Appalachian Trail hikers

Awesome pics MY. You did luck out, as I understand the temps range from 75 down to the 20 even in the summer. Excellent!

 

Thank you for sharing your beautiful pics - and so crystal clear! A view like that is wonderfully intoxicating. Man I've got a bad case of cabin fever! I might have to pull off a weekend hike to keep my sanity... lol.

I don't think I could stand my legs stuck in a kayak, thats why I havent tried it. Been wanting to do the Gauley, my overprotective hubby hates it when I say that, but I'll keep bringing it up until I get to go.

 

hey fedora where in nc. you at? have you ever been to grayson highland in virginia? im in tn. not far from nc. love linville goerge roan mnt. is about 40 mi. from me let me know ill make a pot of chilli have it waitin for ya when your done!! have fun!! peace!

 

The long Thanksgiving weekend was good to us (delayed post, I know). We headed to Southern Vermont and camped along the AT/LT in the Big Branch wilderness, pretty sweet, but pretty friggin' cold, the zero degree bags came in handy. It turns out a buddy of mine moved to the area a little over a year ago. He cruised by the camp site, and we did a midnight hike in the moon light, a loop over green mountain and around little rock pond, Got back to the tent around 4:30 am, slept till like noon the next day. We hiked Baker peak the next day, and on the way out Sunday, checked out Big Branch gorge (I'll be running that in my kayak next time it's warm), and White Rocks. He also brought the wasabi peas, god bless 'im. I'll try and get some pics up here soon.

I was checking out roan mountain and linville gorge on what I could find on line, looks pretty sweet (linville gorge is the shit in a kayak from what I've heard). Anybody got any pics?

 

Hi there, Mellow Yellow, I have some pictures here for you and maybe I can post more later. The moonlight hike sounded wonderful. I really enjoy the moon on a clear night the whole world takes on an enchanted atmosphere on a clear moonlit night. Wow!!!

 

Nice pics! Doesn't look all that different than it does up my way, though I'm sure it's warmer.

OK, so I finally got the pics uploaded from my camera. It was my wife's birthday, and she wanted to go camping, she's good like that.

Here's a shot from the summit of Baker's Peak:




This is our camp site as we were packing it in:




Big Branch river gorge:




White Rocks:
Under the rock slide on the right is a place they call the ice beds, a glacier of sorts where the ice never melts. I'm told you can go there mid-summer and hike in a nice cool breeze, like a massive natural air conditioner.

 

The weather was kinda murky, so some of the pictures don't really do the place justice, but here's a shot of a group of us on Baker's Peak five years ago, when I first found the area:



This picture was taken around 8 am, same time of year, the weather was awesome that day! Highs in the low 40's, and not a cloud in the sky. A major contrast to the day before, when we got to the hut it was snowing and like ten below. This is why you gotta be prepared, the weather's really fickle.

 

Oh yeah, and I couldn't post the pics I took of the midnight hike, looking down on little rock pond from green mountain, for obvious reasons. If I'd had a tripod, they might've come out, but as it is, all you can make out is a white dot where the moon is, the rest is black. Pretty incredible night though, serene and peaceful, and the view was amazing in the moonlight, no need for head lamps.

 

Awesome pictures there Mellow Yellow. It makes me want to be up there with you all. Hopefully I'm off to Roan Mtn. in January. Can't forget the wasabees though. Keep the wind to your back and the North Star before you. Happy trails.

 

Looks like fun! I am glad that your trip turned out great. Makes me want to hit the northern end, not until warm weather though, I'm a wuss about the cold. A moonlight hike sounds really cool!

 

i've covered many of the gsmnp trails, and hopefully during january i'll be heading up towards gregory's bald, which intersects with the AT right before campsite 13..i haven't been able to go lately due to college finals..but as soon as they're over!!

 

Thru hiked the AT in 98'. I want to hike the PCT and whatever long distance trails that don't require too much winter type situations. The AT again does not sound all that bad ten years after deciding to do it the first time.

