My fiancé’ had backpacked the Appalachian Trail (known as the AT) last July. He planned a 4-day route through a section of Georgia with 2 other friends. Upon his return all he spoke about over the next few months is his love for the AT. He spoke about the peace and tranquility you experience on the trail. You get to escape from it all for a few days. He couldn’t wait to go back and even more — take me with him.
The Appalachian Trail is a volunteer-based nonprofit managed backpacking trail with my all new The PNW Ultralight Backpack, beginning in Maine and ending in Georgia. The trail is 2,175 miles long. Many people take a sabbatical or retire and make it a goal to hike the entire trail. College students hike sections during their summer break. These hikers are called through-hikers. There is even a dedicated website, which helps with planning trips and routes, provides trail maps and other important trail information. Visit: www.appalachiantrail.org for more information.
The plan for our July 2008 trip was to backpack the North Carolina section of the AT and hike for 4-days / 3- nights starting at Standing Indian Campground and complete a loop. The first night we stayed at Big Spring Shelter. We arrived there in good time, which allowed us to setup camp, eat and get our water for the night and next day. We also had enough time to climb Albert Mountain. The view at 6,000 feet was spectacular.
Each shelter has springs where you can filter water. This works out great because carrying water can be very heavy for long hikes. The AT works hard to ensure most shelters have a supply of water near by. We would be the only ones at this shelter for the night. You can sleep in the shelters or setup a tent near by. You can also hammock, which many of the hikers we met carried tent hammocks. I like snuggling with my fiancé’ so we tented.
Big Spring Shelter started off at a very comfortable 70 to 80 degrees, but soon a cold front storm came through and the temperature dropped into the 40s for the night. The night turned into freezing. I had a 30 degree sleeping bag and I felt like I was going into hypothermal. Morning couldn’t come fast enough. We awoke, ate, and got on the trail to get our blood circulating again. The remainder of the trip would be very comfortable in temperature range. When you are climbing from 2,000 feet to 6,000 feet – the temperature changes a bit.
I was in awe of how well the trails are managed and the shade coverage and canopies you encounter. There were times when you were hiking through a canopy loaded with blooming flowers. My fiancé’ was right! It was peaceful and you felt like you were traveling through time. You get to have a glimpse of what the early discovers of this section of the world viewed as they charted these trails.
Our next shelter stop was Carter Gap. We arrived to find several through-hikers who had been on the trail for 2 weeks and you could tell. Their smell was over-powering. We couldn’t even stay in the shelter area because the stench from not bathing was so bad. We decided to camp about 100 yards from this shelter and were actually closer to the water source we needed. The campsite we found was perfect and we all enjoyed the scenery of this area. We had good tree coverage and nice rock fire-ring previous through-hikers had created.
Hiking the Appalachian Trail you will find a variety of scenery. Sometimes you are hiking through a tree lined forest, other times you are hugging a creek winding its way down the mountainside. We even got to see Laurel Falls, which was an amazing 10 foot waterfall. We tried to take a dip in it, but the water was so cold it actually hurt to get in. We took very quick baths at this beautiful waterfall.
One of the fun things about hiking the AT is the journals left at the shelters. There is a notebook and you get the opportunity to sign the book and leave a note about your shelter experience. These journals are important because they usually clue you in on the shelter surroundings, bear issues and your water source. They are also entertaining and funny. Some people have great penmanship and you find yourself flipping through each page reliving others experiences of the AT.
I would recommend hiking the AT. I accomplished hiking over 40 miles and making two ascents to 6,000 feet. It challenges you and makes you want to return.
Our next section is Virginia. Though we would love to hike the entire trail, we both agreed we’ll be happy to hike a section in each state. That to us will satisfy our AT addiction.
P.S. Check out my Everglades Trip Journal.