BirdShooter's Backpacking Blog & Podcast Series
A while back, I subscribed to the ATC Southern Regional Office Newsletter to keep up on activities along the Appalachian Trail in the South. In the March 2012 issue, it said ... With spring lurking around the corner, it's an exciting time of year! We hope you'll join us for some of the many activities that ATC and our partners are involved with this month. The activities have been timed with the northbound migration of the 2012 thru-hiker pack, and there is no shortage of … [Read more...]
Should the Great Smoky Mountain National Park charge backpackers for camping overnight in the park? According to an article published yesterday by National Parks Traveler, the answer is a resounding NO: John Quillen, a Tennessean from Knoxville who fought to have the public comments on the fee proposal made public, says that by his calculation the comments were "almost 20 to 1 against the fee." Part of the concern was that the proposed fees, which range from a low of $4 per person … [Read more...]
I have used both stand-alone GPS units and Smartphone apps on the trail and have yet to resolve which is better. For short day hikes - the Smartphone apps win hands down for convenience and their instant access to trail databases from companies like the North Face. But in the backcountry? I tend to agree with this assessment by Backpacker Magazine gear editor, Kristin Hostetter: In a nutshell, here are the pros of using a smartphone with a navigation app: great for local hikes, daily activity … [Read more...]
The Mrs. and I just returned from a trip to the Grand Canyon, and if you haven't seen it - the winter is a great time to go.  There are fewer people, there's no summer 100+ heat, and it's fairly easy to book a room at the last minute - even on a weekend. I made my first trip to the Canyon in 1996 during a three month cross-country roadtrip that put 17,000 miles on my car and had us touch all four corners of the Lower 48.  We arrived on the North Rim in mid-summer with 104 degree heat and … [Read more...]
Since the early 90's, some Appalachian Trail thru-hikers that I know have continued the tradition of an annual winter hike. As I detailed in "40 at 40", the trip is never easy and is typically booked within a few weeks of the MLK holiday. After a four year absence, I made a guest appearance during their three-day ramble of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park this year. It was mid-way through their hike when we met up at the Mt. Collins Shelter after the machoists got pelted by hail for 30 … [Read more...]
In Scouts we were taught to start a fire with two matches, with batteries, steel wool, cotton/vaseline, and by rubbing two sticks together. But this is one thing that didn't make the Scout Handbook: … [Read more...]
Five to ten years ago when I was younger and in better shape, I joined a group of former thru-hikers for a multi-day and often strenuous winter backpacking trip. The hike was appropriately dubbed the MLK trip since it usually occurred on or around the three-day Martin Luther King weekend. The "M.O." of the MLK trip was (and continues to be) a 30-38 mile mega-hike, preferrably in snow, and always spanning four days. Typically we left town after work, fought traffic to some Mexican … [Read more...]
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