Best Memories From the Trail

[FarmerChef]

Hmmm. Let me think. Mine would be...so hard to choose just one...

So far, it would have to be waking up early in the dungeon at Lake of the Clouds Hut to get my son (8) up. He desperately wanted to "work for stay" (even though we'd paid) and the crew had told him to be up by 6:00 to help out. I think they were just kidding because they looked surprised when he walked into the kitchen and said good morning. At first they were unsure about letting him help because he's rather short but I heard later from another hiker that he started to cry with disappointment and they decided to give it a try. Well, it worked out famously. He whizzed in and out from tables delivering food and collecting dishes and made me proud with how hard he worked, always smiling and having a blast. The guests loved it too. At the end, the crew rewarded him with his very own Lake of the Clouds apron and everyone gathered for a picture. When we hiked out of the whites on the last day, he cried and said, "But I don't want to go. The Whites are my home."

[coach lou]

My first hike on the AT, 1967, VT. Green moss everywhere, little red salamanders, this cool 3 sided log cabin on an island. Teaching my son map & compass on Mahoosuc Arm. Sunrises.

[colorado_rob]

Mornings watching the sun rise drinking coffee. Heaven!

[jeffmeh]

FarmerChef, that is an awesome story about your son. Yes, so hard to choose.

Taking my son at around age 5, with a group of families, up to Boott Spur, with an option to summit Washington. My son became a bit obstinate and refused to remove a layer given the August heat, and to take water and food. When he finally calmed down we had wasted enough time with this that we did not have enough of a daylight window to comfortably summit and get down, and he was very disappointed. The next summer he realized that some of his old man's words held value, and boogied right up.

Starting with him at Springer on his thru, surprising him with guests and an obscene amount of food and beverage at Nauman, and finishing with him on Katahdin with my wife.

Taking out a group of 14-15 year old boys on a southbound Presi Traverse, getting forced down the Jewell trail on day 2 by thunderstorms and driving back to our camp that night (around 75 minutes), and rallying to get up at 4:30 am the next morning, drive all the way back to Ammonoosuc Ravine, and run Monroe to Jackson on day 3.

Yes, there are more.

[coach lou]

mornings watching the sun rise drinking coffee. Heaven!

like!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lush242000]

Best memories? Finding water after running out.


Sent from somewhere.

[PapaGarrettP]

Waking up with my son to 3" of fresh snow (we are from Florida)

[ChinMusic]

The Sign.....

[Likes2travel]

A rattler on the trail who was not going to move, Max Patch, but my favorite would to be cowboy camping next to full shelter only to be awoken by rain and grabbing my tent ground cloth and laying it over my sleeping bag and going back to sleep instead of setting the tent up.

[Driver8]

The traverse of Mount Washington from the Jewell Trail to the Lakes area is especially beautiful. I'm also fond of Stratton, Greylock, Bear/Race/Everett, Moosilauke and Lafayette/Lincoln. Blueberries in the southern Taconics were a very nice treat in 2010.

[yellowsirocco]

I have done about 3/4 of the trail, and about 300 of those with my dad. Our personalities clash and he annoys the crap out of me so we could never do a longer trip, but trips with him are much more valuable than all the rest.

[stranger]

First time through the Smokies and Roan Highlands...awesome!

[Josh Calhoun]

hey there farmer chef , hope you have been getting along good.

there are so many. one would be sitting around a fire at gooch gap shelter staying warm and sharing funny stories with new lifelong friends. and of course katahdin

Rash

[hikerboy57]

i have so many favorite memories, but up towards the top was the day i slackpacked from iron mtn rd back to erwin with homebrew and starwin(formerly starfail). the best 20 mile day ever!! the weather was perfect, the hiking was easy, downhill almost the whole way, and we spent over an hour at beauty spot, surrounded by mountains, singing the sound of music, listening to the beatles i am the walrus,laughing and just enjoying being there, totally there.
it was a day of undescribable pure,pure joy.

[SipseyFreak]

Maybe it was taking my son on his first campout when he was 18 mos old and hearing him sleep in our small canvas pup tent ... or maybe it was hiking the Boulevard Trail to LeConte when I was 12 (1957) and pestering a bear who had her head down in the old garbage pit ... or maybe it was sitting with my son at the edge of the Grand Canyon and tossing pebbles down to ledges as the sun set in the canyon ... or maybe camping with my wife and son on a sandbar on the Strong River in Mississippi ... or maybe it was my first camping trip without my parents near Catawba Falls in North Carolina (1953) ... or maybe it was watching the sun set on Thanksgiving night sitting with my son on the deserted observation deck at Clingman's Dome trying to stay out of the cold wind while eating the most awful Pemican bar ... or maybe it was waking up one Sunday morning on top of the Eye of the Needle in the Sipsey Wilderness to a gorgeous baritone voice singing Luther's "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" somewhere near the river down below ... or maybe it was drinking coffee and watching the sun rise on Mt. Hood from Split Rock in Paradise Park not too long ago ... Dang! When you get to get to be an old dude you have so many memories it's hard to decide ... maybe it'll be my next trip somewhere ...

[swamp dawg]

Stinger and I just sittin and grinnin on top of Big K , doesn't get much better.

[English Stu]

I started my first section near Daleville to Springer and within three hours a young bear came down a high tree behind me frightening me near to death, I never saw another one.

[kofritz]

i"m not sophisticated enough to start a new thread, but check out the USA Today video clip on hiking the AT.

[Namtrag]

The first time you step on the rock ledge at McAfee Knob and take in the panorama.

[FarmerChef]

All good ones. Keep 'em coming.