Name that farm machinery: 
I got no idea.
Any serious hikers in the group? I’m thinking about hiking the Appalachian Trail. No, really! Not the whole thing — just part of it. I don’t have a lot of hiking experience, so I’d love some advice.
Open thread!
Elizabelle
Did “Wild” inspire you? I read, and thoroughly enjoyed, that book once you recommended it.
srv
Blue Ridge Parkway hikes
http://www.virtualblueridge.com/parkway_tour/trails.asp
Comrade Mary
Sorry, this is more depressing. here’s a disturbing report about the German air crash.
If true, what could explain this? Theories I’ve heard so far have been that the pilot in the cockpit was unconscious, suicidal, already dead, or under duress by someone else in the cockpit, but if they were having a conversation before the locked out pilot left, that’s an awfully short period of time fall unconscious from illness or outside action, or for someone else to sneak into the cockpit. Sudden heart attack? Suicide?
mtmofo
Looks like it may be a truck for spraying fields, judging by the wheels and high clearance. All that stuff on the back probably folds out to cover 6 or 8 rows at a time. It sprays fertilizer and bug and disease killing stuff.
Walker
The Florida part or elsewhere?
The shelters along the trail are great and preferable to using a tent (and tent regulations can be quite restrictive on the high traffic portions of the trail). But during high season you may need to reserve a spot in a shelter to guarantee a bed. That means planning out what shelter you will stay at each day and contacting the agency in charge of that part of the trail.
And while it is not required, you should always leave this plan with a Ranger. They appreciate it because it makes the unlikely case of search and rescue easier.
Lavocat
That there is a berry-harvester, though they tend to sit a bit higher than that.
Could also be a berry crop duster, given the narrow wheels (to fit between rows).
Geoduck
Re: The Appalachian Trail. Try reading Bill Bryson’s book A Walk In The Woods. It’s funny and gives you a pretty good summary of the Trail. (Though he doesn’t come remotely close to walking the whole thing.)
Germy Shoemangler
Saw a street cleaner drive by in front of my house. Up and down the street. Up and down the street. The spinning brush thingy on the side of the truck.
But here’s the thing: I remember seeing them years ago, when I was a child. Back then, they sprayed water by the spinning brush, Cleaned the street good.
Nowadays they don’t spray water. They just drive around with the spinning brush. The result is clouds of dust, dirt, and powdered dogshit flying all over.
I know I’m old because I’m always saying “back when I was a kid, people did [x] instead of nowadays when they do [y].”
Digital Amish
Properly fitted hiking boots.
Elizabelle
@Comrade Mary: Didn’t see that one coming, eh?
How very strange. I hope they can find the flight data recorder; the disk or chip seems to be missing from its case, and we’ve seen the smithereens on the mountains.
CNN saying protocol was for a second crew member to enter the cockpit when a pilot exited, to prevent a medical emergency (or whatever) happening; no word on whether that was followed.
A mystery.
Germy Shoemangler
Here’s something I linked to in the “reverse racism white genocide” posts. It’s a brief standup routine by Aamer Rahman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw_mRaIHb-M
I’m impressed by this guy. He’s young. I predict more great work from him.
Cervantes
Now, now …
Snarki, child of Loki
I’m thinking about hiking the Appalachian Trail. No, really! Not the whole thing — just part of it. I don’t have a lot of hiking experience, so I’d love some advice.
Okay, FIRST, you need to get a secret lover.
SECOND…aw, hell, you can figure out the rest on your own.
Iowa Old Lady
A guy who used to be in my writing group hiked the Appalachian Trail barefoot. He claimed he had fewer foot problem that way. He hiked the whole thing, which you apparently usually do starting at the southern end and following the spring north. But he wanted to be home for his son’s HS graduation, so he started late and did it in the opposite direction. His name is Rick something. Interesting guy.
Re the machinery, that there is from the company that pays Mr IOL enough to keep food on our table, but as a displaced Detroit girl, I have no idea what it is.
SiubhanDuinne
Betty: I assume you have read Bill Bryson’s wonderful book — not really a guide — A Walk in the Woods. It’s been some years since I read it, but IIRC it had Bryson’s trademark combination of very funny and pretty informative.
