Summer Hike 2007      Springer Mountain, Georgia to Pearisburg, Virginia ( 622 miles, plus the approach and side trails, 51 Days )

 

* Refer to my journal for more details.

 

I completed this long AT section hike a month ago.  I kept a journal and took many pictures during my hike.  I’m just starting to review my hand written journal and type my thoughts.  So this page is in the early writing stages.

 

OBJECTIVE:

  I decided to celebrate that I successfully paid for my daughter’s college and wedding by taking the summer off and hiking for sixty days.  My goal was to do a minimum of six hundred miles and a maximum of a thousand on the Appalachian Trail.

 

PREPARATION:

  I started planning earnestly for this hike a few months before it began.  I had already purchased and field tested most of my gear and equipment.  My biggest concern was my menu and food drops.  I’ve settled into a food menu during my previous hikes that I was fairly comfortable with.  But I was concerned that I had lost seven pounds during a previous seven day hike.  I wanted to lessen the weight loss by supplementing my diet with powdered milk, vegetable oil and instant breakfast.  Prior to my hike, I surveyed a variety of grocery stores to see if they all had the food supplies that I thought that I’d need.  I found that many did not stock powdered milk.   Because of this, I decided to mail my food ahead to post-offices in towns near the Appalachian Trail.  This would insure that I’d have the food that I’d need for my hike.  Some towns were very close to the trail, some were not.  Some of my food drops were rather large due to the large number of days.  I planned to carry four to nine days worth of food at a time.  During the hike I learned that I could have cut down the size of some of those food drops if I sent my food drops to hostels and motels along the way instead of relying exclusively on post-offices.

  I asked my mother to manage my food packages for me.  She was in the shipping and receiving business and I knew that she would handle that end of things well.  Besides, it gave her an important role in my hike.  I left all of my duplicate and older gear in a duffle bag at her house.  We set up the food packages together in her kitchen.  We laid out all of the materials for the food drops in boxes in her music room.  It worked out very well and she was very supportive during my hike.  Hey, that’s what moms are for.

  In some ways I was well prepared for this hike.  I’ve done some three to seven day hikes during the previous year.  I’ve been canoeing / camping for decades.  So I already worked out various issues that others might need to figure out before hiking { rain gear, cooking gear, footwear }.  I’m very satisfied with my wet weather gear.  Canoeing will teach a person very quickly how to prepare for the invasion of water.  Everything in my pack is stored in light weight waterproof stuff sacks.  I use a poncho that doubles as rain protection for me and my pack.  I have found that hiking in a rain jacket or pants just soaks me in sweat.  The trick I’ve learned, to make a poncho work, is to tie the corners of the poncho together so that the poncho maintains the proper shape to fit over me and the pack.  I added grommets along the perimeter of the poncho to allow me to tie it up more if I want to restrict air flow.  I wear tall gaiters and water treated traditional leather boots.  The gaiters direct the water that drips from the poncho to flow onto the outside of the boots, instead of down my legs and flowing into the boots.  Very important!  I like using a poncho because it provides options:  I can wear it in heavy downpours to protect me and my pack.  I can throw it over my shoulders and the pack in a light rain.  Or, if I feel like getting rained on, I can hike with the poncho draped over my pack like a cape, keeping the pack dry in light rain.  I could always quickly pull the poncho over me as well if the rain fall increased.  On some chilly / dry mornings I would wear the poncho for the first few minutes of hiking until I warmed up and then just pull it off and stuff it into a pocket without stopping.  And it can double as a tarp.

  After many years of cooking equipment experimentation, I’ve settled on a cooking gear list that weighs less than a pound.  I use a 32 oz titanium pot; a sealable, brass, Trangia alcohol burner; a homemade windscreen/pot holder; a titanium fork and spoon set; and a homemade pot cover with a grommeted center hole that allows me to use the pot cover as a mouse deflector when I hang up my pack at night.  Over the years I’ve used a large selection of pressurized stoves and found them to be too heavy and complicated for hiking.

  I broke in two pairs of traditional leather boots.  One 7” tall pair, and my favorite 10” tall pair.  I decided at the last minute to hike in the 7” pair in an attempt to save weight.  I treated both with the appropriate leather wax to keep them flexible and as waterproof as possible.  I quickly found out that although I repeatedly applied leather wax to the 7” pair, they were not as water resistant as the 10” pair.  I also purchased a pair of short gaiters on the way down to Georgia.  I quickly contacted Mom to send my trusty old ( taller ) pair after my boots became filled with water after walking through the rain and tall meadow grass.  I kept hiking in the 7” pair of boots because after a few hundred miles in the rain, they fit me perfectly, although they didn’t keep my feet as dry as they should have.

