Blackburn Trail Center

[Former Admin]

Info, questions, comments, experiences (good or bad) regarding - Blackburn Trail Center

Past/Present hikers - what can future hikers expect here? Have any good stories or memories from here?

Future hikers - any questions?

[ez-does-it]

This another one of those fine places you would like to go to.The stairs leading into the maine house has a water faucet for getting your water.In the maine house area is a porch where you can use a pay phone and deposit your donation and also has a scale for weighing your pack.It is usually hosted by former thru-hiker(s) and has a solar shower as well.In the cottage is where you can stay as well as many spots for tenting out.The cottage has bunks for sleeping and a pot belled stove for those cold nights with all the cut fire wood you need.Highly reommended.

[chris]

I haven't been here, but I thought I would put in a plug for it based on an experience in the Smokys a few weeks ago. I met an older gent, perhaps mid 50s and _extremely_ fit. He seemed to be one of the main people at Blackburn and did alot of work with the PATC. Born in England, lived in Spain, and is now in the US. Ran into him at Icewater as he was hiking across the Smokys. I don't recall his name, but he described the place in great detail and made it sound like paradise. If I am rambling through this spring, I'll definitely be stopping in.

[chief]

blackburn center was okay, though i didn't enjoy going down and back up the hole it's in. oh well, had to use that phone! i made my call, drank my free coke and stuffed some bills in the donation box. a guy asked me how i liked the "roller coaster". i said it was okay, but i'd like to meet the a**hole who put up the signs. he said, "that would be me". i replied, "nice job, see ya". alright i didn't give the place a chance. my impressions of it, it's a trail maintainer's clubhouse - hiker trash, go to the back please.

[Peaks]

Chief,

I think that it's good to note that Blackburn Center is the Trail Maintainer's center first, and thru-hikers second. PATC does have a great facility here. By the way, the resident managers are usually former thru-hikers. In fact, I believe that I met the current managers the prior year on the trail.

I stopped over in June. I was warmly welcomed and treated to a great dinner. However, there were trail maintainers around, and they pretty much kept to themselves, as did us hikers. Not too much mingling. But then again, I didn't call the maintainers a$$holes either.

I have walked a lot further off the trail for a lot less.

[Kerosene]

I ended up walking downhill to the Center for lunch during my hike, only because I needed water. I'm glad I did. It was a sunny Fall day so I put out gear to dry on the lawn and had lunch at the picnic table. The caretaker, Philippe, pointed out the towers of the National Cathedral fully 50 miles away. Neat.

As for the Rollercoaster, I didn't think it was any big deal, having endured worse on the Trail north to New Hampshire.

[MOWGLI]

Originally posted by Peaks
By the way, the resident managers are usually former thru-hikers. In fact, I believe that I met the current managers the prior year on the trail.

I met a couple of former thru-hikers at a shelter somewhere in VA. Their (trail)names were Flash & Hot Flash. They brought some trail magic to the shelter, and regaled us with stories for an hour or so. Turns out they were former caretakers at Blackburn Center.

Perhaps the best story I heard during my hike was told by Flash. The story goes....

Flash was sitting at a picnic table on the patio at Blackburn talking to a thru-hiker from Texas. It was pitch black out, and during the conversation, the thruhiker pickd up his feet and placed them on the picnic table bench. He told Flash "you might want to put your feet up - there's a snake under the table". Flash was astonished and somewhat in disbelief since the hiker had never looked down during the conversation. He asked the hiker how he knew there was a snake under the table. The hiker told him that he had "heard" the snake. Now Flash was really astonished. Turns out the hiker owned snakes and had a patio much like the one at Blackburn. He heard the snakes scales sliding across the stone patio!

Flash yelled to his wife - Hot Flash - to turn on the outside flood light (or flashlight - forget which). When the light went on, there beneath the table was a large & healthy Timber Rattler! Flash moved the snake safely into the the woods.

Pretty cool story, eh?

[stranger]

Blackburn Rocks...plain and simple. The AT is lucky to have places like this up and down ther trail, think about the trail without these places and people. It would be a very different trail.

[Skeemer]

I stayed in the cabin there one night this past summer. I agree the facilities were nice, solar shower great and the free pop was a nice gesture. I believe Mary Poppins was overseeing it and he seemed pretty genuine. Having said that, there was a woman working in the kitchen who was a bit of a snoot. Not too friendly with the "hiker trash." A committee was having some sort of gathering that weekend and I think they would have liked to have had the place to themselves. It may have been because as I was hiking in, I came upon her taking a leak below the deck right beside the trail. Honestly, if I had seen her earlier I would have stopped and turned away

[Peaks]

I was there on a Saturday night, and the PATC work crew was there also. I don't know who you met, but I enjoyed great hospitality. I even got to help out in the kitchen, and work with the couple preparing a very fine dinner for all.

[steve hiker]

Hey Chief what was it about those signs that got you all riled up?

[Lone Wolf]

Those signs are a joke. Obviously the dude hasn't hiked in N.H. and Maine. That so-called "roller coaster" was hardly a coupla pimples. To a PATC member out of the D.C. area it must be seem like Everest. Sittin behind desks and all.

