Big Dreams for the Appalachian Trail

 I had big dreams for my AT hike.  Here are my expected post office drops.

Basically once a week to 10 days I would hit a town, to pick up mail, food, take a shower, wash clothes and be a sloth.  From my book, here are my town stops and costs.

Town	Name	Type	Cost
Wesser, NC	Nantahala Outdoor Center	Motel	$10 +/-
Hot Springs, NC	Henderson Court	Motel	$7
Elk Park NC	Trivett House	Rooming House	$5
Damascus, Va	Sportsman Motel	Motel	$7.28
Pearisburg, VA	Holy Family Church Father Charles Hospice	Hostel	Donation $6
Cloverdale, VA	Howard Johnson	Motel	$6.00
Waynesboro, VA	Holiday Inn	Motel	Under $10
MD to MA section hiking	No town stops
Williamstown, MA	Williams College Perry House	Dorm	Free
Hanover, NH	Dartmouth Frat AD house	Frat House	Free
Pinkham Notch, NH	AMC property		Free
Gorham, NH	Stinson’s	Rooming House	$3.15
Monson, ME	French’s	Rooming House	$7

I did a flip flop once I reached Maryland and then headed south from Katahdin.

After several zeros due to bad weather, and to repair my boots in Hanover, I continued south to US Route 20 in Massachusetts after I broke the frame of my backpack after slipping on wet leaves.  No fun.

Today, the "AT Attraction" is so great that hundreds of wanna-be hikers hit the Trail at Springer only to leave a few days later.  Most are ill prepared, out of shape, and stress light weight over comfort and safety to do a long distance backpack.

Most seek advice online instead of doing the field testing of gear and food to prepare for a long distance hike.

Wanna' hike the AT, do it.  You need to hike in the rain, heat, snow and drought to prepare for a long distance backpack.

Just do it.

Available on Amazon or the Museum.  But please support the AT Museum since All proceeds go to the Museum.

Source: Bristow, R. (2025).  The Real Appalachian Trail BC.  Published by the Appalachian Trail Museum.

Fall and Winter 1974-75

 I am back home in Maryland now, so I won't be reliving my AT hike until the spring.  In the meantime, I am pleased to report this paper is now out, and I have 50 copies to distribute free.

Recreating the Massasoit Spring House with 3Dimensional Modelling

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/96NFIB7SH4WKPCR45WDS/full?target=10.1080/13505033.2021.1980265

If interested check it out.  Abstract follows:

The history of cultural landmarks has abundant examples for educational enlightenment. Yet hundreds, if not thousands, of sites have yet to achieve this notoriety, often given the lack of funding to restore the site. For those found within our parks and protected areas one challenge for managers is to preserve its cultural heritage, often with limited funding. It is this challenge that we illustrate a process for recreating our historical landscape based on archived materials and using computer animation. Three-dimensional computer modelling software provides one such tool to recreate these sites, and adds to our knowledge for historic preservation and educational prospects. Here we recreate the setting of the nineteenth-century Massasoit Spring water business in West Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. Protected watershed lands previously managed for no visitation are now opened up for tourism and this baseline data serves educational and interpretive opportunities.

My student and co-author, Justin Taylor, prepared this 3D animation.

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.

Trust for Public Land ParkScore

How accessible to parks is your community?  Sure, many towns have parks but frequently these are away from the people.  Further for some there is no access by public transit.  

My town has a lousy score of

Westfield, MA

9% of Westfield residents live

within a 10-minute walk of a park

National average is 55%

Caveat, these data may not include smaller parks in the neighborhoods.

Strategic Plan for the Appalachian Trail

 The Appalachian Trail Conservancy has posted this info-graphic on the Strategic Plan for the AT.

Once I get details I will post them on the blog.

Bear Hole Watershed Field Work

Some of my research in resource management of parks and protected areas is local in West Springfield and the Bear Hole Watershed.  Today I toured some of the northern end with colleagues from the University, trying to field inventory some of the features.

So, the northern end of the watershed has several impounded water bodies.  These may have been dammed to create water power for mills in the area.  From 1871, note the paper mills.

Twenty years later, the Holyoke - Westfield RR is noted on the maps.  There are quarries in the area, and trunk lines are found.

But the real neat stuff shows up in 1831, from this map from the LOC.  Are we looking at Rufus S.Paine's House?

The area is littered with illegal off-road trails, and the community is trying to promote passive recreation in the watershed but not motorized. 

Emerald Ash Borer

Saw this educational sign on the Appalachian Trail recently and thought I would share it.  It alerts the hikers of the controlled harvest in the October Mountain State Forest that the AT winds through.  In particular this sign was posted just south of Becket Road.

National Park Service Planning

Want to find out about NPS Planning?  visit the site.

And the NRPA just recently published a paper in Parks and Recreation on planning as well at this link.

I have been research park planning a bit more recently since I will likely teach a new course this fall on Site Planning Studio.  Should be fun.