Firebug on Trail in Georgia

[DavidNH]

this guy is either a criminal or an idiot and possibly both.
The news about the drought in Georgia is everywhere (on national news now) and making camp fires is just asking for trouble. There is almost no way he could NOT know how dry things are down there and about the fire danger. Have folks alerted the local rangers? I almost wish I was hiking down there now just so i could see a ranger hike in and confront this guy!
I wonder what the fines/penalties would be? Bet it would be steep! It oughta be steep!

DavidNH

[Uncle Silly]

Do you piss in your hallway at home instead of the toilet?

Same thing.

I have a porch, and few neighbors. What do I need to piss in the john for?

[Frosty]

Look dude, your shoes are gonna get muddy & dirty & nasty anyways. Don't worry about whether the mud contains my urine or not, just plan to rinse your bootsoles when you get to town. (Or in the next creek you have to ford.) It's not like you're using your boots to stir your ramen.

Wouldn't it be easier for all concerned if you just faced right or left and let go off the trail instead of on it?

And people complain that cell phone users are inconsiderate?

In Maine, I'm careful about putting Purell on my hands after handling the bottoms of my boots because there is so much Moose poop on the trail. I never thought about pig urine.

[Egads]

I saw a wet patch in the trail this weekend

Then I saw Poo Poo in the trail

Then I hear a roar in a dense thicket down the trail

Then I pissed my pants.................................not

[Newb]

"Wierd happenings? A few. First, there's a fellow (last seen on Thursday at Low Gap) who is building fires on the trail every night. He's hauling a couple of duffle bags north...each appear to be very heavy. He'll carry one a half mile then go back for the other and leap frog like that all day. Law enforcement was informed and was interested but never showed up. Anyways...you can see the ashes from his fires every few miles on the trail starting at Neel's Gap."

I transferred the above quote from another recent thread.

I received an email this morning from Laura at Cloud 9. Hikers have been reporting to her that they have encountered a hiker that has been burning fires along the trail in Georgia.

I have reported the problem to the GATC trails supervisor. Can anyone give a description of the person?

The fire danger in this area is tremendous and we need to clarify and rid ourselves of this activity!

Mother Nature

I posted that. He's about 5 feet 10 to 6 feet tall with dark hair in a shouldr length mullet style. I'd put him at 200 to 210 pounds.

He's beefy, with a hawkish nose. The hikers at Low Gap before me had called law enforcement regarding him, if they had showed up they would have caught him with a fire in progress.

Also, i found another reference which I think may refer to this dude. it was posted by "LaughTrack" at TrailJournals...he got to Low Gap a day after our group moved through... The fellow in quesion may be going by " Trapping James " http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=177264

he would build a fire in the middle of the trail every night. You could see the ashes as you walked north out of Neels Gap. I think Winton at Mountain Crossings had contacted law enforcement about him, but I'm not sure.

[mudhead]

I have a porch, and few neighbors. What do I need to piss in the john for?

I see you live in NC.

When was it that you left Maine?

Helps if you switch to the back porch once in a while...

[TOW]

Do you piss in your hallway at home instead of the toilet?

Same thing.

no it is not........gee whiz

[John Klein]

I posted that. He's about 5 feet 10 to 6 feet tall with dark hair in a shouldr length mullet style. I'd put him at 200 to 210 pounds.

He's beefy, with a hawkish nose. The hikers at Low Gap before me had called law enforcement regarding him, if they had showed up they would have caught him with a fire in progress.

Also, i found another reference which I think may refer to this dude. it was posted by "LaughTrack" at TrailJournals...he got to Low Gap a day after our group moved through... The fellow in quesion may be going by " Trapping James " http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=177264

he would build a fire in the middle of the trail every night. You could see the ashes as you walked north out of Neels Gap. I think Winton at Mountain Crossings had contacted law enforcement about him, but I'm not sure.

I'm suprised I haven't seen any talk here about some of the wildfires in North Georgia. I don't have all the details but it's on the Atlanta TV news. Does anyone know if the fires are near the AT?

[Nightwalker]

I'm surprised I haven't seen any talk here about some of the wildfires in North Georgia. I don't have all the details but it's on the Atlanta TV news. Does anyone know if the fires are near the AT?

Southern GA and Northern FL. Opposite end of the State

[Mother Nature]

Newb,

I don't think you saw the quotes that I put around your comments in the response I gave. I tried to give you credit for the posting. I don't know how to put your quote on the same page as mine any other way. Sorry. Tech geek I am not! Just a good cookie maker.

I was up on my section of the trail today. This section is just before the NC border. It has a campsite and someone recently left gear lying around the ground.

I had walked in from Dicks Creek Gap and I believe it was Bull Gap that has a campsite. That area was full of broken glass lying in a large pile of ash. I mean full.

I don't know if anyone has spoken to this individual but I certainly hope he has been stopped. The place is a tinder box.

MN

[briarpatch]

Southern GA and Northern FL. Opposite end of the State

There have been a couple of active fires in the north in the last day or 2. One was over near Fort Mountain, I'm not sure about the other. We had a planning meeting with the forest service today and they pointed them out on the map. Both are well away from the AT.

[John Klein]

Southern GA and Northern FL. Opposite end of the State

No, the TV news said Lumpkin and Gilmer counties.

