WHEN and WHERE you first stepped on the AT?

[orangebug]

Probably first time was less than 5 years old at Newfound Gap. As I grew up and traveled a bit, I began noticing white paint on trees, and wondered what that was all about, although I'd heard of the AT.

First time I knew that I was hiking the AT was Memorial Day weekend 1996 between Horsepen Gap and Springer. I was hooked by the fields of ferns.

[Alligator]

What college and where in NJ, Alligator? I went to high school in Middletown in central Jersey near Sandy Hook.

Middlesex County College. Just a few miles north of you. Went to HS in Edison. I was too aimless after HS so I ended up at MCC.

[baseballswthrt]

Just off an overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway in 2003. We were on our way back from my first ever backpacking trip (On the FLAT New River Trail). My husband had been talking about the AT ever since the moment I met him! We stopped in the overlook and he walked me down the trail about 50 yards. I was hooked! I wanted to walk forever, but we had kids waiting at home for us, so the long walk will have to wait a few more years....

[Askus3]

My first time on the AT could either be in 1955 when on a family trip we took the cog up Mt. Washington. But that might not count for three reasons.
1) I don't remember it.
2) The AT might not have gone to the summit of Washington then. Only recently did they establsh the Trinity Heights Trail to the summit.
3) I did not hike up it.

Maybe even before that we might have picnicked at Anthony Wayne and we might have drove over the Bear Mountain Bridge. Does that count? I also remember another time climbing up to the viewpoints overlooking Anthony Wayne Rec Area on another summer picnic and I know the AT goes over these outlooks, but no definitive date can I place to this prior AT encounter.

The first definite hike that I remember on the AT was when I was 9, Fall of 1961 and went from Bear Mt. Inn to West Mt on the AT then we (my vrother & I) circled back staying overnight at the West Mountain Shelter. I might have also walked through the Bear Mountain Zoo before that but no positive recall on that.

In response to flyfisher: I remember hiking both ways out of Newfound Gap. One dayhike to Charlie's Bunion and the other to Clingman's Dome. This was 1971. There was a tower there on Clingmans Dome with a wheelchair ramp and I have a picture to prove it. Not very high but high enough to get you over the trees.

[shaggy2004]

I don't know if this counts or not. The first time I was on the AT was the day before I was born when my mother and father went for a walk through the rhodoendron Gardens on the top of Roan Mountain. Yep, I guess they got me hooked early. The next time I know of being on the AT was as a toddler on the summit of Clingman's Dome. A picture is the only way I know about that time. The first time I can personally remember being on the trail was a day hike I went on with my Dad and Aunt up through Laurel Fork Gorge to the waterfall, when I was about 9 or 10. I remeber going passed the shelter in that area and not being able to imagine people actually sleeping in it. After that I begged to be taken hiking all the time. It just kept getting worse from there and finally I thru-hiked this past summer. And the worst may still not be over

[TakeABreak]

I would have to say in sometime during the 1970's, when I was a teenage, at Newfound Gap. We were traveling through to S.C. from Michigan and I remember going through the Smokies.

[MOWGLI]

My family has had a cabin in New Jersey on Greenwood Lake for 60+ years. As a youth I made regular hikes up the State Line Trail to pick blueberries - probably from age 4 or 5. I don't know when the first time it was that I actually stepped on the AT, but I have spent virtually all of my life within 15 minutes of the trail.

[Whistler]

My first time on the AT was when I was 2 and hiked up Blood Mountain from Neel's. I had been carried up a couple times before, but that was the first time under my own power. I thank my parents for their patience, as I'm sure I got distracted with rocks and bugs and dirt the whole way up.
-Mark

[Scaper]

The summer of 1975 I had just got my drivers license and I started driving out to Sandy Hook Md. to fish in the Potomac. Its a tiny town just over the river from Harpers Ferry. I used to park at the small Mom and Pop strore. I believe it was called Libs at this time. The owner named it after his wife. On a couple of occasions that summer I would see hikers with big backpacks crossing the rt. 340 bridge which the trail followed then. I knew nothing of the trail then. I thought they were out to hike the C AND O canal towpath. One day after fishing I was in the small store in Sandy Hook and 2 scruffy looking hikers walked in and after to talking to them for about 1/2 hour I found out they were hiking from Ga-ME. I pumped them for imformation of the trail. I was hooked. I was out the next weekend to hike up what is now called the Loudoun heights trail, whice the OLD A-T used to follow. 15 years later I finally got to hike from Ga-Me. Jim

[rickb]

Baxter Peak, July 13, 1983.