ETA: Or what Geoduck said at #8.
Elizabelle
@efgoldman: Do we have an airdate yet for the Jeopardy appearance? How cool.
NotMax
@Germy Shoemangler
Hey, can remember back to when they sprayed oil (oil!) on the shoulders to keep the road dust down.
WaterGirl
This photo posted earlier by raven is almost as good as a pet pic.
Little raven is the cheerleader on the left.
*posted as a partial antidote to the plane crash horror.
Mike in NC
@Geoduck: Another vote for this book. Never did the trail myself.
Germy Shoemangler
@efgoldman: I think you’re right.
But why why WHY do they not spray water anymore? What are they accomplishing raising clouds of filthy dust?
I will go drink some hot milk now. Maw baked some cookies. They’ll calm me down.
Tree With Water
If you run across a bear on the trail, don’t panic. I don’t remember what you do next, but I remember that.
SiubhanDuinne
And seriously, SRSLY!, Betty, if you decide to do this, please let us Georgians know so we can, you know, wave or something. There are quite a few of us, I’m sure, who would like to meet you in person and wish you well on the Trail. Please keep us informed.
beltane
@Comrade Mary: The Egyptair crash off of New York involved a suicidal pilot and a co-pilot who had left the cockpit to go to the bathroom (it may have been the other way around, I no longer remember). Whatever happened here, it was horrible. I was hoping for the decompression scenario so that all aboard would have been unconscious. THis does not seem to have been the case.
Gavin
Barefoot absolutely does NOT equal fewer foot problems. In fact, going barefoot simply makes the bones/connective cartilage weaker – thereby promoting foot injuries in the future.
Vibram, the company who made the Five Fingers foot glove shoe, “deceived consumers by advertising that the footwear could reduce foot injuries and strengthen foot muscles, without basing those assertions on any scientific merit”…. and on 5/6/2014, had to pay out 3.75 million to everyone who bought that product after 3/21/09.
John, get a pair of full-size leather hiking boots. Trust the Eagle Scout.
shell
And grouchiness. By the third chapter in you’re pretty well assured that Bryson does NOT like RV’s.
seefleur
Footwear is your friend – or enemy. And making sure that you are fit, strong and flexible – the latter encompasses mental and physical. Do you have friends/family who would be willing to act as trail angels? That is, they’d be willing to get supplies to specific drop sites? Having done part of the “100 Wildest Miles” in Maine, I tip my hat to you for doing any length of the Trail. When I can finally retire, both hubby and I have talked about doing the AT – of course that will depend on his knees.
Word – before you hit the trail, try out the foods that are generally used on the trail. At least that way you will have an idea of what is palatable to you. The calories required to do this are pretty intense. And there are some trail foods that are MUCH better than others – but it’s all a matter of taste.
If you do this, take lots of photos and keep a hiking log. Cheers to you!
Bobby Thomson
Seven Ps, Betty. Pack light, take good care of your feet, learn the mail drops and mail stuff to yourself, trail magic is great but unpredictable. My aunt is supposedly the oldest women to have hiked each of the Big Three (none of them as a through hiker). I think some sections might require you to have a bear bag (though that’s more common on Pacific Crest).
If you just want a nice experience for a few days or weeks, you might want to stay out of Rocksylvania. They say that all it took to plan that section was a can of white paint and a sense of humor. Of course, it does have the halfway point and the accompanying custom of downing a half gallon of ice cream.
NotMax
Hiking is for young’uns. Ambling is for oldsters.
SiubhanDuinne
@shell:
I didn’t list grouchy as a separate category. To me, his grouchiness is part and parcel of his humor. YMMV.
shell
Would love to catch ‘Wild’ on OnDemand. But right now there’s only the ‘buy’ option. The Adam Sandler movie ‘The Cobbler’ is available there already. Didn’t that make it into theaters only two weeks ago? Jeebus!
ed
Bill Bryson is an insufferable wanker.
Whiteblaze is a decent resource and Trailjournals.com has plenty of gear lists and what have you. Maine is the best section (and not too tough towards the end). Stretch between Smoky Mntn NP and Shenandoah NP is good too (esp. Grayson Highlands area).
