For all Hikers, Backpackers, and Campers—by Ray Anderson

Hiking Tip–How to avoid blisters

May 21, 2013
Pacific Crest Trail logo

Pacific Crest Trail logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: Blister on foot three days after trea...

English: Blister on foot three days after treatment with tincture of benzoin. It does not and never did hurt (with a bandage, this person walked miles (0 km) that day). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hiking without blisters

Most long-distance hikers, at some point, will get blisters on their feet. The usual precautions are: break in new footwear, start slowly and build up to bigger mileage, wear a liner sock, or don’t wear a liner sock, keep band-aids and bandages handy. All well and good; do whatever works. But if you really want to head off blister problems, practice the tip below.

Tip: Air out your feet. Yep, that’s the best advice I was ever given on avoiding blisters, and I learned it at a seminar in New Hampshire that prepared AT thru-hikers. The advice has served me well. In the photo above, I’m at Kearsarge Pass in the Sierras on the Pacific Crest Trail. My boots and socks are airing out; my feet are absorbing air and sunlight. After break, I will put what was my left sock on my right foot and reverse the process during my next break. I will also wear my socks inside out after the first break and reverse this several times a day.

This may seem like overkill, but I’ve never gotten a raw blister on my feet. Bacteria thrive in moist, stinky, air-deprived spots. And these are the spots that chafe and turn into blisters. The trick is to air out your feet, and keep your socks dry. I probably carry too many socks, but I change out of wet socks, hang the wet ones on my pack straps, and put on new socks. Like you, I hate blisters.

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Hiking-Shelter Logs

May 14, 2013
The Tricorner Knob Shelter, just below the sum...

Image via Wikipedia

English: The Mollies Ridge Shelter in the west...

English: The Mollies Ridge Shelter in the western Great Smoky Mountains National Park of the southeastern United States. This shelter is situated along the Appalachian Trail at 4,570 ft/1,390m, just below the summit of Devils Tater Patch. Mollies Ridge is the third-most remote shelter in the park (behind Pecks Corner and Tricorner Knob), requiring an 8.4-mile hike from Cades Cove or a 10-mile hike from Fontana. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Logs or Registers placed in trail shelters are notebooks in which hikers leave messages or document their day. Ideally, if a hiker is missing and loved ones have no idea what happened to the hiker, the authorities would be able to find out where he/she was last and learn other information from the shelter log.

But shelter logs are mostly used by hikers to leave messages for friends behind them, or to describe their feelings, or to tell about their progress.

I just found out that one industrious Appalachian Trail hiker, Tim Messerich, took on the task of scanning shelter logs of the thru-hike season. He has scanned logs from 1984 through 2009. And he’s still at it! This is a huge undertaking, and I thank him for making this trip down memory lane available to any and all.

Looking through these registers brought back memories of my ’03 thru-hike. As I read what I wrote back then, the feelings of adventure and camaraderie came back as well as the memories of being wet, cold, tired, and hungry. I read the entries of my friends and of other hikers I didn’t know. Many of the comments and phrases were universal, “Can’t wait to get in town;” “I never liked walking in the rain, and now I do it every day;” “Are we there yet?”

Some of the hikers were artistic and drew clever pictures. A few creatively signed their trail names, like “Two Paws” who drew two bear tracks above his signature. Now and then you read a poem, or lines from a song. Early on, my entries ended with “So far, so good.” Occasionally I would leave (what I thought were) words of wisdom. Although I didn’t see it, I remember once signing off with, “I don’t know any strangers, only friends I haven’t yet met.” That’s the way it was.

If you want a good feel for hikers on a thru-hike, check out these logs. (They will take a minute or so to load.)

a.t.shelter

Appalachian Trail Shelter

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Trail Angels and Trail Magic

May 7, 2013
Trail Magic on the Pacific Crest Trail

Water Cache–Pacific Crest Trail

Hats off to all Trail Angels and to any other good souls who make Trail Magic.

As defined by Michele Ray in her book, How to Hike the A.T., a trail angel is a person who does kind things for hikers, such as offering them shelter, food, or water. Trail magic is comprised of the serendipitous, silent acts of kindness performed by trail angels.

