APPALACHIAN TRAIL – FAVORITE PHOTOS

The 8.1 mile climb from Amicalola Falls State Park to Springer Mountain is a brutal introduction to long distance hiking, especially with an overloaded pack. The Approach Trail (as it is called) is blazed in blue, and I followed it all day with two other hikers – Bull and the Red Rainman. When we finally saw the first white blaze that marked the start of the Appalachian Trail, it was a liberating moment for all of us. Not only had we finished the difficult climb, but a six month adventure had begun. The sunset that night was perfect, and this photo captured the first (and undoubtedly one of the most memorable) evenings of the thru-hike.

I walked over the summit of Max’s Patch on the Appalachian Trail, and noticed a large group of thru-hiker’s sitting in the meadow on the north side of the mountain. This picture was taken right before the entire group did a massive pile-on and buried me under 9 people.

It was hot and humid today, and none of us were motivated to hike. Around noon, The Weight, Black Sunshine and I crossed a suspension bridge over the river next to VA 606. We noticed two guys from a utility company swimming on their lunch break and walked over to join them on a rope swing that hung out over the river. They were nice enough to take us to a small store nearby where we loaded up on deli sandwiches, ice cream, and sodas. After a lengthy break, we discovered that Dismal Creek Falls was nearby and hiked to it to camp for the night.

We arrived at Dismal Creek Falls in the late afternoon and hung out on top of the waterfalls while Marathon Man tried his luck at fishing. He eventually succeeded and cooked up a trout for dinner. It tasted better than I expected, and we washed it down with a few brews we got at the grocery. Unfortunately, the rain came before sunset and we all spent the rest of the evening in our tents.

Laid Back Sue and I arrived at High Rock on the Maryland/Pennsylvania border just as the sun was setting. The place was packed with locals who were drinking some beers and watching the sunset. One guy offered Sue and I a ride to Pen Mar, and we camped there for the night under the pavillion. The bugs were so bad tonight that I ended up pitching my tent for some insect relief. Sue decided to tough it out, slept under the stars, and woke the following morning with over 25 bites on her right arm.

My only encounter with a rattlesnake before the thru-hike was in New Mexico in 1983. In Pennsylvania, however, they seemed to be everywhere. Laid Back Sue and I spotted six within a four day period and most of them were either on the trail, or within a foot of it. I stopped listening to my Walkman in Pennsylvania after nearly stepping on one that I didn’t hear since my tunes blaring. Without contacts (which I had quit wearing) they were even harder to spot. Fortunately, I never saw another once I left Pennsylvania, but I did get this choice shot right before we entered New Jersey.

Nomad, the Wisconsin Brothers, and I got up early for this sunrise at Bear Rock Falls along the Appalachian Trail in western Massachusetts. The valley floor was scattered with morning fog, and the resulting picture is one of my favorites from the 1994 thru-hike. Jive Turkey (the eldest of the Wisconsin Brothers) was so intent on catching the sunrise that he slept on a rocky outcrop that overlooked the valley throughout the night.

It’s always strange to spend the day in the remote backcountry of the Appalachian Trail and suddenly stumble out of the wilderness and across a major interstate. I snapped this picture of Babbles and Tired Dogs after we crossed I-90 near Lee, Massachusettes. We had just spent two days at the Upper Goose Pond cabin where we celebrated the caretakers birthday with a large thru-hiker crowd.

Tired Dogs, Laid Back Sue, and I walked toward Little Rock Pond and heard some commotion ahead. Two loud screams erupted from the lake, followed by a huge splash. Once we got to the shore we realized that two people had jumped into the lake from a rock outcropping about 30 feet up the ridge. It was hot, and this seemed like a good idea to me. So we hiked to the other side of the lake, and I jumped. The water was icy cold though, and I scrambled back to shore rather quickly. Laid Back Sue and Tired Dogs couldn’t be persuaded to follow suit, so we hiked higher on the ridge and snapped this final picture of the lake before continuing along on the Appalachian Trail.

Laid Back Sue is seen here crossing the Mill River suspension bridge in Calrendon Gorge just outside of Killington, Vermont. The area is popular as a swimming hole with the locals, but today we mostly had it to ourselves and played around here for a solid hour before hitching to the Killington Ski Area.

Wicked Ale is shown in the foreground, while Tired Dogs crosses the Mill River suspension bridge in Calrendon Gorge. We played in the gorge for an hour, then hitched to the Killington Ski Area for a late lunch.

Thick clouds rolled across this hut in the White Mountains just before sunset. The shelter sits on the Appalachian Trail and is appropriately named the Lakes of the Clouds hut by the Appalachian Mountains Club (AMC). This photo was taken from a ridge above the hut after I completed an evening hike to the summit of Mount Washington with some fellow thru-hikers. We spent the night in an area called “the dungeon” and paid $5 for the accomodations rather than the $65 for access to the main facilities.

The radio towers of Mt. Washington are in the upper left hand corner of this picture taken from the Lakes of the Clouds Hut. It was a perfect fall day when I took this photo. Temperatures were in the 60′s, and the 90 mile visibility exposed five states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. A group of hikers left the hut about 15 minutes ahead of me and can be seen on the ridge climbing toward the summit.

Flare and Bohemian posed for this photo on the summit of Mt. Washington (which is marked by the sign to the left.) We met up with a large group of thru-hikers for lunch in the summit cafe, then hiked to the Madison Hut for the night. The place was packed with vacationers who had come to see the fall foilage, but the crew let the thru-hikers stay for free (in exchange for a few hours of work.) In the basement, I found $70 in a cardboard box during my work assignment and turned it over to the crew. Two months later, I got $15 in the mail. It seems the crew split $60 between themselves and sent me the extra $15.

This photo was shot at the conclusion of a weekend trip on the Appalachian Trail in western North Carolina. We had great fall weather during the day, but evening temps were chilly to say the least – 20 degrees. The Joker and The Rookie tried to sleep on the summit overnight but abandoned the attempt at 3am and headed back to the tents.