[WalkinHome]

Spring of 1997, a maintenance trip with the crew from L.L. Beans in the Potaywadjo section. What a hoot! All I had for gear was O.D. Load Bearing Equipment (LBE) and a Ruck (I'm dating myself here aren't I TOP) and the crew leader kept asking me if I had brought any grenades.

[TJ aka Teej]

By 1967 (10-11 years old) I'd been up Katahdin several times via the AT. The first time I was aware of the Trail was in July of 1960 or 61 when three teenagers from New York City camped next to us in a WMNF campground ("Gunstock"?) just west of Kinsman Notch in NH. I remember being amazed at their wild black hair and beards and that they had hiked the AT all the way from New York, which to me was a million miles away.

[Mr. Clean]

was off Skyline drive in the Shenandoahs back in 1978. Not sure which part of the trail it was, but we did an overnight while fishing for brook trout. Fried the trout in butter and beer in a cast iron fry pan - boy, have times changed. Can you imagine hiking with a large cast iron pan? And hauling six packs?
Maybe someday I'll have a chance at doing the whole thing in one shot, but for now I'm doing long weekends while raising a family (yeah, I got a late start).My little boy is thirteen months old and into everything, but he loves hiking with me in his backpack. Maybe in ten years we'll do some really long sections together.

[jackiebolen]

My first step on the trail was at Springer Mountain last February and ended 1500 miles later. I read a lot about it first though.

[oruoja]

Bear Mt Inn, NY on a rainy June day in 1975 with thirteen other scouts enroute to High Point, NJ. Out of the fourteen of us six of us finished, Ever since that trip I was hooked on hiking and over the years did several sections with friends and solo. Hoping to thru hike within the next six years.

[Valmet]

Great Thread. My first hike started at Wesser, N.C. I finished at the northern end of the GSNP. It was July 1972. I had a pack from Sears (still have it), a cheap 2 man tent, a real cheap sleeping bag, a ground pad and box of solid fuel tablets. My food was beenie weenies and stuff like that. I had no idea what I was doing but had the time of my life. Spent almost 2 1/2 weeks on the trail. Came back home and went to a backpacking store and walked out with a North Face sleeping bag (big foot), Vasque boots, and a Svea 123 stove. That was the most pure hike I have every done. It was unspoiled and simple. It hooked me and I have never stopped since. The gear has gotten better, much better but the feeling of that trip will remain with me forever. To this day I can tell you about each night, people I met, things I saw and how it changed me.

[MedicineMan]

1972 Beauty Spot to Iron Mtn Gap a section I've done at least 10 times since...was with the scout troop, before being given the priveledge of doing this hike the scoutmaster required that you hike Buffalo Mtn in Johnson City two times previously. It was mighty cold and while we had a good scoutmaster who actually backpacked, he never told us about not carrying canned goods and while i froze in a sears bag he snored away in an REI down bag....after that experience i began missing lunch at school to save my lunch money for my first down bag a North Face Chamois

[bigcat2]

My first AT experience was w/ my dad. It was the summer of either 1992 or 1993, can't remember the excat year, but we hiked from Clingman's Dome to Double Spring Shelter and back. My dad told me of the stories of when he was a kid and hiked the section with his friends. I don't think he realized it was part of the AT, but I remember that day as a great day because I got to spend it w/ him. Though it wasn't a long hike, we had a great time. Now I get to tell him stories of my adventures on the AT. I'll always remember that day and all the information he provided on that hike. Hook, line, and sinker, here I am.

[fuzz]

September of this past fall I took my first step on the AT just south of the Inn at Long Trail in Vermont on my way up to the top of Killington. 50 miles later I still wanted to do the whole thing. Hopefully very soon. What an amazing trail. It just kind of gets in your blood and then you know you have to try out the thruhiking thing sooner or later.

[fatmatt]

First time I was on the trail was in Newfound Gap in the Smokies, many times when i was younger. First time I hiked was in June '04 at Unicoi Gap, GA. And I am coming back for more this summer...