Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Best of the Appalachian Trail: Overnight Hikes
Best of the Appalachian Trail: Overnight Hikes
Best of the Appalachian Trail: Overnight Hikes
Ebook389 pages4 hours

Best of the Appalachian Trail: Overnight Hikes

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

()

Read preview

About this ebook

  • Fully updated edition reflects the latest mileage calculations, reroute changes, information on new shelters or campsites, trailhead parking information, and contact information
  • Hike profiles include history of the region plus detailed descriptions of the flora and fauna
  • Hikes vary in length and difficulty, catering to hikers of all abilities
  • Authors are experienced Appalachian Trail thru-hikers
  • LanguageEnglish
    Release dateAug 21, 2018
    ISBN9781634041485
    Best of the Appalachian Trail: Overnight Hikes
    Author

    Leonard M. Adkins

    Leonard M. Adkins is the author of more than twenty books on travel and the outdoors, including Walking the Blue Ridge, Wildflowers of the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains, and The Appalachian Trail: A Visitor's Companion.

    Read more from Leonard M. Adkins

    Related to Best of the Appalachian Trail

    Related ebooks

    Special Interest Travel For You

    View More

    Related articles

    Reviews for Best of the Appalachian Trail

    Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Best of the Appalachian Trail - Leonard M. Adkins

      INTRODUCTION

      Dawn stretched her rosy limbs as slender pink fingers caressed the grassy plain around our tent. The surreal night—velvet-black sky with crescent moon, feral ponies grazing, the insistent drip of dew—faded as daylight illuminated the sleeping world. Except for the ponies, we were alone.

      Wilburn Ridge, near Grayson Highlands in Virginia, is an exquisitely beautiful area to camp in. You must backpack to get there, and it is worth every straining muscle to ascend the ridge. Grassy meadows, clumps of fir, rock outcrops, and wild ponies decorate the tableau before you, not unlike a Monet landscape.

      Impressionism, surrealism, and realism combined, the highlands are always ready for an artist’s brush. From the great storms that crash and roar over Mount Rogers to the west to the palette of colors that paint the landscape as the sun rises in the east, you cannot take this place for granted. As you hike the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) across Grayson Highlands and over Wilburn Ridge to Rhododendron Gap, the panorama is awe-inspiring. More than 2 miles from where we set up camp, we could still see the tent’s silhouette on the ridge, the wild ponies nosing and tasting the alien structure.

      Our daughter, Griffin, enjoyed the ponies, imitating the heel-kicking foals that whickered and neighed as they chased each other about the meadow. She picked daisies, explored rock groupings, and finally settled down snug in her sleeping bag as dusk blanketed the meadows.

      This is just one of many experiences that are possible when you hike overnight along the A.T.—experiences we hope this book will help you enjoy for yourself.

      HISTORY OF THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL

      The idea for a trail running the length of the Appalachian Mountains was first considered in the early part of the 20th century. The Appalachian Trail, as we know it, was the vision of Benton MacKaye (rhymes with sky) and others who had been thinking about the concept for more than 10 years. In 1921, MacKaye took the initiative and launched the project through an article in The Journal of the American Institute of Architects.

      In that first article, MacKaye wrote about the purpose of the Trail, There would be a chance to catch a breath, to study the dynamic forces of nature and the possibilities of shifting to them the burdens now carried on the backs of men. . . . Industry would come to be seen in its true perspective—as a means in life and not as an end in itself.

      MacKaye’s original intent was to construct a trail from the highest peak in the North to the highest peak in the South—from Mount Washington (New Hampshire) to Mount Mitchell (North Carolina). He envisioned a fourfold plan including the trail, shelters, community camps, and food and farm camps. The camps never came about. And although MacKaye’s larger economic plan for the Appalachian Trail never gained support, his main purpose—an opportunity for American families to commune with nature—is the reason for the Trail’s continued existence.

      Within a year after MacKaye’s article appeared in the architectural journal, the New York–New Jersey Trail Conference began work on a new trail with the goal of making it part of the Appalachian Trail. In the Hudson River Valley, the new Bear Mountain Bridge would connect a planned section in New England with Harriman State Park and eventually with Delaware Water Gap in Pennsylvania.

      In 1925, MacKaye and others formed the Appalachian Trail Conference to guide the project to completion. By 1936, Myron H. Avery, who would be chairman of the Appalachian Trail Conference for 20 years, had finished measuring the flagged route of the Appalachian Trail. He became the first 2,000-miler one year before the completion of the Trail.