Hike your own hike.
NotMax
@shell
A near perfect example of “strike while the iron is lukewarm.”
Summer
While hiking you could listen to Gabriel Kahane. Here’s a live version of “Villains.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zrjFSrKNAw
raven
Hiking Trails of North Georgia
JohnMcC
G’Day! Enjoy your posts here, have lived in StPete (‘God’s waiting room’) for the past 15-16yrs and find your tales of the FL lifestyle just hilarious.
Have hiked the AT for years. Have section-hiked the 400miles or so from Springer (the GA end) to Damascus VA. The remarks by ‘Walker’ above about the shelters vs tents are only true of the GreatSmokeyMnt Nat’l Park. Don’t hike there. The trails are crowded and in poor repair (they can’t be relocated). My recommendation would be to start in Damascus and go south. Resupply at Erwin TN and end with a trip to the hot tubs and B-n-Bs in HotSprings NC.
And the advice about the comfortable boots? Take it.
BTW – you know there is a Florida Trail, yes? 800miles (some road-walking) from the Glades to the Panhandle. Some wonderful hiking in Ocala and (my favorite) the Withlacooche State Forest Citrus Tract next to Inverness FL.
Enjoy! And write about it!
NotMax
@efgoldman
Direct to video was (is?) pretty much Lorenzo Lamas’ whole career.
Ditto Michael Paré.
Joel Hanes
Advice:
Footgear is the most important issue.
If there’s an REI near you, look at what they carry, and talk to a footgear person.
Spend a _lot_ of time trying on boots, and spend real money for good ones;
get them long enough so you can not ram your big toe into the toecap on a 30 degree slope;
you want ankle support too.
Good socks will help a lot; put on a dry pair every morning you hike.
After you have boots.
Practice on the hilliest terrain near you; do a morning hike,
and then a week later, a dayhike with cold lunch.
Then do a different dayhike carrying a full-size pack,
empty except for 10 lbs of extra clothes, food, gear, and water;
boil water and make tea during the lunch break.
Reconsider your boots and socks.
Now you’re ready to look at AT books and maps and make some plans.
https://www.wildernesspress.com/product.php?productid=16196
Assemble all the gear you think you’d want to use to spend two nights out;
put on your boots, put the pack together, without food, and walk around the block.
Then add two days’ food and half a gallon of water, or a gallon and a half of water,
and walk around the block again.
Reconsider. What could you possibly do without?
Could you get by with a smaller pack?
Kifaru1
As someone who spends a lot of time in the woods of Virginia for work, check to see when the deer fly are expected to peak (in the Piedmont/coastal areas it is sometime in May)…..We are talking hundreds of them. We have gone out and had them pinging off of the car…..Wear light clothing, including a hat/baseball cap and pants that are tucked into socks – biting flies like dark colors, plus you can see ticks and especially seed ticks easily. Get some lint rollers in case you come across said seed ticks….just roll them off and discard :) Pre-spray all your outer clothing with permethrin and allow to dry (NOT for your skin) – don’t miss your socks or you may have a visit from chiggers and they are worse than ticks. I have heard there are bears out there, so learn how to react. If all this doesn’t put you off, welcome to the hiking world!
jl
@Comrade Mary: stroke? Will be interesting to get report on the age and health of the pilot in the cockpit.
Elizabelle
These are all good hiking suggestions. I want to try a little of the Pacific Crest Trail one of these days. Or Appalachian.
Not ambitious about traveling far, but would like to do some of it.
BD of MN
You can thank Monsanto for that machine, they did not exist prior to the invention on Roundup. Back in the 70’s when I was a pre-teen trying to earn enough money to buy a 10-speed bike, I spent a couple of weeks every summer on grandpa’s farm walking the soybean fields, with a hoe, digging out the weeds. A few years later, we “upgraded” to four people sitting on seats on a bar mounted on the front of a tractor with spray wands, spot-spraying the weeds. After Roundup ready soybeans (and corn, etc), these machines showed up, so farmers would just spray the entire fields with weed killer, and the genetically modified soybeans wouldn’t be affected.
