Yeah, you know the TV show. If you’re a geek like me you’ve seen it too many times.
Anyway, there always asking for new myths to bust, so I wondered if there are any myths about Appalachian Trail thru-hiking or long-distance hiking in general.
But the only myth I can come up with is the one where some guy thru-hiked the AT eating nothing but Little Debbie snacks. Which is of course completely busted (or is it?).
Can you guys think of any?
Kineo Kid
What about the idea of putting sand in your boots during training to “toughen up” you feet to prevent blisters, or even hiking with out socks to prevent blisters.
Also did people really hike the AT barefoot? I find that very hard to believe!
Janet
Or the one where a guy was hiking the ‘rollercoaster’ with 2 suitcases on wheels in 05. I’ve heard it was true and he was looking for a different kind of shelter.
Apple Pie
Back in 2001, Bruce-the shuttle driver in Gorham, said he met a guy who thru hiked eating mostly chocolate frosting.
Janet; The Barefoot Sisters from Maine, 2000-2001 yoyo. Barefoot all the way unless it was icy.
BW
Year before this, I met Tyvek on the trail up in NY. He was hiking the trail barefoot to raise money for post-traumatic stress syndrome. He had a website called
The Long Walk Home that had his journal and other info on his hike. When I met him, it was late August and he’d been hiking SOBO since Labor Day. His feet were almost indistinguishable from boots unless you looked close, almost like what I’d imagine hobbit feet would look like without the woolly part.
Strategic
Apple Pie, the story is true. I saw him. He was wearing a suit and had 2 suitcases, carrying one for a distance and then going back to get the other. No kiddin’
Nimbflefoot
Tyvek started before Labor Day in 2006. I met him in ME around the 20th of July. He got off because he had a chance to testify before a Congressional committee on PTSS. Quite a guy. I understand he was back out this year.
Mango
“Virginia is flat”
“Send your winter gear home in Damascus”
“Just drink the water… its cool”
“Leave your toilet paper for the RidgeRunner… He’ll get it”
“My dog wont bite”
“Not only did The Trail build itself… it maintains itself”
R.R.
Did a search for the Barefoot Sisters and found them AND their 2 books. (I ordered them both) Wow, I just can’t believe how tough the skin must get on the bottom of your feet in order to survive 10 - 15 miles a day on rocks, etc. I guess that would solve the problem of blisters and buying new boots! Do you think the tough skin peels off after you stop hiking?
Janet
Mango,
Sorry, I meant to say he started on Memorial Day but my addled brain switched the summer around (wishful thinking.) I met him on August 19th, just south of Orange Turnpike in NY section 12. He actually has his whole journal up on the site I linked to now, and yes, he did come back out and finish this year.
Strategic
The story about the guy with the suitcases on rollers is true. We saw him on 6/16/05 just south of Bears Den. I think he was a homeless man who was very confused about the shelters. My guess is he didn’t get very far but I think he’d started at Harpers Ferry.
Terry
“The next few miles are quite easy.” “It’s an easy hitch into town.”“My dog is very friendly and would’t hurt a sole”
old&in the way
Tyvek was out this year. He told me he got off the trail near waynesboro last year and was finishing his sobo thru-hike this year. I passed him somewhere in tennessee I think. He was barefoot and his feet were destroyed.
lakewood
Janet,
Would you be so kind as to list the titles of the two books by the “Barefoot Sisters” and the name or names they use as authors? Also, where did you purchase the books?
Frankly, like you, I’d like to read both books. Its the barefoot experience that’s pulling me in.
By the way, as a former lifeguard who worked several months each summer walking barfoot on grainy cement, I can tell you that the feet toughen right up very quickly.
Anyone who has played baseball or softball for several seasons can tell you that every spring our hands tear, blister and bleed, but then are fine all summer, once we’ve adjusted.
Guitar players experience something similar when they first begin learning how to play and after long periods of not playing, although few of us actually go that long without playing once we learn how, once it becomes part of us.
Conan
Conan
Conan, The books came today! Titles are The Adventures of the Barefoot Sisters Book 1: Southbounders and the Adventures of the Barefoot Sisters Book 2: Walking Home. Their names are Lucy and Susan Letcher. I found both books at Amazon.com for about $44.
I am a librarian and have to confess that I have just about every book written about the AT and I’m starting to buy the ones about the PCT. Sad to say I have more time to read than to hike. Maybe someday!!!
Janet
Shenandoah National Park doesn’t have any hills to climb, it’s a well-manicured trail with no rocks, and you can eat your way through buffets every day so no need to pack food.
Skyline
There is no love on the Appalachian Trail. It’s slogging, and rain, and hunger and ugly mud the whole way to Maine. More than two thousand miles of it. Month upon month, day after day.
You’ll hate it.
Datto
PS: I’m counting in my head the number of people I know who fell in love right before my eyes on the A of T. I have pictures of them I look at every once in a while. At Mountain Mama’s. At the French Broad. At God’s Thumb. At McAfee Knob. There is no love on the Appalachian Trail. You’ll hate it. Don’t do it – buy the BMW instead.
Datto
Does anyone really know what’s real and a myth? Don’t you realize nothing has any reality beyond the synaptic activity of your own brain?
Wayne D.