      On August 14, 1937, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers cleared the final link of the 2,025-mile (at that time) Appalachian Trail. On a high ridge connecting Spaulding and Sugarloaf Mountains in Maine, a six-person CCC crew cut the last 2 miles of trail. The finished route of the Appalachian Trail was not as originally envisioned by MacKaye: the final product was longer, stretching from Georgia’s Mount Oglethorpe (the southern terminus of the eastern Blue Ridge) to Katahdin in what is now Maine’s Baxter State Park.

      The Trail did not remain complete for long. The next year, a hurricane demolished miles of trail in the northeast, while the decision to connect Skyline Drive (under construction at the time) with the Blue Ridge Parkway displaced another 120 miles of trail in Virginia. The Trail was not made continuous again until 1951, after the world had settled down from World War II.

      In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Trails System Act and made the Appalachian Trail the first National Scenic Trail. The act charged federal agencies with the task of buying lands to protect the trailway from encroaching development, but 10 years passed before the government acted and began protecting the trail lands. As of 2018, 99% of the 2,190 miles of the Appalachian Trail were under protection within some form of public lands.. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) is now leading a coalition of private and public entities trying to protect the most significant viewsheds of the A.T.

      Perhaps the most amazing aspect of the world’s largest greenway is that, prior to their construction by federal crews and the CCC, the Trail routes were conceived and selected by private citizens. As a testament to the volunteers’ involvement, the federal government delegated much of the management of the Trail to a private nonprofit group—the ATC—even after the footpath was brought under federal protection.

      Sages Ravine Brook (see Hike 25, cascades lazily over boulders. Photo: Leonard M. Adkins

      SELECTING A HIKE

      The hike descriptions in this book often suggest more than great hikes. The information provided will also tell you, for example, good times to hike in the area or when to avoid hiking there.

      To help you pick out a hike that offers just what you’re looking for, several easy-to-find pieces of information are located at the top of each hike description: the hike rating, the distance and configuration, and icons denoting major attractions along the way. At the beginning of each chapter, this same information, along with the hike name and page number, is also presented in a quick-reference table format.

      ICONS

      Each hike has one or more icons that show the major attractions along the way. The icons (mountain peak, scenic view, pond or river, waterfall, historic area, bird-watching, or wheelchair-accessible area) are intended to give you an easy-to-identify symbol that you can use when you flip through the book looking for a hike.

      mountain peak

      scenic view/photo opportunity

      pond or river

      waterfall

      historic area

      bird-watching

      wheelchair access

      RATINGS

      These hikes are rated as easy, moderate, or strenuous. Easy hikes have little elevation gain or loss and are no more than 10 miles long. Moderate hikes have no long, steep climbs or descents but may have some short, steep grades or long, gradual ascents. Strenuous hikes are steep and sometimes long—they should not be attempted by inexperienced hikers or people in poor physical condition.

      LENGTH AND HIKE TIMES

      Unlike The Best of the Appalachian Trail: Day Hikes, this book omits specific hiking times, but a good rule of thumb for gauging time spent on the Trail is to allow a half hour for each mile to be hiked, as well as an additional hour for each 1,000 feet of elevation gained. This pace allows for a leisurely hike with some time to stop at overlooks and other points of interest.

      Many of these hikes are traverses, which begin at one point and end at another. Traverses require that you shuttle or have someone drop you off and pick you up.

      EQUIPMENT FOR OVERNIGHT HIKES

      As any experienced hiker knows, backpacking requires more equipment than day hiking. The sheer abundance of gear out there may seem daunting at first, but when you boil it all down, all you really need is food, water, and shelter. Plus, many outdoors stores let you rent equipment instead of having to buy it outright. For a good book on the subject, try Victoria Logue’s Hiking and Backpacking: Essential Skills to Advanced Techniques, available at most outdoors retailers and many bookstores. And of course, the internet is a treasure trove of information about the latest gear.

      BOOTS

      Hiking boots generally range in price from $50 to $500 and are divided into three categories: heavyweight, mediumweight, and lightweight. Heavyweight boots weigh more than 4 pounds and are generally designed for technically demanding climbs on ice (usually with crampons), snow, or rock. You won’t need heavyweights for the hikes in this book unless, say, you choose to climb Katahdin in the dead of winter.

      Mediumweight boots, which weigh 2–4 pounds, are made almost entirely of leather, though many incorporate tough fabric as well. Mediumweights are ideal for the broadest range of hiking situations.

