WHEN and WHERE you first stepped on the AT?

[C2]

Nov 11, 2005. Headed north on the AT via the Jarrard Gap trail in GA. Camped at Bull Gap (I think). Then hiked to Tesnatee Gap - which really tested my knees. I was completely inexperienced and that first hike kicked my rear. A lot of lessons learned that first time and each time since. But I was hooked and have been section hiking a couple of times each year since.

[Zenpig]

It was in New Hampshire in 1993. North of Gorham @ US 2. Hiked with some friends Beantown, Liz, Tim (Peaceman) Actually they were all friends from 2002, and Tim took me along. We went through Mahoosuc Notch, the arm, Old Speck etc... It was really hard on me. I was hooked though. I section hiked the AT 96-98 from Ga-Me. Live near the trail and have gone out many times for short hikes since. Going out next week for a month with my friend Laree from Erwin, Tn-US 220/I-81 in VA. Really excited about it. 1st long hike in 11 years.

zenpig

[aquaman1208]

Hiked up the Edmonds trail to Mt Washington in '97, realiized while on the ridge I was on the AT, talked to a thru-hiker there and was hooked.

[Chaco Taco]

Hiked Mt Rogers when i was a Boy Scout. Got serious when I went on a thruhike of Smokies in 2006. Havent looked back since

[Tha Wookie]

My mom and dad took me when I was 4. started off blue blazing. will die blue blazing probably. made it to Tray Mt. after a night at High Shoals. No place can beat it.

"Life is a slow trek through wild spaces to find the place where your heart first opened." -A. Camus

[unclehud]

March 1983, Springer Mountain. Did the approach trail with my brother and Cecil the Wadd from my submarine days. The approach trail was much steeper back then.

Camped in a grove of blooming dogwoods that looked like we were in the clouds. A half-million grandaddy longleg spiders called that grove home, too. After a few thousand of them crawled across my face, I decided to sleep all balled up in the bottom of my bag despite the heat.

[David@whiteblaze]

Tuesday July 14, 2009 around 10:00 in Shenandoah National Park my dad stopped in a random parking lot along the trail (a parking lot for an outhouse... weird, right?) to sleep (he drove all day and night from machias, ME.) and i took 27 minutes down a hill and 27 minutes back up the hill. (If it counts, we took a 1 hour hike when a was about 3, but that doesnt count, right?) I went back to the car in a daze and told my dad that i was going to "hike the Appalachian Trail" I seriously didnt know what i was saying and made the second biggest commitment ive ever made and the third biggest i will ever make (God and marriage come first right?) I asked yahoo answers where to find info and was redirected here... my trail info was multiplied about 9 times 10 to the 100,000,000,000,000th power. i knew... the name of the trail and where it went (GAME right?)

[STICK]

Friday, September 4th, 2009. Approximately 530 pm. Summited Springer Mtn from the approach trail beginning at Amicalola Falls State Park visitors center. Stayed on till we had to leave September 8th around 11 am at Neels Gap.
Can't wait to get back!....

[chicote]

1998 my brother and I went to Carvers Gap and packed it just past the Barn and slept on that hill – we were whooped. The next morning some 70 year old man with his external frame pack came trucking up the trail as we were just getting out of the tent. We felt like little pansies!

[BR549]

1985 Tesnatee Gap. Happened to be passing by while on a fall trip to the N Ga mountains Only walked about 100 feet and back. I decided then I wanted to do some hiking on it but didn't until 15 years later. Been going regular ever since.

[Maddog]

2007...i did the approach trail to springer with sidetrack. it was my first backpacking trip and my first and last time sleeping in a shelter! maddog

[gumball]

2003, headed toward the Lehigh Gap in PA. Lol, that was a disasterous trip, but we were hooked

[bus]

Christmas Eve, 2009 -Carvers Gap, 'South' side of highway. We were staying in Bakersville and took a drive up-mainly as car dwelling sightseeing Floridians that day.

Walked across the highway and up on top of the first bald there.

[J-Fro]

Can't remember the exact name of the spot, but it was where the access trail from Cosby Campground intersected the trail just north of Cosby Knob. It was in 1997, and was my first long trip with scouts.

Snake Den Ridge trail?

[d.o.c]

i was 3 if not younger...and it was mcfee knob..ive been hiking ever since

[Roland]

For me it was August of 1985. I'd made the decision a month earlier to hike the AT starting March of 86. I was living in R.I. and drove to Mt. Greylock, parked and walked north for about a mile. I've been screwed up ever since.

This is a timeless thread. Five years in the making, and just as relevant today as the day LW made the original post.

[tlap]

It was the late spring of 1987. A friend from my office was an avid hiker, and a member of the Berkshire AMC. She invited me along on a day hike from Dalton to Cheshire. Now, how could a day hike on a misty day, views completely fogged in, and in really muddy conditions, spark a love for the AT? The trail is magical. It bewitched me. That's all I can say.

[RETCW4]

In 1991 A freind and I did 114 miles from 3 miles north of MA/VT border through MA into CT. My 2011 thru-hike has been 20 years in the making.

Tumbleweed

[earlyriser26]

August of 1969. Me and a buddy hiked from grafton notch Maine to Maine 17. I was 13 and I remember all the traffic in NY from Woodstock.

[Press]

1972, above Sugar Hollow west of Charlottesville, Va., in the Shenandoah. Had just returned from summer in Tampa, Fla., picking up garbage, cutting grass, and reading R.Crumb comix. Nice change of scenery. Young and stupid to boot, we carried a cast iron frying pan.