Thread: Anyone here ever hiked the Appalachian Trail?

My Son and a couple of his friends are attempting to hike the length of the trail from south to north. It's around 2100 miles and it's supposed to take 5 or 6 months to complete. They are two days in. Anyone here attempted it? I'd like to hear of your experiences. Thanks.

Miner

Yeesh.That's a long way.Very impressive.Hope they can make contact to check in once in a while!

I never have but some friends of my inlaws have been traveling America on foot since they retired.

Here is their home page:Ken & Marcia Powers Home Page

Originally Posted by aroliver59

Yeesh.That's a long way.Very impressive.Hope they can make contact to check in once in a while!

They all have cell phones, but are planning on using them sparingly to save the batteries. He called last night after setting up camp, but haven't heard from him today.

I did the Connecticut section with my mom. She's really into hiking, and I was too before college. I know the guys will be in good company, because pretty much all the throughhikers start around the same time (assuming they are going south to north), so I wouldn't worry about them too much.

Originally Posted by JMS

I never have but some friends of my inlaws have been traveling America on foot since they retired.

Here is their home page:Ken & Marcia Powers Home Page

I'd love to meet them, I bet they have some absolutely brilliant stories.

Good luck, that sounds like a real adventure.

I never have, no. I've never really camped all that much, either. Bushcraft and survival interests me, however, and I'd like to get into that sort of thing one day.

No, But I LOOOOVE Bill Bryson's "A Walk In The Woods". Check it out, the audio book is especially fun.

Your boys will have a ton of fun, I'm sure, but 2,100 miles...man. Good luck to them indeed!

I have hiked large sections (I spent a month on the AT starting at Fontana Dam and hiking as far as I could for half the month then returning).

The trail is an interesting place. Folks tend to take care of one another when they can and as a general rule, there is always room for one more in a trail shelter.

-Rob

I've also section hiked parts of the trail (CT, NH, parts of MA). Most of the throughhikers I've met have been great folks. Check out whiteblaze.net for tons and TONS of info.
They will learn more about self-sufficiency (both physical and mental) than any other way I've ever seen. I hope they have a great time, and enjoy the trail every step of the way. There will be tough times (how can there not be, you are WALKING for 5-6 monmths!!!), and amazing times...and I hope the latter far outweighs the former for them. Keep us posted!!