[Skidsteer]

Newb,

I don't think you saw the quotes that I put around your comments in the response I gave. I tried to give you credit for the posting. I don't know how to put your quote on the same page as mine any other way. Sorry. Tech geek I am not! Just a good cookie maker.

I was up on my section of the trail today. This section is just before the NC border. It has a campsite and someone recently left gear lying around the ground.

I had walked in from Dicks Creek Gap and I believe it was Bull Gap that has a campsite. That area was full of broken glass lying in a large pile of ash. I mean full.

I don't know if anyone has spoken to this individual but I certainly hope he has been stopped. The place is a tinder box.

MN

I saw that pile this weekend too. Did you notice how old the bottles and cans were? Almost like someone had cleaned out a firepit from the 1970's.

[Mother Nature]

I saw that pile this weekend too. Did you notice how old the bottles and cans were? Almost like someone had cleaned out a firepit from the 1970's.

Absolutely! It was the strangest pile of glass I had ever seen! Makes you wonder how they transported that mess so far from the actual firepit or where the debris came from!

We had an incident about a 1/4 mile uphill from Dicks Creek Gap. Three GATC members (me included) were leading some "at risk" kids on a wilderness experience and we found a day hiker dead in the trail. The coroner deduced that he had suffered a massive heart attack and simply fell over. He was still holding his hiking stick.
MN

[warraghiyagey]

. . . We had an incident about a 1/4 mile uphill from Dicks Creek Gap. Three GATC members (me included) were leading some "at risk" kids on a wilderness experience and we found a day hiker dead in the trail. The coroner deduced that he had suffered a massive heart attack and simply fell over. He was still holding his hiking stick.
MN

That is a bummer of a story at 8:30 in the morning.

[Skidsteer]

Absolutely! It was the strangest pile of glass I had ever seen! Makes you wonder how they transported that mess so far from the actual firepit or where the debris came from!

We had an incident about a 1/4 mile uphill from Dicks Creek Gap. Three GATC members (me included) were leading some "at risk" kids on a wilderness experience and we found a day hiker dead in the trail. The coroner deduced that he had suffered a massive heart attack and simply fell over. He was still holding his hiking stick.
MN

Wow. What day was that?

[scope]

Absolutely! It was the strangest pile of glass I had ever seen! Makes you wonder how they transported that mess so far from the actual firepit or where the debris came from!

We had an incident about a 1/4 mile uphill from Dicks Creek Gap. Three GATC members (me included) were leading some "at risk" kids on a wilderness experience and we found a day hiker dead in the trail. The coroner deduced that he had suffered a massive heart attack and simply fell over. He was still holding his hiking stick.
MN

Geez, that's a downer. What did you do, just call authorities to come get him? Take his body back down the trail? Those poor kids, sorry to have them go through that, but ultimately a decent learning experience I hope.

[Marta]

Wow, Mother Nature! That's pretty intense for both you and the kids. And the hiker's family, of course. My condolences to all of you.

Marta/Five-Leaf

[Mother Nature]

It was pretty intense as you can imagine. Skids, it was yesterday morning. The GATC sponsors an outreach program for high risk kids. Several GATC members, myself included, were assisting a group of kids and their teachers from Dicks Creek Gap to Blue Ridge Gap.

One of the adults was at the trailhead around 7:30 waiting to assist with a shuttle arrangement. The gentleman arrived alone in a car with FL tags and headed up the trail about 7:30-7:45 carrying a light day pack and a handcarved wooden walking stick.

The remainder of the group arrived around 8:45 and we all started uphill about 9 am. As we reached the crest of the first steep uphill we could see the hips and legs of someone who appeared to have fallen down. Several of the kids in the lead started laughing and said something to the effect... a dude is asleep in the trail and another joked and said.. maybe he's dead. It was a millisecond later that the shock of the discovery set in for them.

Thankfully the majority of the kids couldn't see his full body. One of the adults thoughtfully commented that a gentleman wasn't feeling well and escorted the group through the woods around him saying it was important to give him his privacy.

We checked his pulse but it was obvious he had died suddenly and keeled over backwards landing sort of on his side with his head downhill. It had to have been very sudden as he was still holding the hiking stick loosely in his hand. He appeared to be in his late 60s or 70s. Hard to tell his age with the color disfiguration of his face but he had gray hair.

One of the adults stayed with the body until the authorities arrived. We knew other hikers were preparing to come up the mountain. We didn't want anyone else to be startled.

Another went downhill to the road to call for help as we couldn't get a good cell phone signal. The remainder of us continued on the hike for a mile or so and waited for the other adults to join us after the authorities arrived. Very few of the kids initially knew what happened but eventually word spread from kid to kid. None of them seemed outwardly disturbed but remember that these kids live life on the edge anyway. Everything was a joke to them. It was a surreal moment. I hope that someone talks with these kids about what happened because I sensed under all the bravado it was pretty unsettling.

The coroner arrived and after examining him said that he must have died of a massive heart attack. The only mark on his body was a bruise on his forehead where he struck the ground.

I want to go that way. Holding a hiking stick heading up a beautiful mountain.

MN

[spittinpigeon]

I want to go that way. Holding a hiking stick heading up a beautiful mountain.

MN

....Indeed.