 

Zander, you can hike the Florida Trail in winter and probably not see temps under 50F.

http://www.floridatrail.org/web/?&MMN_position=3:3

 

Just what I need. Something else to put on the to do list.

Thanks

 

We hit a section of the AT over New Years on Mount Moosilake, in the South Western end of the White Mountains, New Hampshire, near the Vermont boarder. The Beaver Brook trail is on the North side, and is steep and treacherous, but very cool if you're careful. The Southern side access is owned by Dartmouth, which is great, 'cause you don't have to pay to park there. It's also less crowded than most of the other peaks in the whites, yet you still get the alpine zone on top.

I don't go to the whites as much as I used to, now that they require a fee at every parking area, and you gotta display a pass which tells them and every would be trail head vandal when you plan to return. It figures New Hampshire has tried to put a fee on access to just about every form of outdoor recreation. "Live free or die" my ass, I find more freedom along the AT/LT in Vermont, where you can park your car or camp just about anywhere.

 

Yeah, we've heard one of the few good things about NH is the natural beauty. They do love to exploit it, eh?

 

New Hampshire's nice, don't get me wrong, and plenty of hip people live there, but the politics have traditionally been Republican, and it shows. Drive through some of the mountain towns and you're assaulted by neon signs and sub divisions. I remember when my dad used to take me up there in the late '60's/early '70's, and there was nothing there.

Contrast that to Vermont, which is about as progressive as it gets politically, or so it seems. They've got some serious zoning laws, like you're required to have at least something like seven acres of land to build a house outside city limits. And in town businesses are required to build facilities that fit in tastefully with the environment. Not many neon signs, even the golden arches of McD's are constructed of wood.

 

It's the 12 or so nights of stealth camping because I refuse to pay for shelter. That's what gets me.

 

Stealth camping? So lemme get this straight, thru hikers are required to pay to pitch a tent, and there's no legal place to pitch a tent without paying? That's a bummer. It's kinda that way in New Hampshire, unless you're motivated to hike far enough out to where you can poach a camp site and no one will bust you (been there, done that in the Great Gulf Wilderness of Mount Washington in my college days, right after the morning wasabi peas, the ranger was cool it though). I also found an amazing camp site on the Pemigawasset river, in the Pemi wilderness, but I didn't tell you that. The bottom line is there's only so many personel to enforce da rules, so you just gotta hike far enough off the beaten track to be hidden, and I think the rule is that you can camp where you want as long as you're over 200 feet from the trail or nearest body of water. Sorry, I usually camp next to bodies of water, but I do practice minimal impact, like dig a pit to bury my spit or food a distance from the water, and the other waste goes further away.

You don't have to stealth camp in Vermont, or Maine for that matter, but you do in that pesky state in between. There are camp sites in Vermont that warrant care takers and fees in the summer months, but they're worth it, and necessary to sustain the impact of the masses of people who camp there.

 

I work hard at leaving no trace. In WMNF, camping is only allowed in designated areas along the AT. This specifically refers to AMC huts in NH, and meaning you either have to pay the equivalent of a weeks worth of food ($23-$75 per night) to sleep in a dank, often lice infested bunk or work in the dining hall or sweeping up in return for a sleeping space in the basement. And there's no guarantee you can work for stay.

This is all done to preserve the alpine forests, as large scale free camping would quickly destroy them.

I don't hike to roll my bag out in a bunk and spend the night in a hut with a bunch of strangers. In fact I only use the free shelters along the AT if it's raining so hard that I need to get dry for a few hours. I'd rather get a few hundred yards off the beaten path and pick a 4x9' spot that I won't damage, pitch my tarp, cook my dinner, write in my journal, get 7-8 hours of peaceful sleep, and be packed and moving by dawn. You'd be amazed how much better you sleep without someone snoring and farting 3 feet away all... night... long... I know, I sound a bit anti-social. Yes I do.

Also you rarely have mice chewing their way into your pack away from the shelters. Racoons maybe, but they make enough noise to wake you to chase them off.