      Lightweight boots, which weigh less than 2 pounds, are generally made with a combination of leather and a breathable fabric. Lightweights are tough enough to handle any hike in this book.

      When purchasing a boot, the most important factor to keep in mind is fit—even the most expensive boots will make you miserable if they don’t fit properly. Fitting is best done in person, in a store; buy online only if you know the company has a good return policy. Heavyweights and mediumweights require that you break them in before you head out into the woods. Lightweights generally need no breaking in, but even these can be purchased too small or too big, too narrow or too wide, so be prepared with moleskin to treat hot spots before blisters develop.

      BACKPACKS

      Most backpacks today run between $100 and $500 and have internal frames, which conform to the body and help keep loads stable and balanced—a big advantage on uneven terrain. Old-school external-frame packs still work well for carrying large loads across flat terrain, and because they don’t mold to your back, you sweat less while carrying them. Their primary disadvantage is that loads tend to shift around inside the pack, making climbing, descending, and jumping difficult.

      When selecting a backpack, you need to figure out how much stuff you intend to carry—obviously, the more gear you have, the bigger the pack needs to be. For any hike in this book, a small pack works fine, though you’ll probably want a larger pack for long-distance or thru-hiking. Before you buy, do some research online or consult an expert at an outfitter such as REI.

      An important feature to consider when purchasing any pack is the hip belt: because it transfers most of the pack’s weight from the shoulders to the hips, it should be well padded, well constructed, and snug fitting.

      SLEEPING BAGS

      Because you’ll spend about a third of your time sleeping on a backpacking trip, it’s important to get a good sleeping bag. Aside from cost (high-quality bags generally range from $100 to $1,000), the key factors to consider are temperature rating, filling, weight, and shape. The temperature rating provided by the manufacturer lists the lowest temperature at which the bag will still keep you warm and comfortable. Fillings are typically goose down, a synthetic material, or a mix of the two. Down provides the most warmth for the weight of the bag, but synthetics stay warmer when wet. Mummy-shaped bags—think a cocoon with a hole for your head—are popular with backpackers because they’re both warm and lightweight; on the downside, they restrict your movement, so they aren’t the best choice if you toss and turn or you sleep on your side. Traditional rectangular bags are roomier, but they weigh more and provide less warmth. So-called crossover bags combine the best elements of mummy-shaped and rectangular bags.

      TENTS

      Key features to consider include weight, room, ventilation, and ease of setup. For backpacking, you’ll want to carry a maximum of 4 pounds of tent per person; most of your options will be in the 3- to 7-pound range.

      When it comes to tent size, think about whether you prefer to store your gear outside or inside. If you’re hiking with a friend, a two-person tent will meet your needs provided you’re leaving your stuff outside—otherwise, you’ll need a three-person tent.

      If you plan to hike during the summer, a well-ventilated tent is an absolute necessity. Most tents today come with plenty of netting for cross-ventilation and protection from bugs.

      Finally, the ease and speed with which you can pitch and take down your tent is another important consideration. Practice helps, but even experienced campers may struggle to set up a tent with a complex design and lots of pieces to put together—you don’t want to find yourself in a sudden downpour with the task still unfinished. Good-quality backpacking tents are available for around $100–$700.

      WATER TREATMENT AND STOVES

      Staying well hydrated is essential for hikers, but carrying all of the water you’ll need is impractical on a backpacking trip—water is heavy, after all. That said, if you want to drink from any source along the A.T., you must treat the water first unless it has been guaranteed safe to drink. The incidence of waterborne illnesses has been rising among A.T. hikers because they have either become lazy about treating their water or are unaware that they should do so. Fortunately, a wide variety of treatment methods exists, from boiling to iodine pills to gravity filters. As with other outdoor gear, check out product reviews and advice online before making your choice.

      Depending on your needs and tastes, you’ll also want to pack a stove on which to cook your food, make your coffee, boil your water, and what not. Most backpacking stoves range in price from $20 to $100, depending on features and fuel types. Alternatively, you can skip the stove and pack nonperishable foods such as peanut butter, meal bars, trail mix, vacuum-packed tuna, and dehydrated meat or poultry. For additional possibilities, enter no-cook backpacking, backpacking without a stove, or the like into your favorite search engine.