  For sleeping gear, I decided to stick with the hammock and tarp that I was experimenting with and leave the traditional dome tent at home.  I added a short thermarest self-inflating sleeping pad to my pack.  This was an excellent decision.  It not only allowed me to sleep in shelters comfortably but it was also very useful in insulating my back when I slept in my hammock.  The hammock had mosquito netting that proved useful at times during the hike.  Although the tarp was fairly large, 10’ * 12’, it needed to be a little longer for the hammock.  I used my poncho to augment the tarp.  The combination of the tarp and poncho worked out very well during several heavy downpours.

  To mentally prepare for the hike, I read a variety of books on the Appalachian Trail.  My favorites were a two-volume set by Rodale Press, “Hiking the Appalachian Trail”, edited by James R. Hare – SBN 87596-067-7.  They were recommended to me by Dan Bruce “Wingfoot.”  But they were out of print.  The librarian, at the school where I teach, got them for me on an inter-library loan.  I immediately saw that these books were keepers.  So I ordered a set on Amazon dot com.  I didn’t do any additional physical activity to prepare for the hike.  I just started hiking with a bunch of bandaids and awaited the initial onslaught of blisters.  I packed some aspirin that proved useful later in the hike and some allergy pills in case the vegetation changed and caused me allergy problems as I traveled north.  I packed more toilet paper than I did in the past because experience told me that I should.  Ahem.  I brought a cell phone because every relative told me that I should.  I really didn’t want to bring it.  I purposefully decided not to bring a small sewing kit.  That was a mistake.  I called my mother on the cell phone to include a sewing kit in the next food drop.  I guess packing the cell phone was a good idea.

 

Itinerary ( short summary of each day )

T-3 DAY, June 27, 2007, motorcycle ride from New Jersey down towards my mother’s home in Atlanta, Georgia

T-2 DAY, June 28, 2007, arrived at Mom’s house.  Went shopping for food and then out to dinner.

T-1 DAY, June 29, 2007, spent the day wrapping up food drop packages to be mailed out.

DAY 1, June 30, 2007 - STARTING OUT, Amicalola Falls, GA to Springer Mountain, GA; 8.8 miles:

DAY 2, July 1, 2007, Springer Mountain, GA to Cooper Gap, GA; 11.4 miles:

DAY 3, July 2, 2007, Cooper Gap - GA to Campsite N34 42.474’, W83 59.086’; 9.5 ( approx. ) miles

DAY 4, 7/03/2007, Campsite N34 42.474’, W83 59.086’ to Neels Gap - GA; 9.4 ( approx. ) miles ( note: days 3 and 4 total to 18.9 miles )

DAY 5, 7/04/2007, Neels Gap - GA to Low Gap - GA; 10.6 miles:

DAY 6, 7/05/2007, Low Gap – GA to Tray Mountain Shelter – GA; 14.9 miles

DAY 7, 7/06/2007, Tray Mountain Shelter – GA to Campsite ( mile marker 67.7 ); 11.7 miles

DAY 8, 7/07/2007, Campsite ( mile marker 67.7 ) to Muskrat Creek Shelter, NC; 10.5 miles

DAY 9, 7/08/2007, Muskrat Creek Shelter, NC to Carter Gap Shelter; 12.5 miles

DAY 10, 7/09/2007, Carter Gap Shelter to Wallace Gap ( with a ride to Franklin, NC – Budget Inn ); 12.8 miles

DAY 11, 7/10/2007, ZERO DAY in Franklin, NC – spent the day walking all over town re-supplying

DAY 12, 7/11/2007, Wallace Gap to Wayah Bald Shelter ( brand new ); 13.6 miles

DAY 13, 7/12/2007, Wayah Bald Shelter to the Nantahala Outdoor Center; 16.7 miles

DAY 14, 7/13/2007, Nantahala Outdoor Center to Sassafras Gap Shelter; 7.0 miles

DAY 15, 7/14/2007, Sassafras Gap Shelter to Cody Gap; 11.9 miles

DAY 16, 7/15/2007, Cody Gap to Fontana “Hilton” Shelter; 9.9 miles

DAY 17, 7/16/2007, Backtracked a mile to the Fontana Marina to shuttle to Fontana Village ( to pick up a food drop ), then shuttle back to Fontana Dam to hike up to the Mollies Ridge Shelter; 11.3 miles from shelter to shelter.  Very late start due to long waits for shuttle to/from Fontana Village.  It was very hot out, with a heavy water/food load and a long climb up to Mollies Ridge.  Arrived at shelter at 10:15pm.

