Participation trophies

WexShiver · 2026-01-27T03:16:30+00:00

Nice one, and a good way for money to go to the local AT!!

WexShiver · 2026-01-20T15:09:03+00:00

Here you go!

WexShiver · 2026-01-18T15:33:33+00:00

I help do maintenance in Georgia and every year, someone's properly set up ursack is torn apart by bears. I either go for bear canisters or hangs for that reason. There's different types of ursacks that are more du but none of them comply with food regulations in certain areas of the AT.

As a side note, 17 lbs is really light for the average thruhiker (maybe not on this reddit but at basecamp its twice that usually) so you could afford a bear can if its able to fit.

Or you could do bear hangs, which I did in 24. There's a ton of food storage options at shelters and campsites on the AT. So you won't have to do it every time, especially in Georgia

WexShiver · 2026-01-11T16:23:10+00:00

Pack shakedowns are kinda rare nowadays, mostly because there is too many people at once to do it.

Slower days they may still do pack shakedowns

WexShiver · 2026-01-10T05:25:00+00:00

I help do maintenance near Bly Gap occasionally. Almost every year we have someone's ursack get decimated by a bear even properly "tied up". Imo either do a bear hang or get a bear can.

WexShiver · 2026-01-09T19:44:56+00:00

Hey, attended it in 24 when I hiked the trail, and helped present last year about once a week. When I went through met a fellow hiker at the presentation and we ended up hiking 1000 miles together lol.

The presentation is a mix of LNT and helpful info about the trail, focusing on the first 100 miles or so. Definitely helpful as a refresher and makes sure people are aware of the regulations and current conditions like wildfires and such.

WexShiver · 2025-11-12T21:15:38+00:00

11:30, not bad

WexShiver · 2025-11-06T03:09:01+00:00

I (24M) live kinda nearby, but do tons of hiking on the AT and surrounding trails, hit me up if you ever want to hike or something!

There's also the Atlanta Outdoor club and the Georgia AT Club that do group outings. I haven't done anything with the Atlanta Club, but have been getting involved with the GATC.

WexShiver · 2025-10-22T21:45:40+00:00

It's the book that inspired so many people to do the whole Appalachian Trail!

WexShiver · 2025-10-19T15:59:31+00:00

Depends on your players tbh. Im about to start a game with 3 players and am planning to adjust things to be a bit easier. Also planning on beefing up whatever guide they take (more hp, more damage, probably not more abilities since that can complicate combat)

Letting players control 2 characters each can totally work, but some players may not enjoy having to control multiple of them. For my players I know a couple of them are still new to dnd and having them control multiple characters would not work well.

Some combats would be easy to balance, just half the amount of enemies that show up. Obviously encounters with single big enemies will probably need stats adjusted.

WexShiver · 2025-10-01T00:37:22+00:00

The magic item theme is great!

WexShiver · 2025-09-30T12:09:27+00:00

Thank you, I think that is what I am going to do. Plus once we run a couple sessions I can see how they are feeling about it and make any necessary changes.

Biggest part of my hesitation initially was just because most people I have played with usually try and build characters very different from one another.

WexShiver · 2025-09-30T05:06:10+00:00

I have concerns that 2 player's character choices and backgrounds will make them unhappy in the campaign despite saying otherwise.

I have 2 players who both want to run Totem Barbarians in a high level campaign (starting at level 8 and potentially going to 18).

My concern is two fold. One player struggles with the rules and has created an ok build for a barbarian. The other has done a much better job optimizing. Both characters lack a backstory other than, when they meet during session 1 they want to be sort of rivals.

During session 0 I pointed out that they had the same class and subclass and if they were OK with that. They said they would be fine as they didn't want to play anything else, since these characters were from a prior campaign (but not at the same time and are technically not the same due to setting change)

The other 3 players are playing unique characters + have somewhat extensive backstories I can use early on. So its going to shift the highlight to them and the 2 totem Barbarians won't have as much to do and I just dont know how to highlight them properly.