      Equipment Checklist

      Backpack

      Balaclava*

      Bandanna(s)*

      Biodegradable soap (use responsibly; see page 10 )*

      Camera/spare smartphone and memory cards/film*

      Cell phone/charger (for emergencies only)

      Compass*

      Condiments and seasonings*

      Cookware and utensils

      Copy of itinerary (leave another copy at home with family or friends)

      Crampons and ice ax*

      Deodorant*

      Down or synthetic-fill parka*

      Drinking cup

      Emergency phone numbers (written down and stored in your phone)

      Extra phone batteries (for devices that take them)*

      Extra shoes*

      First aid kit

      Flashlight and fresh batteries

      Fluorescent/blaze-orange clothing, vest, hat, and/or pack cover

      Food for length of hike

      Gaiters*

      GPS unit*

      Hand sanitizer*

      Hiking boots

      Hiking stick*

      Insect repellent*

      Knit cap*

      Maps and guidebooks

      Nylon cord (at least 50 feet)

      One long-sleeved shirt or sweater

      One or two short-sleeved shirts

      One pair of loose-fitting long pants*

      One pair of shorts

      Pocketknife

      Raingear and pack cover

      Reading material (hard copy or digital)*

      Repair supplies for pack, tent, and stove*

      Shaving kit*

      Sleeping bag

      Sleeping pad

      Stove and fuel*

      Sunglasses*

      Sunscreen*

      Swimwear and towel*

      Tent/tarp and ground cloth

      Toilet paper/wet wipes and trowel for burying waste

      Toothbrush and toothpaste

      Trash bag

      Two pairs of hiking socks

      Two pairs of liner socks

      Two pairs of underwear/long johns*

      Washcloth(s) or sponge

      Watch or clock*

      Water bottle, canteen, or bladder (1-liter capacity or more)

      Water-treatment kit (unless you plan to boil your water)

      Women’s hygiene products

      Zip-top plastic bags*

      * optional or seasonal equipment

      MINIMUM IMPACT

      Minimum-impact camping is a philosophy summed up by the National Park Service as Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints. The following sections discuss measures you can take to help eliminate traces of your presence along the Trail. This isn’t so much a list of rules as it is a way of living that is becoming increasingly important to adopt. If these techniques are not used by everyone (and currently they’re not), the A.T. will lose its natural beauty. Nature is resilient, but its ability to fight back is limited. A little effort goes a long way toward improving the world we’re escaping to. If everyone pitches in, we’ll be able to enjoy our backcountry experiences even more.

      CARRY OUT ALL OF YOUR TRASH

      Pack it in, pack it out, and you’re already one giant step toward improving the environment you love. Keep a garbage bag handy for storing your trash—and that means everything, even organic material. Yes, orange peels, apple cores, and eggshells are natural and biodegradable. So why not toss them into the brush? Because they don’t break down instantly: it takes five months for an orange peel, for instance, to rot and become one with the earth.

      Few things are worse than heading into the woods to relieve yourself and discovering a trail of toilet paper, proving that you weren’t the first to have this idea at this spot. Soggy used TP is one of the uglier reminders of human presence.

      Likewise, following trails littered with cigarette butts is disheartening. If you want to smoke, that’s your prerogative, but don’t think of the outdoors as one big ashtray. Not only are cigarette butts ugly to look at, but it takes just a single stray spark to start a forest fire.

      CARRY OUT TRASH LEFT BY OTHERS

      Sadly, many people who wouldn’t dare throw trash on the ground at home do so freely in the outdoors. And unfortunately, the users and abusers of America’s trails outnumber the enviro-conscious. We have to make up for their ignorance and sloth by picking up after them.

      You can make the outdoors an even better place by stopping occasionally to pick up other people’s trash. As for nastier stuff like used toilet paper and discarded food, you can at least take a minute to cover it with leaves, moss, dirt, and twigs. Pick up trash, and you’ll find you feel a lot better about yourself.

      SWITCHBACKS

      Stay on designated trails. Switchbacks are there for a reason: they slow down erosion on steep climbs. It may seem easier to scramble up the hillside to the next section of trail, but if too many people did that, rain would start using the newly exposed earth as a watercourse, washing away both trail and mountain in its wake. You may curse the person who blazed it and those who attempt to keep it passable for you, but remember that just about any trail you hike was built and maintained by volunteers.

      WASTE MANAGEMENT

      There’s more to being green than just packing out your trash—properly discarding the remnants of nature’s call keeps the wilderness not only clean but pretty, too. Always, always, always (we can’t say it too many times) dig a hole 6–8 inches deep for solid waste, and make sure that you choose a spot at least 200 feet from the nearest water source. If you’re hiking alongside a stream, climb up. Urinating on rocks or gravel is preferable to bushes or dirt—urine contains salts that can attract wildlife, which may then dig up the spot where you’ve relieved yourself. Many backpackers bring along a wide-mouthed plastic bottle or portable urinal; a flat-bottomed resealable cooking bag is a great option if you’re trying to conserve space in your pack.

