Low and High Points?

imported
#1

Hello,

I’ve just finished watching 2000 miles to Maine (great movie by the way, at least from the perspective of a prospective hiker). In the movie, they discussed low points of the trail.

I’m just wondering, what have been your lowest points on the trail, that you remember? Was it injury? Endless rain? Being dirty? Eating endless quantities of ramen? Was it when you realized there were still 1500 miles to go? Or 500 miles left? If you did not get off the trail at that low point, I’m also curious to know how you got through it. And heck, why not tell us about your highest point(s) too, since that’s just as interesting.

Any comments would be great! I love to hear all the hiker stories. (Haha, I think there should be a buddy system – thru-hikers from one year should befriend prospective thrus for the next year. Double purpose – the ones that have already hiked have someone who is ALWAYS eager to hear more trail stories, and the new hiker gets the benefit of all that advice and experience. Well, I guess that’s kinda what this site is all about…:wink:

Thanks! nunyet

nunyet

#2

I walked from GA-MASS. this past summer and my high point was Virginia. Easy walking, nice shelters, beautiful scenery, good trail towns, lots of company (by MAss a lot of people had dropped out. My body also wasn’t that beat up yet but was over the initial shock of hiking everyday.

Low point was New York/Connect. Crappy water sources, a hitload of mosquitoes, treacherous walking on slabs of rocks…not really any good hiking hostels to speak of.

A lot of people didn’t like PA but I actually didn’t find it that bad. I got pysched out by listening to other people talk about it…but it’s never as bad as others make it seem…they’re just trying to scare you and prove how tough they are by making it through!

Another low-point is when you reach that point where every morning you are crippled. It happened to all of us by 500 or 1000 miles, some people it happened earlier. When you get up in the night or first thing in the morning to go to the bathroom, you can barely walk…not a happy time.

But overall…much more happy times than bad ones. Living in the forest, execising, meeting cool people…the experience of a lifetime.

Tell it like it is

#3

connecticut RULZ!
it all rulz cuz u r walking across the country! duh!
but grayson highlands rulz most.

milo

#4

Your suggestion that previous thru-hikers “befriend” prospective thrus is what both the Southern Ruck and Pennsylvania Ruck are all about. Unfortunately, both have just been held for 2005, but hopefully they’ll be back in '06. Meanwhile, sites like this one, Trail Days in May, and the ALDHA Gathering in October would be of value.

Skyline

#5

My first low point was in Great Smokey Mountains National Park. For some reason I had previously had it in my head that, after GSMNP, there was only a little more trail before hitting Virginia. When I realized that the distance from Davenport Gap (the end of GSMNP when heading north) to Damascus, VA was about equal to the distance from Springer Mt. to Davenport Gap…I felt a SEVERE low point.
My next low point was about a day south of Perisburg, VA. I guess it was about there that I realized that Virginia was NOT easy walking. Less hard than the first three states, perhaps, but NOT easy.
Another low point involved a time when I was sick on the trail. Being sick sucks. Being sick in the middle of the woods with no toilet to run constantly run to is even worse. It took me three days to hike about 20 miles because I could only creep at a snails pace. My hip belt had to constantly be loosened because ANY pressure on my stomach was too much. This, of course, led to a sore back as well. At the end of the third day, I stuck my thumb out and got the hell out of Dodge. Xena, Bloody Cactus, and Xena’s family are seriously my heros. I’m actually just getting to this part of my hike in my journal, if you’re interested.
Other low points involved a couple times where I fell behind certain friends that I wanted to keep hiking with. That was harder than I thought it would be.
High points? Standing at the arch of the Approach Trail. Setting foot on Springer Mountain. Catching up with friends I didn’t expect to see for a while. Friends catching up with me. The balds just past Roan Mountain. Easter at Kincora. Miss Janets. Damascus.
God, there are just too many to mention.

LekiLess

#6

Sunfish Pond, NJ.
Two long distance thru-hikers finally acknowledge their mutual attraction for each other. Romantic, trailside candle lit dinner (Rahmin). Moonlight swim. Sleeping bag comforter…. Ranger Rick issuing a courtesy ticket to them at 8AM the next morning for illegal camping…. Priceless!