Fast-forward 40 years and last of my farming relatives, my just retired aunt and uncle, were telling how Roundup is essentially ineffective now that all of the weeds have evolved to also be resistant. Farmers in their area (SW MN) were spraying 2x and 4x as often to keep the weeds in check…
Interestingly (to me, anyways) in a what-goes-around-comes around sort of thing, last summer we drove out to Granite Falls, MN and saw a couple of fields where some Hmong farmers were out there in rows, with hoes, digging up the weeds just like I used to do 40-some years ago…
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Germy Shoemangler: A terrific piece, that.
kc
That’s what he said.
Kidding! Friend of mine hiked the whole trail a few years ago. I’ll ask him for some tips & post them tonorrow.
TrishB
I don’t know what the truck like thing should be called. Here in SW OH, on very rural roads, I just knew that it belonged to the neighbors and there was work going on. When it belongs to someone else, on a less rural road in the same area, and I’m stuck behind one, not very difficult to guess what name it’s been given by me.
jl
@Kifaru1:
I’ve never done long hikes or camping back east. Those east coast bugs scare me.
When likely to encounter bug rich environments in West Coast I always take a cap with fold down netting that goes over your head with elastic band you can stuff into your collar.
Sometimes bug spray does not work.
@BD of MN:
Thanks for info. i had a rough guess it was some kind of row crop sprayer. Didn’t know that thing was specifically connected to roundup.
WaterGirl
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): i hadn’t clicked until you wrote that. wow. that was amazing.
mai naem mobile
I think you should tweet Mark Sanford for advice on hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Olivia
It’s a John Deere self propelled sprayer. Model 4730 maybe.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Germy Shoemangler: One reason they don’t spray water is that it flushes all the dust and dirt into the nearest stream, which is not a good thing.
If the point of street sweeping (and in some places it is) is to remove the sediment and attached phosphorus that washes off into storm drains and streams, using water defeats the purpose.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Bobby Thomson: I grew up in PA and our Boy Scout troop leader liked to take us on hikes on the AT, usually only 5 or 10 miles. We were in the southern portion of the state, so I don’t think we were on the sections they call “The Bootkiller”.
Keith G
Have hiked parts of the trail a few times. First time was a trip as a HS Jr with my best friend. We took a Trail Ways bus on a route that crossed the trail, convinced the driver to let us out at the intersection point and hiked north through Virginia for a week.
Best
Vacation
Ever
You can get my email, I assume.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
I’m going to do the wonderland trail (around Mount Rainier) in the fall (100 miles), and if that goes well, the John Muir trail (210 miles) the following fall.
Buy light gear. My base three (pack, tent, bag) is a little over eight pounds.
mainmata
Kind of hard to see from the photo (it’s a bit dark) but it might be a manure spreader or some other type of sprayer.
ETA: Whoops Olivia beat me to it.
Baud
Expert on Rachel all but saying that plane crash was deliberate.
Pogonip
@Kifaru1: I had chiggers once. They turned me into a city person. I know an otherwise rational fellow who spent two months every year teaching sniper school at Fort Chigger in East Bugscuffle. Evidently fearing the students would come to their senses and escape, the Army put the training way, way, way out in the middle of nowhere; nothing around but 450,000,000 chiggers and a Walmart that was 18 miles away.
danielx
I’ve done maybe fifty miles on the trail, mostly in Shenandoah NP. Plus a lot of other hiking at various times and places…only real advice:
1. Good, well-fitted, broken-in hiking boots, midheight for ankle support.
2. Good, well-fitted, broken-in hiking boots, midheight for ankle support.
3. Good, well-fitted, broken-in hiking boots, midheight for ankle support.
4. Travel light.
5. Carry as much water as you can.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Joel Hanes:
Agreed. I hiked the C&O (5 years of weekends) with my old Boy Scout buddies and went through 3 iterations of footwear.
1) My trusty hiking boots. They sucked, the toe box was too narrow and my toes blistered.
2) Teva sandals and wool socks. Plenty of room for the toes, but cold and wet in bad weather, then
3) Went to REI and said “What boots have the widest toe box in the store.” and bought a pair of Keens. No blisters since.
