Hi,
This is for anyone who lives near Pinkham Notch or NE area and has considered signing up or has taken the AMC course on thru-hiking. It is being offered Jan 17-18, 2004 I believe and is $75.
My question: Is it worth it? I’ve been prepping for weeks. Should I save my money and my weekend by withdrawing from the class? Has anyone taken this class? What you think?
Thanks
gumwood
In 1999 I took the AMC’s thru hiker workshop at Pinkham Notch and got lots of useful information on resupply logistics and what sort of mileage I could expect to do. I used information from this workshop to start planning my '99 hike. The presenter was Kevin “Hawk-Who-Walks” Metheny an AMC employee, 1993 AT thru hiker and 2001 PCT thru hiker. He was also elected to the ATC’s New England Board this past summer. I believe he is still the person giving these workshops. He and his co-presenter touched on a wide variety of subjects, very similar to the kind of information you can find on trailforums and whiteblaze. Of course its a more personal forum. I had lots of backpacking experience from short trips so I knew I could probably go out and make it through a long distance hike but I found the opportunity to talk to accomplished AT hikers and prospective AT hikers very reassuring.
celt
I would save your money, and talk to people online who have done it. AMC just wants your money. We dispense advice at no charge.
Bankrobber
There’s a reason why the AMC is called the Appalachian Money Club.
One of the better parts of the trail experience can be learning your ways around a thru-hike, in my opinion.
bearbait
Celt, I appreciate your opinion. But at the same time I am leaning toward the opinions of bearbait and bankrobber. I’ve learned so much from friends who have completed the trail, the trailjournals, contacts in the journals, books, my own experience, I’m wondering if this is overkill to take the course.
One last question on this subject though, is it a good place to meet other potential thru-hikers who are leaving that year?
gumwood
Gumwood, I plan to hike the AT in 2004 beginnning April 1st from The Amicolala Lodge. First camp will be at or near the Springer Mountain Shelter which is approximately 8 miles from the Lodge.
Now, if I met someone at a conference or a class and we agreed to hike together and my pace did not match theirs it might get a bit awkward to tell that person they were too fast or too slow. If they sang while they hiked and I wanted quiet it might get awkward to broach the subject. If they wanted to stop in every town and I didn’t or if I did and they did not it might get a bit irritating after a few weeks (if not before).
Therefore, I am hiking alone. If my pace matches another and we are compatible and like each other’s company then a duo walk could take place or even a group walk. But I think it best to leave the option open rather than try to agree to walk together before the habits are known.
What do you think?
Skylander
Skylander
gumwood,
Althought I’m sure that the AMC course may be a good one, save your money. You may end up spending this money on the AMC later on if you hike thru the whites and need to pay to camp.
I’d suggest attending either the southern RUCK or the nortthern one. One in South Carolina one in Pennsylvania. I went last yr and it was very helpful. Lots of alumni hikers who can answer any question, go thru your pack and its just cool to meet people. Also I met some 03 hikers and even a couple starting the same day as me. It was cool to have familiar faces the first day. The RUCKs are at the end of january.
Also if you really want to meet people I believe there is a Yahoo group of 04 hikers. There was one last yr and some people even met a couple days before to hang out and talk trail. Last idea is just keep in correspondance with some 04ers thru email and journals. You get some idea of what characters will be out there.
Or hang around AMicalola the day before. I met Dimples then night before, and we hiked 700 miles together.
good luck
A-Train
i try to avoid giving money to the AMC on principle. i think you should ask the ex-thru hikers on this list for advice (many of whom are in new england - tho i’m no longer one of them.) check the yahoo board.
i know that starting the hike alone is a scary thing to do but you’ll meet lots of people. trust me. and if you plan to hike "with’ someone, unless you’re really tight with that person, you’ll probably end up splitting up anyway. I started the hike with an acquaintance, and although we got along well, we basically hiked different speeds - and we both found plenty of people to hike with.
mindlessmariachi
Some of the negative comments here are WAY outta line…not everything the AMC does is about money. I happen to know the two presenters quite well; they offer this lecture because they want to, and because they’re very good at it. Both Hawk and Zaz have a very extensive background as outdoorspeople and are eminently qualified to give this sort of presentation. Also, they’ve both thru-hiked in recent years, which right away separates them from a lot of other “experts” out there, especially on the Internet, who haven’t. They’ve great folks, great public speakers, and everyone I’ve spoken to over the years who has attended one of their talks said it was very useful, extremely well done, very informative, and absolutely worth the money.
BaltimoreJack