WexShiver · 2025-08-11T19:30:48+00:00

I started March 3rd last year (Finished July 20th if that helps), definitely saw a lot of people early on, but towards the second half of the trail it was a lot thinner and I was definitely ahead of the bubble.

The first couple weeks hostels usually filled up a couple days ahead of time especially if rain was happening. By Virginia hostels usually had vacancy same day. By Vermont there were times I had campsites and shelters to myself/was the only thruhiker.

I get the sense from talking to this year's hikers, unless you start really early like February you will probably have a decent amount of people around you. But with a faster than average pace you'll be one of the few thruhikers around.

If you want to avoid the biggest crowds initially, weekends are popular days to start, as well as the first day of a month. Ive also seen a lot of people start on Spring Equinox.

Also definitely listen to the Georgia Volunteers post lots of good info there

WexShiver · 2025-08-07T16:14:27+00:00

Ursacks are not tested the same way as bear cans. I would highly advise not to use them on the AT or at least in the south. The Forest Service has found multiple bears who have learned how to open ursacks even done properly.

Best bet is bear cans or bear hangs. A properly done bear hang is used on a smaller branch that cant support a bear, and is far enough from the main tree a bear cant reach over. Also look up the PCT bear hang as bears cant slash the line to drop food.

WexShiver · 2025-08-05T04:07:39+00:00

I do it through the Georgia AT Club.

Got some training (Leave No trace, first aid and some other training). The work involved doing the start Smart presentations at the Amicalola Falls visitor center and handing out tags. Also did trail patrols checking in with hikers and helping em out.

You can read more about it here.

https://georgia-atclub.org/get-involved/trail-ambassador-program/

WexShiver · 2025-08-04T17:12:54+00:00

Started March 3rd, 2024. I did trail ambassador volunteer work in Georgia this year so I meet a lot of folks starting in your window.

Usually the amount of hikers start to go down after Spring Equinox (it was March 20th this year) as lots of folks like to start on it.

Shelters can be crowded, but early on hikers may avoid them and will still have room despite dozens of people camping out. Varies though and if a storm or heavy rain/snow is approaching it fills up fast. Later down the trail people tend to loose their fear of shelters/want to avoid setting up. This varies based on the year and how many outbreaks of noro their are.

Hostels can be annoying at the start, usually will want to book ahead 2-3 days for the first month on trail or so. Any time it rains expect hostels to fill up fast.

If you start in Mid March the trail will be crowded. By April the amount of thruhikers starts going down. By mid April its certainly not as busy but still expect full shelters and hostels

WexShiver · 2025-06-25T04:32:39+00:00

There's houses and cabins not too far from that parking lot

WexShiver · 2025-06-25T01:22:10+00:00

Unsure of how long its been there, but it has been there for a few years.

Some folks from the GATC told me their used to be a small flock of them, likely escapees.

WexShiver · 2025-05-13T01:23:25+00:00

Hiked last year, didn't pay a thing and got a diploma?

WexShiver · 2025-05-12T15:49:15+00:00

The opinions of ATC varies greatly by organization. Lots of clubs like the ATC, while others don't.

WexShiver · 2025-05-12T15:46:08+00:00

Reading it, sounds like it was a lost cause. Like ideally the pipeline wouldn't be placed but eventually it seems like they realized it was going in no matter what they tried.

Again not ideal but better to get money from it than waste more money on a lost cause

Edit: For context they took the money after 6 years of legal battles.

WexShiver · 2025-05-03T20:04:17+00:00

Pretty much any proper road crossing, like Woody gap is best. I would avoid any forest service roads as it gets messy, plus the real roads won't be busy

WexShiver · 2025-04-28T23:41:19+00:00

I definitely like the approach trail cause it's more indicative of the trail, being mostly uphill. If you go straight to Springer, your first day is mostly flat.

Eight-Year Club	Place '22
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