So my advice: Buy a pair of boots and do some 15-20 mile day hikes. If they work, you’re off and running. If they don’t, then you’ll have a better idea of what your feet need.
ed
@Joel Hanes:
“Footgear is the most important issue.
If there’s an REI near you, look at what they carry, and talk to a footgear person.
Spend a _lot_ of time trying on boots, and spend real money for good ones;
get them long enough so you can not ram your big toe into the toecap on a 30 degree slope;
you want ankle support too.”
Agreed that footwear is most important, but fit is more important than price. If your ankles are strong and you go light enough, light hikers or running shoes are fine (most thru-hikers wear running shoes these days). Don’t bother measuring your foot as that can only bias you (sales drones will often insist but don’t let them, just try on a size you usually wear or half bigger and work from there). GoreTex or other waterproof membranes are not a good idea for boots for a variety of reasons (drones will insist on these too but don’t bother with the added expense and sweatier feet). Some swear by after market insoles. Liner sox are a good idea at least at the start.
Katherine
read Bill Bryson’s book on hiking the Appalachian Trail / it is wonderfully entertaining and informative / made me laugh / i listen to his books / he is one author who does a good job on his own writing / i mean reading it well
Gin & Tonic
@Comrade Mary: Kinda wish somebody would unban our close personal friend BiP, so he could swing by and tell us this was a plot engineered by the Ukrainian fascists angry at Merkel for not approving deliveries of arms to Kiev.
satby
@JohnMcC: Next time I go down to visit my mom in St pete, I think a Tampa area Balloon Juice meetup is in order!
Gracie10
I’m an avid hiker and backpacker and have hiked quite a few trails in the SE US. My advice is to:
1) start slow
2) go at your own pace
3) go with friend(s) or find a hiking group who understand the importance of 1 and 2
General good fitness can, but doesn’t always, translate to goof hiking fitness. It is a unique skillset (although developing cardiovascular endurance is an excellent start).
I’ve hiked sections of the AT, and truthfully, while challenging, they aren’t nearly as interesting or beautiful as many non-AT hikes. But if you’re determined to hike a section of it, the prettiest I’ve seen includes the hike Siler Bald. 360 degree views in a pretty little patch of NC. Highly recommended.
And I agree with keeping your pack weight low. Aim for 20-25 pounds total and get a well-fitted pack. Your body will thank you and you’ll have a great time!
jharp
I once hiked the back country in the Porcupine Mountains in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
My advice is to take all precautions against bears.
And don’t pack too heavy. And use a walking stick.
OmerosPeanut
The one in Brazil or…?
mainmata
@Germy Shoemangler: I also remember street sweepers with water when I was a kid (that would be Pittsburgh). But I haven’t seen a street sweeper of any kind for decades.
jharp
@Pogonip:
I’ve been had by chiggers several times in past few years. Bad stuff. Like poison ivy that you can’t see and it attacks you.
Also had the scabies once. And deer ticks several times. Once had dozens on me and my son.
And once had a bedbug encounter.
Are crab lice still around?
satby
@BD of MN: Yeah, I was going to say a sprayer. That’s what’s all over here about a week after they plant the mutant corn (it literally grows inches a day, creepy to watch). They use those things to spray Roundup all over the fields, if it’s a breezy day it’ll drift into neighboring fields and yards.
I’ve learned not to plant anything I want to keep closer than 10 feet away from my property lines. And the animals all have to come in until a few hours after they go by. City pollution is a piker next to toxic country pollution.
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: Partly, but my sister and I have threatened to do a hiking / camping excursion on the AP for years. Glad you liked the book! I hope to see the movie soon.
@JohnMcC: Thank you! We have done some of the FT — mostly day hikes, including loops through the Ocala National. It’s gorgous.
@ Everyone who offered advice: Muchas gracias! Just to clarify, we don’t plan on a super-long hike — days, not weeks. Our plans are still in flux, but I’m gonna get excellent boots soon and break them in!
raven
@Pogonip: Sulphur powder.
satby
@Pogonip: Right there with you on ticks and chiggers.
But the lint roller idea is a good one, I’ve always been paranoid about not being able to see if ticks were on my back.
ducktape
@Walker:
The Appalachian Trail doesn’t exist in Florida. Its southern terminus is at Springer Mountain in North Georgia.
