The rain poured down on us in the middle of our 12 mile hike. With rain pants, a rain jacket, a waterproof backpack cover, and gloves, we had the right gear. But after 3.5 hours of chilling rain, (it was 41°F), parts of my clothes were wet and my bones were bitterly cold. My feet, socks and shoes were totally wet as we stumbled through standing water, seen and unseen. My new gloves from REI were totally soaked, yielding cold hands. My glasses were fogged and had to be abandoned, and somehow even the bottom of my shirt was damp. This was day 12 of a 13 day backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail (AT), and I seriously wondered what on Earth was I doing? But we had met with some incredible luck and made good choices along the way. It just so happened that this day that although we were hiking a particularly difficult part of the trail - the roller coaster section in VA - we had divided the 13.9 roller coaster section over two days. While we hiked 16 miles the day before with 6 miles in the roller coaster section, our rainy hike to Blackburn Trail Center day 12 included about 7 miles of the roller coaster. So although the day that preceded this rainy day was a long and difficult 16-mile hike, at least it didn’t encompass all of the roller coaster, and it didn’t rain on us. The other good decision we made in choosing our daily mileage sections, was we planned to shelter this rainy night at Blackburn. This was an awesome decision as instead of a lean to (shelter) which most stops along the AT have along with designated campsites, there was an actual hiker cabin! What a Godsend this was. |
*The hike takes on average 5-7 months and every year thousands begin the journey. Only one in 4 completes it.
*Most hikers start in GA & hike to ME especially if they want to start in the Spring. Many who want to start in Summer begin in Maine and head south to GA. Hikers heading south to GA usually plan to finish before a Christmas. Hikers headed north should plan to have their trek completed by 10/15 as Baxter State park in ME closes. Because the trail gets crowded when many hikers start at the same time (March-mid April), some choose to Flip-flop - these hikers will start at the mid point in Harpers Ferry, WV and hike one direction; when they reach the terminus they get a train, plane or ride to the other end and hike the portion not done.
*Most carry 3-5 days of food and resupply in towns near the trail (these are listed in THE AT GUIDE: A HANDBOOK FOR HIKING THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL)
*Most hikers have zero days and nearo days - days when off the trail they don’t hike but visit friends or just stay in a hotel and enjoy creature comforts. Nearo refers to hiking just a few miles more than zero.
*Your pack should not weigh much more than 20% of your body weight - for us it should be about 30 pounds.