Trail angels while thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail

Trail Angels–Appalachian Trail

Trail Magic can be an exhilarating experience. Imagine yourself tired, cranky, and beat up from the trail. Most of all you are thirsty. You’re low on water and what water you have is warm. All of a sudden, you see a piece of cardboard fastened to a tree. ICE COLD DRINKS STRAIGHT AHEAD ON RIGHT! it says. Really? Can this be true? Sure enough, there’s a cooler stashed beneath a pine just off the trail. You swing up the lid and packed in ice are Mountain Dews, Cokes, Gatorades—bottled ice water!

Yes, there are such grand and considerate people in our land. On the Pacific Crest Trail, trail angels regularly stock caches of bottled water in gallons along the desert boundary. These people are so dependable that their water caches are listed in the trail guides. They may be volunteers from hiking clubs, who take turns, but whoever you are, please know that we hikers appreciate it.

At an Appalachian Trail junction near the town of Andover, Maine, an old man sat on a stump with a basket of fruit beside him. An apple never tasted so good. This trail angel told me he came to the same spot several times a week during thru-hiker season. He had peaches, pears, and plums, besides apples.

Talk about trail angels. The picnic photo is from the top of Beauty Spot, a bald in North Carolina, right on the A.T. The three ladies on the left are trail angels. They drove a van, piled with food, to the top and shared with thru-hikers all day. The occasion? Easter Sunday, 2003! Need I say more.

What trail angel or trail magic experience can you share?

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The A.T. and Civil War Buffs

April 30, 2013
A.T. Thru-hike civil war

Heading north on the Appalachian Trail

For those of you gearing up for a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, or if you are hiking it now, you may want to re-familiarize yourself with the American Civil War. And for all Civil War buffs out there, you may want to consider hiking parts of the A.T.

For starters, Harpers Ferry is the Appalachian Trail Headquarters, and Harpers Ferry was of strategic importance during the Civil War. John Brown’s raid occurred there. Thru-hikers passing through Harpers Ferry normally take extra time to tour the first-class civil war museums in town. I stayed an extra day to see everything and learned a lot about my country.

As you hike through Virginia into West Virginia and Maryland, you walk by Civil War battlefields and, from time-to-time, come upon markers, signs, and story boards. The larger pictures you see here, I took on my A.T. thru-hike in ’03. Note how the A.T., with blaze, is next to one of the story boards. I took the picture standing on the trail! The smaller picture is of Harpers Ferry as seen from the Maryland side of the Potomac river.

I’m not well versed in this war and had only a layman’s interest, so I didn’t take that many pictures; I could have taken many more as I trekked north. The only picture here that’s off-trail is Stonewall Jackson’s Hdqs., which I discovered in town.

I remember having some solemn feelings as I hiked through battle areas and toured Harpers Ferry. I drove back with my wife a couple of years ago to see the area again. If you thru-hike the A.T., plan to stay an extra day or two in Harpers Ferry.

Harper's Ferry seen from Maryland side of Poto...

Image via Wikipedia

hiking and the Civil War

History on the A.T.

the a.t. and the civil war

Near the Appalachian Trail

A.T. and civil war

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The Ultimate Hiking Tragedy

April 23, 2013
Map of Appalachian Trail

Appalachian Trail–Image via Wikipedia

The Pocosin cabin along the trail in Shenandoa...

The Pocosin cabin along the trail in Shenandoah National Park (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Two years ago, I wrote the post Stay Alert. Be Smart.  Hoping not to be controversial, I need to expand on this.

Fact: Since 1974, there have been nine documented murders on the Appalachian Trail. That’s just the A.T. And I haven’t researched hiking or camping murders off-trail.

Here is one account that details an A.T. murder, in this case two women slain in Virginia in 1996. The A.T. also averages one rape every three years.

With over three million hikers visiting various sections of the Appalachian Trail per year, the A.T. is relatively safe. But you need to stay alert and act smart. Hike with friends, and if something doesn’t feel right at a campsite, move on. Many of the attacks took place at or near shelters. I don’t think it is wise to overnight in a shelter alone; wait for other hikers to show up.

In some of these documented cases, attacks were made on two people hiking together and both were murdered. I can’t find an incident where three or more hikers were attacked. So, hike with friends. In the wilds, there is safety in numbers.