My brother hiked the Maine and New Hampshire portions last summer. No, you don’t need reservations — and you may find you’re not able to keep up the mileage you estimated, anyway. Leaving a plan with a Ranger? You very likely will never see a Ranger — leave them with a friend and give them dates you plan to check in by phone and/or text message. Have you actually ever hiked the Trail, or did you just make this up?
Bill Bryson may be fun to read, but he’s not very good on useful and factual information. There are a lot of trail-hiking sites and diaries; Google them. Bill Bryson lost me forever when he wrote that, around the turn of the century, all the trees in what is now the Chattahoochee National Forest had been cut and hauled off by a railroad tycoon from Cincinatti — and then he the person he named as the culprit was my great-great-uncle, who was a Georgia railroad man. Totally wrong — he was from Americus and Atlanta, not from Cincinatti, he had already left the railroad business almost a decade before the lumbering — but that smear has now been perpetuated because people in Georgia have sourced it from Bryson’s book. (The name was well known, and unique enough that there weren’t two of them.) The big tell was when I wrote a polite letter advising him of the error and sent it via his publisher. I received the reply “Mr Bryson is not interested in receiving any corrections to his books.”
nancydarling
@Elizabelle: Someone gave me Strayed’s book and I was pissed the whole time I was reading it. I’ve known a couple of PCTers and they spent months in preparation. They weigh and debate the necessity of everything they pack. Some even go so far as to cut most of their toothbrush handle off—every gram counts. When I read that she packed a roll of condoms, I nearly flipped out.
Since she lived to write her tale, I knew she didn’t die but it was only dumb luck and maybe a guardian angel or two that saved her from herself.
srv
@Comrade Mary: suicide. Of course; if it was a US pilot in a Boeing, they’d say something else.
Boeing folks are still pissed about that 737 ‘rudder’ problem.
LT
My 25-ish, unfocused niece did the entire AT about six years ago. Changed her life. She’s now a wilderness EMT, may soon do 1+ years in Nepal interning for outdoors med outfit.
I asked her for recs on FB. First comment, from someone I don’t know:
“6 thousand dollars. running shoes. beer.”
Sounds about right.
LT
I asked why running shoes:
“because I have seen half dollar sized blisters on people who bought really stiff boots. gore-tex only keeps the rain inside your shoe when it runs down your leg like a river”
Plus:
“consider buying shoes that people who jog on the trail would use. Brooks Cascadia or the like.”
J R in WV
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:
Guys, they don’t use a flood of water with those street sweepers, more like the spray bottle you use to clean the stove with. It helps the dirt and debris clump up so the brushes can sweep stuff into the container better.
There are street flushers, tankers with sprayers to flush gutters into storm drains, but they don’t have rotating brushes, and wouldn’t be used to put pollution into storm drain systems. Lots of things need swept up or flushed away that aren’t pollution per se.
I remember there was a little town in Arkansas with dirt streets. They used waste oil to keep the dust down. Turned out it was waste from transformers, and was mostly some kind of high dielectric insulating fluid called PCB — highly toxic it was found to be later. The EPA bought up the whole town, it was too toxic a superfund site to be cleaned up and had to be abandoned.
Polychlorinated Biphenyl, that’s the stuff. I once worked with a woman whose husband worked with GE, they went around the country to facilities with giant constructed transformers and wore space suits to go inside them and steam clean the PCBs out of them, and then filled them up with a less toxic fluid. High paying work, but slightly dangerous, to say the least.
Central Planning
So Betty, are you looking to walk somewhere along a famous trail from Florida to Maine, or are you looking to have an affair? I still can’t tell by your post.
JoyfulA
If you do the Pennsylvania part, let me know in advance. It crosses a major highway a few blocks from me, and I’d be delighted to bring you treats, lend a shower, hand you a newspaper—whatever you need.
In a nearby town, I was perplexed for years by how often I saw a worn-out-looking person with a knapsack walking down the sidewalk, sometimes going in the Subway shop, until my former hiker husband clued me in.
Elizabelle
@nancydarling: I was impressed that Strayed was doing her hike, in the dark ages, pre-internet.
