Waynesboro and AT north

 Hit the town and did the normal stuff, like pick up mail, laundry and stayed in motel.  Hitched in and out of town with no problem.  I left my hiking partners who decided to do another zero...I was broke, so I needed to camp out.

Shenandoah National Park has nice "graded" trails that meant gentle rises and falls as it paralleled the Skyline Drive.

The road, called Blue Ridge Parkway to the south, has a strange history with the Appalachian Trail.

Benton MacKaye (the Soul of the AT), and Myron Avery (the Body) had a major conflict about road building in the 1930's.

MacKaye's vision was for a wilderness path with farm communities to provide a place for city folks to escape.  He after all was one of the founders of the Wilderness Society.

Avery on the other had was the trail builder, the first to hike every inch of the trail and pushed hard to get the trail built by 1937.

An excellent book on this conflict is 

Blazing Ahead: Benton MacKaye, Myron Avery, and the Rivalry That Built the Appalachian Trail

by Jeffrey Ryan 

get your copy at Amazon, of course.

Oh yeah, a pic of the trail at one of the many road crossings.

 

Olympics 2021

 Seems odd that the Olympic year is an odd number, but the past year is odd as well.

I want to send a message of good will to all the athletes, their coaches and family as we try to celebrate the Olympics as one world.  Congrats all.

NBC is broadcasting it here in the States.

Tidewater Appalachian Trail Club

 A big shout out to the TATC volunteers.  Met two volunteers on the trail today clearing the way for us hikers.  (recall my Nettles chat a few days ago.)

The thousands of volunteers along the trail are what MacKaye envisioned in 1921 when the idea of the AT was put in print.

 

Thanks volunteers.  They are the Soul of the AT.

North of Snowden, VA on the AT

 We stopped in Snowden at a small store and picked up some food at the combo post office/general store for the trail.  It had limited supplies, but besides mac and cheese, I do remember getting some fresh cheese.  At the PO got a letter from my sister; it was always nice to get some personal mail.

At Johns Hollow LT, met Harry who was a thru hiker in 1969.

Lots of rain hiking these days, just like the monsoon we have had here in July today.

Here is a shot of my heating water for some tea after dinner.  Would use a fire sometimes, but most of the cooking was done on my SVEA123.

Today, however, you can watch a live volcano online in Iceland.

Nettles along the AT

 Have you heard about Nettles (not John Nettles of Midsomer Murders fame), but the plants found in the woods sometimes called "Screaming Nettles."

Can you imagine walking through this wearing shorts?  Well, we did and it was not pleasant.  (1974 photo is by Ralph Ferrusi).  See the trail blaze in the background?

This problem of vegetation is unique in the southern AT, since plants do not grow as quickly in the north.  This creates an entirely new approach to trail maintenance.  Read about this and other great information in Thomas R. Johnson's (2021) book called "From Dream to Realty: History of the Appalachian Trail."  This book is a 10/10!!  See page 107 for the plant growth issue.

This is a must read for anyone interested in our loved AT.

Trail Building Research Survey

 From the American Hiking Society:

Trail Building Research Survey 

You are invited to participate in a research study on trail use and trail building practices as they relate to stewardship ideology, sense of place, and community identity. Researchers from the University of Maryland are reaching out to folks with interest in trails—which is you of course. Your participation will help them develop a more participatory and nuanced understanding of trails and trail work in the United States and elsewhere. Participation involves completing a 15-minute long, anonymous survey.

https://umdsurvey.umd.edu/jfe/form/SV_3kOJAxYAFgAMOOy?Q_CHL=email

 

Howard Johnson LT in Daleville VA and AT

 One of the nicer LTs on the trail. Running water, AC, restaurant and a swimming pole.  I am sure the vacationers looked at us as bums with our backpacks, dirty clothes and smelly bodies.  Had several hot, hot hiking days.

This is the location of a serious relocation after 1950.  This of course is post Earl Shaffer's famed through hike in 1948.  He would have branched south from McAfee Knob (yes the famed view).

