This is interesting as this restriction in itself IS the regulation that John fears - it's just HIS regulation.

It puts me in mind of those that believe in "peace at any price." At some point, it becomes self-evident that the thing you were trying to save/preserve is lost in the desperation to save it.

Hope that wasn't too muddled.

Still, I am not insensitive to his (or your) position. You, John, TNJED, et.al. are correct when you advise that these "gifts" to hikers should be handled carefully. For my own part, I will alter my stance on trail magic to say this:

Trail Magic is all good when it is handled responsibly and accountably by both parties. But even if there are incidents where this is not the case, I still would not favor abolishment.

Maybe I'm an idealist but I just don't want to live in a world where being nice/helpful/generous to others ("tough love" notwithstanding) is necessarily considered a bad idea.

[Peaks]

That was a good analogy. Suggesting that a fed hiker is a dead thru-hiker.

If you truely want to be an angel, be on hand to offer a ride to and from Newfound Gap. Many people want to get into Gatlinburg, or feel the need to.
If there wasn't a water fountain at the Gap, I would suggest maintaining bottles of water. Often times, a drink of water without chemicals is very refreshing on a hot and humid day.

[MOWGLI]

Originally posted by Peaks

If you truely want to be an angel, be on hand to offer a ride to and from Newfound Gap. Many people want to get into Gatlinburg, or feel the need to.

My only unsuccessful hitch of the hike was at Newfound Gap. It was cold, rainy & miserable. I would have loved a ride that day.

My night in Icewater Springs Shelter turned out to be a good one though. Until the section hiking attorney decided to wake us all at 6:00 AM with his cell phone to call his wife to remind her to bring the diet cokes when she picked him up that afternoon. Grrrrrrrr