LOL re the condoms, which other hikers looked askance at — how much do they weigh?!
It’s a good exercise, isn’t it, filling a pack and getting used to it before the hike. Would make you edit your belongings ruthlessly.
LT
The niece, re full trail hike:
Uncle Ebeneezer
I’ve never done anything more than 3-4 days of 7-10 miles but my suggestion would be start with a short trip like you are. The heavy pack, uncomfortable sleep, bugs etc. can all be a lot of misery that first time.
sharl
@J R in WV: That reminds me of the total evacuation of Times Beach, Missouri under similar circumstances. The dust-suppressing toxin in that case was the group of chemicals collectively best known by its shortened name, dioxins. Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) has toxicological behavior and salient molecular structural properties similar to the dioxins.
Betty Cracker
@LT: I’m going to have to mull the shoes vs. boots thing some more. I have some nice trail shoes already, and they’re great for flatland hikes. But more experienced hikers have told me it’s a good idea to have boots for ankle support on more mountainous terrain. If that’s not really a big deal, I’d just as soon stick with my shoes.
LT
@Betty Cracker: Yeah, I’m sure there’s a big split on that. Best of hiking to you.
IdahoFlaneuse
@Betty Cracker: Betty never hiked the AT, but I did climb Kilimanjaro twice. The first time I had hiking boots, the second time used light hikers. In my opinion the light hikers were better. It probably comes down to what is most comfortable for you. I second thinking hard about what you bring with you. Most of the stuff we had the first time never saw the light of day. On the second trip the best thing we brought was a pair of teva sandals to wear while we were in camp. It was wonderful to air out the feet.
Ridge
@Betty Cracker:
Pack light and don’t even attempt the AT (even portions) without some small experience roughing it and good conditioning. First do FL or GA parks one or two night trips with elevation changes; because the AT rides along the very TOP of ridge lines for 2000 mi. You may be walking for hours, using switch backs to go up 3000ft in elevation and maybe one mile in forward progress. Even a 10mi segment could leave you totally incapacitated. Blistered feet, wet, cold, bad food….
I’ve done portions but wouldn’t even attempt it now without a year of preparation. I mean, jezzz, this isn’t college Spring Break anymore.
Have Fun!
Joel Hanes
@Betty Cracker:
The boots vs. hiking shoes thing comes down to ankle strength, agility, and loading.
Heavy pack? might want boots.
Do you ever turn your ankle in normal life? Ever sprained it? might want boots
Do your ankles ache after a five mile hike ? might want boots.
In my 20s I could carry a streambed portage under a 70 pound canoe while shod in Converse AllStars.
Thirty years later, I need boots for steep rocky going under any significant load.
I want to emphasize the importance of not hitting the front of the toebox while going steeply downhill under load.
I once had a pair of lightweight Vasque hiking boots that were great for dayhikes and easier terrain — then I wore them to Toejam Lake in the Emigrant Wilderness (*steeply* downhill for half a mile or more), and was in agony for a couple days because my boots had been trying to drive my big toenails back into my toe; until we started back uphill, it was like stubbing your toe, hard, at every step. Crippling.
Joel Hanes
Oh and:
Bill Bryson’s book is useful primarily as a textbook on how NOT to approach an AT hike.
Betty Cracker
Good advice, all, and thank you. Our plan is to hit the AP in the fall. We’ll build up our stamina in the interim with more local hiking.
Butch
Pretty late to the party, but I did an end-to-end hike of the Appalachian Trail after I got divorced….and if no one else has responded, it’s for fertilizing fields; the tall wheels fit between the rows.
Ken T
Don’t know what your level of experience is, or what your specific plans are re: length of time on the trail, are you backpacking or day hiking, etc., but here’s a couple of tips:
For the best combination of relatively easy hiking with great scenery, Shenandoah National Park can’t be topped. Also, if you’re a real newbie to the backpacking experience, you’re never more than an hour’s hike from Skyline Drive (and usually much closer, frequently crossing the Drive), so if you find yourself in any kind of trouble it’s real easy to bail out. The Smokies are much more physically demanding. Of course, both of these areas are quite crowded in season.