And the (newer) trail north followed Tinker Mountain.  Did I say it was hot.

For an excellent study on the trail relo see 

The Old Appalachian Trail in the New River Valley

1931 - 1955

A Presentation for the 2017 New River Symposium

May 16, 2017

Jim McNeely

After the HOJO LT, we had this section of trail to look forward to.

Map courtesy of the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia.

Dragon's Tooth and AT

 A couple days after Pearisburg.  We were fortunate to get LTs to sleep in but after getting my Gerry Lodgepole tent in Damascus, the extra weight was not needed.  Dragon's Tooth was seen today.

 The last couple days I averaged 15 miles a day.  Nowhere near my 20, so I was behind "schedule." But hiking with my friends was more important.  I would have more solo days (and nights) in the coming months.

Zero Days on the AT

 With "hikers revenge", I spent 3 days at Father Charles' Catholic Church in Pearisburg.  I got on a tangent yesterday about a recent book on the AT, so I want to return to the subject of the hostel.

So far on this 1974 trip I had spent 8 nights in trail towns (Wesser, Hot Springs, Elk Park, Damascus and now Pearisburg).  Town stops were outside my budget so a free hostel was greatly appreciated.  Today, hikers do frequent zeros in towns in a variety of lodgings and this can rack up some serious money, especially when you consider the price of backpacking.

Anyway, recovering from my tummy problem, I had a chance to meet some great people.  We played volley ball, made some jam and other untypical hiker activities.  All in all it was an emotional (and physical) up and down kind of experience; but one that is part of the AT experience.  (this is my ending thoughts on the AT Biography book I wrote about yesterday; the author can not really write about the AT without these experiences.  Even Bryson spent a couple weeks (or maybe  a month or two) on the trail).

So in these blog entries I summarize my trip some decades later AFTER I have reflected and relived the trip.  Oh yeah Pearisburg from the AT.

Pearisburg, VA, Father Charles and "The Appalachian Trail, A Biography" (D'Anieri, 2021)

 Reached this hostel in Pearisburg just in time to live on the toilet with a case of "hikers revenge."  Must of consumed some bad water along those road walks.  Spent three nights recovering.

 

So instead of going into detail about this, I figure I would give a brief review of my most recent AT book read.  Just finished "The Appalachian Trail, A Biography" by Philip D'Anieri.  

I'd give it a 7.5 out of 10.

First the good stuff.  The idea to give bios of some of the key people in the history of the AT is unique.  The chapters are well documented and begin with Guyot, the geographer who mapped and wrote about the Appalachian Mountains back in the mid 1860's.  Other key people summarized are Kephart, Taylor, MacKaye, Avery, Shaffer and Gatewood, Nelson, Richie, Underhill, and Startzell, Bryson and  a final chapter that tries to wrap things up.

If those names don't mean anything to you, use that as a reason to pick this book up.  For the most part, the selection of these bios is ok, but except for the latter chapters, the author relies heavily on other titles who did the heavy lifting to tell their story.  Interviews were used for the last two bio chapters.  And that is the real benefit of the book.

As I reported above, the final chapter tries to wrap up things.  And while the discussion on the true disconnect between the people he writes about and the the hiker of today, the internet and cell phones IMHO do not belong on the AT.  Just scan YouTube for the VLOG's of this year's batch of wanna-be thru hiker. 

And the fact that these videos are sandwiched between commercials, we end up with a bunch of "selfie loving" people that probably do not belong on the trail.

So I am ranting about the hikers and missing the point of this book.  Do get it, it belongs on your bookshelf along with the 300 memoirs.I just wish the author had spent some real time on the trail to experience what the people in his chapters did to set the stage.  This is absent and necessary for someone to write about the AT.

D'Anieri's book will introduce the reader to some of the important people that helped form the AT.  It is a good reference.