      KEEP IT CLEAN

      Please don’t bathe, brush your teeth, wash your dishes, or dump wastewater in a stream or river—even biodegradable soaps can have a significant environmental impact. Instead, dig a hole—again, at least 200 feet from a water source—and pour the gray water into it. For bathing, fill a receptacle (bucket, pot, dishpan, what have you) with water and clean yourself with a soapy washcloth or sponge. No-rinse body wipes are a convenient alternative to soap and water, but make sure to pack them out after use. Before you go swimming, do a quick rinse or wipe-down if you’re wearing sunscreen, insect repellent, deodorant, body lotion, or the like.

      TRAIL MAINTENANCE

      Give back to the Trail and the hiking community by becoming involved in trail maintenance. Maintaining a section of existing trail and helping out with blazing new trails are good ways to pay back the outdoors for the good times you have had there. Trails are beginning to crisscross the entire country, and there is sure to be a new or old trail somewhere near you. Contact your local trail clubs to see what you can do to help out. Most backpacking shops can tell you about clubs in your area.

      The entire Appalachian Trail is maintained by volunteers. To find out more about the clubs that maintain the A.T., contact the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (see Appendix).

      FINDING SOLITUDE

      Many hikers retreat to the Appalachian Trail seeking a wilderness experience, only to find themselves sharing a crowded section of trail with more hikers than they bargained for. Here are a few tips for finding a little alone time on America’s most popular long-distance trail.

      •Start your hike early in the morning. We once took this advice to the extreme and enjoyed the best hike of our lives for the effort. We started climbing Katahdin at 2:30 a.m. and arrived at Baxter Peak by 5:30 a.m. in time for the sunrise. The view was spectacular, and we didn’t share the summit with another hiker. That was on a Labor Day weekend, when later in the day, hikers marched in a long, single file from Baxter Peak to Pamola Peak. By making an extra effort to get up early (and hike the tricky section of trail in the dark), we had the peak to ourselves on perhaps the busiest day of the year. If you hike in the dark, be prepared. A headlamp or flashlight is absolutely necessary. And don’t attempt difficult sections of trail in the dark if you are not experienced enough to do so.

      •Hike during the off-season. Roan Highlands on the Tennessee–North Carolina state line gets very crowded during the peak bloom of its rhododendron garden. In June, visitors flock to see the awesome spectacle—thousands of big Catawba rhododendrons in bloom at once—but we’ve camped alone on the summit during the winter. We didn’t see the rhododendrons, but the snow-covered mountain was a magnificent sight.

      •Discover your own special places. After you enjoy the hikes in this book, branch out and discover more of the Trail on your own. To help you in your search, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy publishes a set of 11 guidebooks (buy them at atctrailstore.org) that covers the entire 2,190-mile footpath, mile by mile.

      SAFETY

      Trouble is rare on the Appalachian Trail, but theft is not uncommon. Cars parked at trailheads may be targeted for break-ins because thieves know that the owner will be away for a while. Conceal anything worth stealing, or better yet, leave anything truly valuable at home.

      You’re unlikely to run into troublesome humans on the A.T., but if you do encounter someone who gives you a bad feeling, keep moving.

      When it comes to the weather, it’s neither impossible nor necessarily uncomfortable to hike in rain or snow or intense heat; nevertheless, there are certain precautions that you should take. Clothing suitable to the situation is important: raingear for rain; layered clothing for snow and cold weather; and lightweight, porous clothing for hot days. Appropriate clothing can go a long way toward preventing both hypothermia and hyperthermia.

      Some of the hikes in this book take in sections of trail that are located above tree line or in other exposed areas. In some cases, alternative bad-weather routes are available, but in others, they’re not. If inclement weather is a probability, it may be best to take a rain check until the storm passes. For hikes above tree line, bring raingear just in case, because storms can form suddenly at high elevations.

      Getting lost is rarely a problem on the A.T., but anyone can become distracted and miss a blaze that indicates a turn. The Appalachian Trail is marked with white blazes at least every 0.25 mile, and usually more frequently. Most trail stewards try to blaze so that you can see the next blaze as soon as you’ve passed the previous one—if you’ve walked for more than 5 minutes without seeing a blaze, backtrack until you see a blaze before continuing on your way.

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1