For the most spectacular section (but also the most demanding) head for the White Mountains of New Hampshire. For the most remote experience, the 100 Mile Wilderness in Maine.
As others here have already said, your #1 priority is Take Care Of Your Feet. That’s also priorities #2 and #3. The agony of hiking with blisters cannot be described. (Been there, done that.) If you haven’t backpacked before, figure out how much food you think you need, then double it. On the other hand, you can probably bring less of everything else than you think. And never, never let yourself get so focussed on reaching a goal that you forget to enjoy the journey. Have fun.
Matt McIrvin
@ed: We have a children’s illustrated, abridged version of Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything, called A Really Short History of Nearly Everything. It kind of drives me nuts because, while the book is an engagingly written condensation of the history of science, it’s shot through with factual errors, and my daughter insists on my reading it to her at bedtime because she finds it entertaining whenever some misstatement in the book gets me off on a ranting tangent.
I’m not sure whether the mistakes are in Bryson’s original text, or come somehow from the abridgement. The bit that annoys me the most, though, is the description of the Cavendish experiment to measure the gravitational constant (and, by implication, the mass of the Earth); the text seems to have been written on the basis of some complete misunderstanding about how the apparatus worked.
boatboy_srq
All the suggestions for the Trail have already been mentioned by someone else. But the parts I’ve seen are pretty beginner-friendly (there are tough parts if you care to find them) – and if you have time before or after the DC BJ crew would love to have a pint with you… (@Elizabelle – can we put something together for Mlle Cracker while she’s in the neighborhood?)
ed
@Matt McIrvin:
Bryson was to give the keynote talk at the annual AT hiker gathering in 1999 in Hanover, NH, some three blocks from his home at the time. He never showed. Perhaps he gotten wind of the rotten fruit many of us had at the ready (I’m joking about the fruit, of course). I had hoped to ask him who he thought picked up his Little Debbie wrappers from the Trail. Also: Be more funny!
Egilsson
Whiteblaze is not a very helpful site; which is a shame.
Backpackinglight.com is excellent. Like all things you have to read enough to develop your own BS-detector. You just got to do some homework and start to figure what works for you. Don’t go too extreme in any direction, and you’ll be pretty safe.
That said, going lighter (but not stupid light), is key.
Read Andrew Skurka. He’s excellent and smart.
And read sectionhiker.com. That’s another excellent blog. Stuff that may not seem it pertains to you probably does.
Egilsson
Hiking snots who trash Bill Bryson are really aggravating.
They use it as an opportunity to brag like they are experts. In fact, he’s a pretty accomplished hiker, but an imperfect human.
chefloveshiking
I thru hiked the AT in 2001 the PCT in 2004. Another 2,000 miles of section hiking on the AT. Go as light as you can. Take it easy. Do not try to do big miles. Sit a lot. The Roan Highlands is my suggestion. Lots of above tree line hiking. Makes for great sitting.
Loved the Bryson book.
ed
@Egilsson:
Also aggravating:
–Scheduled speakers who back out unannounced (especially if they live nearby)
–Picking up Little Debbie wrappers (and other trash) thoughtless hikers leave behind
–Allegedly funny writers who aren’t funny (hmm…maybe it’s the computer…*hits computer*…”BE MORE FUNNY!”)
Jim Vandewalker
Here’s a suggestion from a fellow central Floridian: Standing Indian Campground, Nantahala National Forest. It’s in western North Carolina, between Clayton GA and Franklin NC. There’s a loop of Trail with three shelters at 7 – 8 mile intervals. There’s a lot of up and down there so six or eight miles or so is a good day’s hike with time to sight-see. Even if you don’t use the shelter, there are good places to pitch your tent nearby, and all three have water sources. Take water purification tablets or boil water. Take more food than you think you need. Take care of your feet. I like walking with one pole, but British walkers of my acquaintance, i.e., Heavy-Duty Professionals, say you should either use TWO poles or NONE.
ed
@Jim Vandewalker: Plus you can (or could back when) pitch a tent on a nice grassy spot atop Standing Indian Mountain. There’s water not too far from the top–grab en route. Excellent sunset viewing to be had.