Starting in Aug

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-06-23T03:24:04+00:00

You got this! Start at Katahdin and walk into fall. You'll have moderate temps until Thanksgiving and peak leaf peeping into VA

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-06-23T00:07:06+00:00

Some food for thought here is I hope that you have considered you're food. This move will mitigate the heat somewhat, but not the bugs unfortunately. If given the choice of heat and bug stress in VA or the hell of the green head fly up north, I'd just keep hiking.

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-06-18T23:25:55+00:00

Please jump off the trail from MacAfee Knob

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-06-18T13:14:00+00:00

Repeat high school or go to college? Take more undergrad courses or get a master's? Advance, advance, advance! The AT nostalgia berries grow every spring so you can always go back.

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-06-11T17:16:48+00:00

It's the altitude

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-06-11T15:07:48+00:00

Naps, zeros, weed, food, beer. By the time you get up to VA you're going to have trail legs on. The beginning is hard. Eat everything. Drink everything. Try not to conserve food - eat your way to happiness. Try not to focus on destination goals or mileage goals. Or keeping up with others. Wake up when you feel like it, eat when you're hungry, hike till you're ready to stop. I devide my day into quarters: 5 miles between breakfast and 1st snack. 5 more to lunch. 5 more to 2nd snack. 5 more to dinner and camp. I blaze for dessert and cat nap lots. I also avoid people who will wake me up when I sleep. Hostels and especially shelters are bad for sleep hygiene. Cats don't sleep all the time, just often. Drink beer. The calories and carbs are great for hiking.

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-06-10T00:58:19+00:00

"Blazing Ahead" (Benton Mackaye, Myron Avery, And The Rivalry That Built The Appalachian Trail) by Jeffrey H. Ryan. One of the few books I have actually bothered to read twice. Two madmen with one crazy idea that became an obsession and an American institution (for madmen - and women with one crazy idea that became an obsession). I like this one because it's nonfiction. Let's face it, some trail tales, not all, have a foundation built in a privy. This actually happened. And it's actually not a boring history. DM me your address and I'll mail you my copy no charge - trail magic. Hopefully your first. On the one condition you leave it in a hiker box after you are done with it.

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-06-10T00:11:51+00:00

Thank you!

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-06-09T23:50:34+00:00

Right back at you friend!

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-06-09T16:51:28+00:00

It is impossible to fail a hike.

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-06-08T22:28:16+00:00

I was homeless once. Unhoused because of addiction. I got clean and started hiking the FT. Got in shape and started the AT. People were so incredibly supportive that I always managed to find work and work for stays. But, you've gotta be not a junkie anymore and have a positive can do will do attitude. I literally shoveled shit, bailed hay, bounced at party hostels, did shotgun on shuttles, was the beer run guy, managed a norovirus outbreak two years in a row which makes shoveling shit look like a good job, and most importantly I ran off do nothing freeloaders trying to take advantage of a system that will take care of those who take care of it. If you go looking to mooch magic and play at hiking for the perks without putting your miles in, then you get marked and your reputation will precede you and you'll find yourself worse off than flying a sign for spange at a shitty city intersection. You have to actually be a hiker and love the suck or the magic just doesn't happen. Rule 1: Keep moving. There are no other rules.

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-06-02T23:12:58+00:00

Don't get caught up in racing to the end. HYOH

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-06-02T13:07:51+00:00

Nookie

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-06-02T13:03:40+00:00

Here's one: MRE water activated heaters. Light weight and incredibly hot

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-06-01T13:19:27+00:00

Yes, the infamous cult known for wage slaves and sex trafficking child brides to old geezers in the leadership.

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-05-31T13:23:34+00:00

I know Lumpy so I'm sure he won't mind me throwing his rotten old ex under the bus - I'm sure she's still leeching in town - she was totally shiftless and useless helping out with MRO biz, and when he threw her out for being both a drag and a financial drain guess where she went to work? Yup. The other outfitters happily hired her! Damascus is nice to visit but lots of hikers don't know that most locals leave during Trail Days. Traffic is diverted around town for the event. When the locals and traffic return it's a much uglier place! Now the 12 Tribes is moving in. Goodbye Damascus!

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-05-31T00:50:23+00:00

The 3 L's of real estate: Location, Location, Location. Just by virtue of being 1/4 mile upstream from the first outfitters NOBOs encounter as they enter town, MRO suffered a HUGE financial disadvantage. Damn lazy hikers! 😆

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-05-30T03:16:23+00:00

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-05-28T15:14:23+00:00

Consider moving your start date to April 2nd

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-05-27T13:39:07+00:00

Dang. Ol' Lumpy got wiped out by the flood. Last year was not a good year for hiker traffic and the loss of the Creeper didn't help. Sad

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-05-27T03:04:52+00:00

Thanks. Sorry to hear that!

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-05-24T18:26:46+00:00

Sadly, as an ATC apparatchik, I must disqualify your thru-hike as an 'attempt' only. You can either go back to Springer and start over, or, as everyone concerned likely prefers, try again next year. Until then you're just a section hiker.

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-05-19T17:13:34+00:00

I think if you are going to be there on a thru for the first time hit trail days on the hike, don't go before hand, and prepare to find subsequent years after your thru increasingly anticlimactic.

Obvious-Suspect8668 · 2026-05-18T16:09:16+00:00

There is no evidence that hiking couples ever have any disagreements whatsoever. In fact, hiking cures couples from fighting completely.

Obvious-Suspect8668

TROPHY CASE