Appalachian Trail shelter

A.T. Shelter

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Hammocks for Hiking

April 16, 2013
Hiking with a hammock

Hammock on the Appalachian Trail

Union Web Hammock (c. 1881)

Union Web Hammock (c. 1881) (Photo credit: f2point8)

I’ve never overnighted in a hammock, but some of my hiking friends swear by them. Once you try it, they say you will become a convert. Most often used in fair weather, hammocks are becoming more popular. Hikers using them bring up some good points:

1) You sleep or rest off the ground, which may be soaked, damp, and cold.

2) You are away from creepers and crawlies.

3) Animals will get into tents, not hammocks.

4) A more comfortable and better way to sleep  I emphasize this last point because it’s what I hear most often from hammock lovers. They claim it is a better way to experience deep sleep on any hike.

What about if it rains? Got ya covered. Take a look at this hammock, which sports a tarp and mosquito netting. I like the idea of keeping gnats and mosquitos out, but letting air in, all under a protective rain-fly. Here’s another model designed for tall people. Seems like you will find a hammock for even the fussy among us.

This website, Hammock Forums, surprised me. It is the first and last word on hammocks. One article details how hammocks are used in winter conditions! I won’t be testing one anytime soon, but I’d be interested in hearing from anyone who uses a hammock regularly on an extended hike.

Hiking the A.T.

Hammock in Sunrise on the Appalachian Trail

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“A Walk in the Woods”

April 9, 2013
English: Top of Mount Katahdin

Image via Wikipedia

English: Appalachian Trail tag Français : Marq...

English: Appalachian Trail tag Français : Marque d’un sentier des Appalaches (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cover of "A Walk in the Woods"

Cover of A Walk in the Woods

Time to lighten up. Many of you are struggling to get in shape for a spring hike, and doing this after a long hard winter isn’t easy. If you want to laugh, read A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Whenever people learn that I’m a hiker, invariably they ask, with a grin, ”Have you read that book with the bear on the cover?”

Bill Bryson is a popular writer who lives near the Appalachian Trail in New Hampshire. After learning about the A.T., he decides one day to attempt a thru-hike. He contacts his old buddy Katz, and right away you get the feeling that there is more enthusiasm than common sense, more winging it than careful planning. This is not a novel; it’s Bryson’s account of their intended hike from Georgia to Maine.

The hilarity begins when the overweight and bumptious Katz shows up at the trailhead in Georgia with donuts and the backpack from Hell. What ensues is a telling of their adventures and mis-adventures as they hoof it north. All kinds of crazy things happen, but this is not slapstick comedy. They try to make a go of it and, in their individual ways, come to terms with the wilds.

For reasons you will read about, they decide to occasionally hitch rides rather than walk. But they do (if memory serves) accomplish about 750 miles of actual hiking. If you want to relax and feel happy, pick up this book. Bryson is a marvelous writer with the perfect tone to give you an entirely new perspective about walking in the woods.

Appalachian Trail

Image by Clover_1 via Flickr

Georgia Appalachian Trail Club Marker on Sprin...

Image via Wikipedia

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Female Hikers, Unite!

April 2, 2013

This blog is for all hikers, backpackers, and campers. Most of my subscribers are male and most comments I’ve received have been from men. Judging by the increased numbers of females on trails, I would have expected more readership and feedback from women. Every year I see more of the fair sex, and that’s a positive development for the hiking community.

Now and then, I see something referring to women hikers. There is a group called Trail Dames at www.traildames.com. I don’t know much about this group or how active they are, but their site looks interesting. They have eleven chapters, all in the east except for a chapter in Michigan. I suspect this is because of the increasing popularity of women, young and old, hiking the Appalachian Trail. Trail Dames held their own conference last year in Virginia.

Another blogger mentioned the Women’s Adventure Club of Centre County PA, which ran an Appalachian Hiking Series For Women. When I thru-hiked the A.T. some years ago, I remember how grateful I was to a young lady who had—all day—hauled my sack of soaked and dirty laundry I’d left at the shelter.

Of course, the big hiking news is still Jennifer Pharr Davis, who in 2011 broke the speed record for thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. She trimmed 26 hours off the previous record set by a man! Click above and you’ll see the stunning article from Men’s Journal. That she hiked the entire length of the A.T. in 46 days, 11 hours, and 26 minutes is incomprehensible to me. She was chosen as one of National Geographic’s Adventurers of the Year.