CitySlicker73

#7

Low point was dislocating my shoulder on the north face of Clingmans Dome and staying in Cherokee, NC for two weeks waiting for the doctor to bless me and all the time my backpack was still on the mountain. High point was my pack still being there when I got back to it and then the first download using my Pocket Mail device with all of the email of well wishes from people reading my journal.

Hands down the high point was the people on and off the trail. Hands down the low point was lying on my side knowing as soon as I stood up it was going to hurt like hell.

Two Scoops

#8

N.Ga.Ridgerunning.Torrential rain coming sideways because of the howling winds.Soaked through from sweat/rain.Cold.Tired.Friend I’m hiking with has diarhea and now starts throwing up in the middle of the trail.I’m standing on the trail dancing,trying to keep warm,crying and singing “no where to run to baby,no where to hide…”
We find a rock overhang and scoot under it where it’s dry.About six guys come in behind us in the next 10-15 minutes.So now it’s crowded and I have to pee.Of course.I go behind a rock and pee in the rain and wind and then…?
I can’t get my pants back up.They’re wet.My underwear.My pants.My rainpants.They’re stuck!My hands are stiff from the cold,and I’m standing on the side of a mountain in Ga with seven men under a rock on the other side of that bush and I can’t get my pants back up.
Anyway…remember in “City Slickers"when Billy Crystal yells"I’m on vacation!”?
Good times,ey.:slight_smile:

I’m Justa Pansy

#9

Like Leki-less said, there are so many high points; views, people, hostels, food… But my highest points would have to be the start of the trail and the end of the trail. It was a true high to realize that we were REALLY doing the AT! We were there and hiking. There was no stopping us then! And, after the heaven and hell that we’d been thru for over 2000 miles, the last 100 or so miles were just pure adrenelene (sp?)! Katahdin was ours for the taking and we enjoyed EVERY moment of it.

There were really only two TRUELY low points on the trail for me. When you realize that we had 1000 - 800 miles left was a real eye opener and around Vermont. After walking 1800 miles of trail, rain everyday for the last week, 20 miles a day, cold, wet, hungry, and no zero day for close to 2 weeks… I just sat down and really took a moment to re-realize why I was still doing the trail.

Dave and Miranda

#10

It’s all your ability to deal with adverse conditions. You cannot control weather so it is pointless to let it bother you. I never really had any bad times. There are way too many good moments that completely outweigh any adverse condition that may arise. The highlights to me were the numerous occassions when trail angels manifested themselves. Unexpected rides (I descended from Blue Mountain and a guy gave me a ride into Helen, GA. After he dropped me off at the motel he handed me 20 dollars and told me to have a good dinner and a beer on him), people who let you crash at their house even thouh they don’t know you (when was the last time you gave a ride or let someone sleep at your house?), getting together with hikers and putting on a feed… sleeping next to a waterfall, waking up to a brilliant sunrise on top of a mountain, getting to Katahdin and realizing you accomplished your personal dream, getting to Kathdin and understanding it is the journey from the numbered world to the very spiritual and communal world of nature and the woods… Swimming in a lake or river after a lon hiking day, waking up and deciding you want to have a HERO day in the woods… the AYCE along the way… When it’s all done you will forget the painful moments, the times you didn’t feel like climbing another mountain or when you almost went hypothermic in a freezing rain storm… We all show up on this site because we experienced something very profound and life changing. I have experienced real disappoint in the numbered world, death, unsatisified jobs, soul loss… it is very freeing to walk with spring… a journey where you find yourself…

Aswah

p.s. I would say for me one of the absolute highlights is walking in the woods in quiet contemplation. You can really mediate and find answers. There is profound spirituality whatever diety you worship…

Peace and Love…

Aswah

#11

Highs: All the wonderful people that I met along the way

Lows: Adverse weather, but that only made me appreciate the good weather that much more.

Peaks