DAY 18, 7/17/2007, Mollies Ridge Shelter to Derrick Knob Shelter, 11.7 miles

DAY 19, 7/18/2007, Derrick Knob Shelter to Double Spring Shelter, 7.2 miles

DAY 20, 7/19/2007, Double Spring Shelter to Icewater Spring Shelter, 13.8 miles

DAY 21, 7/20/2007, Icewater Spring Shelter to Tri-Corner Knob Shelter, 12.6 miles

DAY 22, 7/21/2007, Tri-Corner Knob Shelter to Davenport Gap Shelter, 14.8 miles

DAY 23, 7/22/2007, Davenport Gap Shelter to Groundhog Creek Shelter, 10.5 miles ( with a side-trip by car to Newport to replace my smashed camera )

DAY 24, 7/23/2007, Groundhog Creek Shelter to Roaring Fork Shelter, 7.4 miles

DAY 25, 7/24/2007, Roaring Fork Shelter to Hot Springs, NC ( Sunnybrook Inn ); 18.8 miles ( The Sunnybrook Inn was incredible. )

DAY 26, 7/25/2007, Sunnybrook Inn to the Campground just down the street; ( a zero day with “Artful Dodger.”)

DAY 27, 7/26/2007, Hot Springs, NC to Spring Mountain Shelter; 11.0 miles

DAY 28, 7/27/2007, Spring Mountain Shelter to Jerry Cabin Shelter; 15.4 miles

DAY 29, 7/28/2007, Jerry Cabin Shelter to Hogback Ridge Shelter; 14.7 miles

DAY 30, 7/29/2007, Hogback Ridge Shelter to Bald Mountain Shelter; 10.0 miles

DAY 31, 7/30/2007, Bald Mountain Shelter to No Business Knob Shelter; 10.6 miles; ( Not good.  A bear followed me to the shelter. )

DAY 32, 7/31/2007, No Business Knob Shelter to Uncle Johnny’s Hostel – Erwin, TN; 6.3 miles ( got to eat two Sonic burgers and a root beer float. )

DAY 33, 8/01/2007, Uncle Johnny’s Hostel to Cherry Gap Shelter; 16.4 miles

DAY 34, 8/02/2007, Cherry Gap Shelter to Clyde Smith Shelter; 8.8 miles

DAY 35, 8/03/2007, Clyde Smith Shelter to Overmountain Shelter; 12.9 miles; ( Overmountain Shelter was the best shelter on the trail. )

DAY 36, 8/04/2007, Overmountain Shelter to Mountain Harbour Hostel; 8.7 miles

DAY 37, 8/05/2007, Mountain Harbour Hostel to Moreland Gap Shelter; 17.7 miles

DAY 38, 8/06/2007, Moreland Gap Shelter to Watauga Lake Shelter; 16.8 miles

DAY 39, 8/07/2007, Watauga Lake Shelter to Iron Mountain Shelter; 13.6 miles

DAY 40, 8/08/2007, Iron Mountain Shelter to Backbone Ridge Trail intersection; 21.3 miles

DAY 41, 8/09/2007, Backbone Ridge Trail intersection to Damascus, VA; 4.6 miles; ( Linda ( my wife ) came down to Damascus to visit me. )

DAY 42, 8/10/2007, Damascus, VA to Lost Mountain Shelter; 15.8 miles

DAY 43, 8/11/2007, Lost Mountain Shelter to Thomas Knob Shelter; 12.2 miles

DAY 44, 8/12/2007, Thomas Knob Shelter to Old Orchard Shelter; 11.0 miles

DAY 45, 8/13/2007, Old Orchard Shelter to Partnership Shelter; 24.7 miles

DAY 46, 8/14/2007, Partnership Shelter to AT Relax-Inn, Rural Retreat, VA; 11.6 miles

DAY 47, 8/15/2007, AT Relax-Inn, Rural Retreat, VA to Knot Maul Branch Shelter; 13.9 miles

DAY 48, 8/16/2007, Knot Maul Branch Shelter to Jenkins Shelter; 19.0 miles; saw my first rattlesnake.

DAY 49, 8/17/2007, Jenkins Shelter to Helvey’s Mill Shelter; 13.8 miles

DAY 50, 8/18/2007, Helvey’s Mill Shelter to Wapiti Shelter; 24.0 miles ( Met Martin & Sally and their dog Cinnamon.  We crossed paths in the Smoky Mountains. )

DAY 51, 8/19/2007, Wapiti Shelter to Pearisburg, VA; 16.6 miles ( Martin and Sally took me out for breakfast the next morning. )