Health on the Appalachian Trail

 Been a few days since I posted about my 1974 walk, and darn, part of the reason is that I can't find some pics of us sleeping in the Walker Mountain fire tower in Virginia.  My slides are in boxes and packed in the garage so I will not be getting them for a while. But I just checked my "cloud" and found a few:

Also....

Here is a shot looking down from the Walker Mountain tower.

and the previous night stayed in Old Orchard LT first one north of Mt. Rogers.  One of our hiking buddies stayed at the shelter to rest a sprained ankle.

Lots of road walking north of Mt Rogers too.  On one of these gravel roads, saw my first rattle snake. On the 12th we are 37 to 41 miles from Pearisburg.  Remember the differences between the guide book and mileage fact sheet.

Relos on the Appalachian Trail

 Back in the day, the Appalachian Trailway News (published by the ATC), would prepare a comprehensive report in the May edition about trail relocations, new LT's or dismantled ones.  Parking issues were also announced as well as water supplies.  

You need to remember this was before Guthook apps and the like.

Here is a scan from the May 1974 page from Damascus north to Pennsylvania.

The relo for Mt Rogers was found in the 1973 edition if interested.

Darn, I wish the ATC would digitize all the ATN and post on Archive.org.  I would even pay for access!

Virginia, Home of the Appalachian Trail Relocations

 Since the completion of the AT in 1937, the trail route has been frequently relocated.  Sometimes it was done to take the trail off a road, other times it was to secure a permanent and protected route thanks to the:

the National Trails System Act (1968, NTSA Public Law 90-543) and an amendment of the Act in 1978 secured the necessary federal funds to establish a permanent route for the trail that would preserve the character of the A.T. corridor. 

And lastly the route may have changed to get to a more scenic path.  

This is the reason for the relo north of Damascus and the Mt Rogers National Recreation Area. 

For my first night out of Damascus our group camped out and were visited by some friendly neighbors. 

 There's my new Gerry Lodgepole tent in the top photo, and the bottom shows "Bessie" who came by to say hi.

I'll talk more about the other Virginia relo(cation)s in future blog entries, so book mark this page.

A Zero in Damascus

 Slept late (8:00 am), wrote 10 post cards to friends.  Cooked dinner to save money.

"It's hot today."

So to talk briefly about money.

I figure it cost me $2,000 to hike 2,000 mile or a dollar a mile.  This of course is 1974/75 dollars but I need to report it was also my gear!  $100 for my pack, same for my sleeping bag.  $11 for my SVEA 123 stove and so on.  My 35 mm camera (Olympus 35RC) was a gift from my dad.  I shot 35mm slides and got prepaid mailers to send along the trail and had the slides sent home. This is important since I probably only shot 300 slides along the trip not the gazillion folks do today.

Here is an example of a slide that I scanned recently showing the border.

Used a timer of course to get the "selfy."

Damascus Virginia, the AT Town

 Well over 400 miles is under your belt when you leave Tennessee and enter Virginia. Stayed in a motel for $7.28 and got some Ice Cream in a Dairy Queen.  Yesterday, the fifth of July 1974 we took a break from the wet and rainy trail on this road.

In the town did the usual, hit the Post Office where I got my Gerry Lodgepole tent that had been forwarded from further north at my request.  And of course got my wash done and a good shower.  Here is a shot of the tent behind the motel.

The blue sleeping bag is mine, a Trailwise Slimline.

Roan Mountain and Elk Park on the Appalachian Trail

On July 1st, 1974, stopped by this snack bar (we may now call it a food truck).  Trail Magic, before it was called that, happened when a man bought us coffee.  This is just one of the many times a stranger gave hikers something, and a remarkable thing.

"I bought pies, hot dog, soda, & 2 candy bars."

Here are a couple shots north of Roan, before and on Round Bald.

The next day we arrived in Elk Park and stayed in the Trivett House. "A great place, friendly, warm, nice.  Bought 11 bucks of food to get me to Damascus.  Should have made this a mail drop, but it makes me look forward to Damascus."