Most of the women I see on trails are fit and tough. Welcome.

Hiking the A.T.

Mt. Katahdin-Maine

Hiking the A.T.

On the A.T.

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Thru-hikes are expensive

March 26, 2013
DSC_7918-1: More hikers

Image by stannate via Flickr

English: Appalachian Trail tag Français : Marq...

English: Appalachian Trail tag Français : Marque d’un sentier des Appalaches (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Appalachian Trail

Appalachian Trail (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you’re gearing up for a major thru-hike this spring, make sure you have enough money set aside for the undertaking. Thru-hikes are expensive. Over the years, I’ve met hikers, usually young people, who had simply run out of money and had to give it up. On the Appalachian Trail in 2003, I remember one hiker ran out of money just as he crossed over from New Hampshire to Maine.

Let’s consider the Appalachian Trail, 2178 miles long. The days of averaging a dollar a mile are long gone, although it can be done. Twenty-four years ago, Roland Mueser, in his later book, Long Distance Hiking–Lessons from the Appalachian Trail, came up with an average cost of $3200.00 dollars or about $1.50 a mile. But that was 1989.

The above averages included equipment, food, hostels and campgrounds, motels and boarding houses, restaurant meals, travel, phone, mail, equipment and clothing along the way (new footwear, for example), and miscellaneous items. He’d sent out a questionnaire to all the thru-hikers that year (1989) and also found that younger and older hikers spent the same amount of money.

So what about today? Figure about $2.50 a mile, or $5500.00 for the A.T., and that is conservative. One recent blogger said he wouldn’t feel comfortable unless he had saved $10,000 for the hike.

The problem of added expenses arrises when you take extra time in towns along the trail. And who doesn’t want to get clean, eat hardy, and get extra sleep after a rough week in the wilds? I couldn’t wait to get into a town. I had trouble sleeping in hostels and preferred a private room. Early on during my treks, I’d hit town and leave the next morning, but somewhere in the middle of every thru-hike I’ve done, I’d start taking zero days. I loved taking that extra day to rest, read, and let my body catch up.

Put any extra money aside. It would be a shame after all your planning and training to fall short because you ran out of money.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail

Appalachian Waterfall

Appalachian Trail thru-hike

A. T., New Hampshire

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Backpacking vs Thru-hiking

March 19, 2013
Hiking the Appalachian Trail

Appalachian Trail–Maine

Backpacking in the Grand Teton National Park, ...

Backpacking in the Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hikers traversing the Franconia Ridge in the W...

Hikers traversing the Franconia Ridge in the White Mountains, much of which is in the alpine zone. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

People ask me what’s the difference between backpacking and hiking. I tell them it’s the same thing, but some hikers may take a short hike without carrying a pack. An afternoon hike around a lake for example.

Thru-hiking is an attempt to hike an entire trail during the course of one calendar year. All thru-hikers are essentially backpackers, but backpackers may or may not be thru-hikers. Backpackers may hike a section of the Pacific Crest Trail, such as Yosemite, and go home. If these hikers plan to complete the PCT in sections over a course of years, they are known as section-hikers.

Sometimes, strange things happen to successful thru-hikers. It’s not uncommon after having spent six months thru-hiking a major trail, to not be eager to go on short local hikes anytime soon. What’s more, some trekkers only want to do a different major thru-hike. And a few others are happiest when they do the same thru-hike all over again. There are Appalachian Trail hikers who have thru-hiked it seven or eight times, and counting.

What to make of this. For me, now that I’ve joined a hiking club, I enjoy regularly scheduled shorter hikes. I don’t know if I have another major thru-hike in me, but I think about it all the time. I think many thru-hikers liked the experience so much that they try to re-capture that sense of adventure by doing another thru-hike as soon as they can. They don’t think short; they think long.

I understand this. Although I can’t wait to hike in the mountains of New Hampshire this year, I’ll be thinking then of where I was on the AT, PCT, and other trails in years past. We are all made differently, and it takes all kinds to create a world. Happy trails.

(PCT lake picture from public domain)

Pacific Crest Trail Lake

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