[Kerosene]

I agree with LW about the Roller Coaster. The guidebook, trail registers and signage hype it up a lot, but I sailed through it waiting for a series of tough climbs that never really materialized. Certainly I can see how it could be tough on a humid summer day (I had the luxury of temps in the mid-50's), but there are certainly harder sections in Pennsylvania let alone New England.

[MOWGLI]

I hiked the so called "Roller Coaster" on a brutally hot day in early June with temps in the 90's and humidity near 100%. I have never sweated that much in my entire life. At one dirt road crossing I sat on a rock and sweat literally poured off of me like a river. I drank like a fiend, perhaps 7 liters that day, and was still dehydrated at the end of the day.

The water sources in each of the little valleys between "pimples" struck me as a bit sketchy. For me, this was the beginning of a more careful look at each water source, as the population of the Mid-Atlantic (WV, MD, PA, NJ) makes contamination by people a more likely reality.

[Steve W]

I stayed there in June, 2001. It was fine. After some rain it was nice to have a dry place to sleep. The shower felt great. The folks in the main house wanted nothing to do with me, but that's OK. I had a nice quiet nights sleep in a facility that I was glad to visit. I agree that the trail is better off with places like this. If you don't like it, just keep on walking.

[Mini-Mosey]

On my second overnight backpacking trip, it began to rain hard and I ended up going down there. This was in April of 2000. the caretaker was very accomodating and kind and concerned about my welfare. Two guys with a sweet little dog named Pepper followed after me and we all shared the cabin. The caretaker, as I said before, was very kind.

[Aubrey]

Anyone out there remember Bjorn? If not, he was something of a trail character. He would hike all day quoting Shakespeare. At night, he would drink. And fart. A lot. He carried one of the big Danas (Terraplane?) and at the bottom he kept 2 or 3 5ths of various beverages.

One night at Blackburn, the caretaker took a few of us into town to go grocery shopping. Bjorn bought 10 steaks. Yes 10. For himself. (although he said I could have one if he couldn't eat them all) Did I mention that Bjorn was 6'4 and well over 300lbs.? Anyhow, he and the caretaker were good friends. The caretaker (wish I could remember his name)cooked up Bjorn's steaks while Bjorn tore through a new bottle of JD. As big as he was, that bottle was bigger and Bjorn got rip-roaring drunk!

Now, when Bjorn was drunk, he was a bit ... loud? Obnoxious? Like 20grit sandpaper? Yeah, he was a bit much. So he jumps up on the picnic table, strips off his shirt and starts shaking so that his mountains of fat would wiggle and jiggle. Then he fell. CRUNCH! It was a nice chair, too.

About that time, the caretaker came out with a PILE of steaks, steaming, smelling just wonderful. Bjorn, lying in a pile of twisted chair, stared up at his friend and said, "Gimme...mumble..mumble."

The caretaker laid the plate next to Bjorn's head just in time for Bjorn to pass out - face first into it. Then, strange emanations worked their way out of Bjorn's mouth and just covered the steaks like gravy.

I was quite depressed. I was really looking forward to that steak.

Ah well - Blackburn is a wonderful place. I've always felt welcome and I've always had a good time there.

Yes, even with you Bjorn ole buddy!

[Skeemer]

Aubrey,
What a gross story! You have a way with words. What ever happened to the guy? What year was this, mabie someone else will recall how far he got on the trail or whatever happeded to a character like this? Can anyone top that story?

[Aubrey]

Hmm, I'd love to chat about Bjorn (one of my favorite topics) but I'm not sure if we should in this forum. I can answer, "Whatever happened with..."

Bjorn Thruhiked for the first time in '95. That was the year Backpacker magazine sent out crews to "hike along with the thruhikers." In the October (I believe) issue, they just SLAMMED Bjorn. Hard. It was painful to read. But, true to himself, Bjorn did not take that lying down.

He was accused of being a non-thruhiker, yellowblazer, horrible company, bad man, cookie monster, you-name-it. And above ALL ELSE, he wasn't a purist (they ran the article from a purist standpoint). The next year (when I met him) he was the purest of the pure. Really. He made up the most stringent rules I've ever heard of - not even Wingfoot would have a word to say about these rules - they were tight.

He hiked EVERY day. It may only have been from one blaze to the next (did a lot of that in Damascus) but he did it. It had to be with loaded pack on. To make these small trips more contiguous and to off-put any potential naysayers, he rehiked most of these small section on the last day he was in a town! Crazy.

Anyhow, old Bjorn made it to Katahdin all 3 years (he also hiked the next year). If EVER there was a hiker that was the true Hike-Your-Own-Hiker, it was Bjorn.

I miss him. But that's ok, he gave me a million great memories.

[Blue Jay]

Backpacker Magazine should be called Yuppiepacker. Once every six issues there is a small story that might be of some use to a few backpackers. If they didn't like Bjorn he must be a true thru.
As for the Blackburn I always plan to go there but when I get to the junction I remember that there is no food there (unless you stumble upon an angel), and walk on by.