The International Appalachian Trail

imported
#1

I was really startled to recently learn of the existence of this - specially given the research I’ve done on the AT which has had no mention of it. Specially given the fact that I’m Canadian (tho’ve been living expat style in L.A. for six years), and should just, well, know this stuff.

http://gorp.away.com/gorp/location/canada/can_iat.htm

Have any of you done any of the international sections? I’ve always wanted to go to the Gaspe Peninsula (where the Cdn portion ends), and probably would have made my AT journey this year include the Canadian portion - had I heard of it with time to plan for such journeys. Since we’re starting in the first week of April, I can only imagine things’d be pretty frosty in Gaspe by the time we’d roll around there…

So - any experience, anyone with the International version of the AT? Any stories of people who’ve done it? It’s hard to get info on, so I can only assume that few do it.

  • Whoa

Whoa

#2

http://www.internationalat.org/SIAIAT/

My only suggestion is to not do it in a season of heavy rain. A friend of mine tried last year and couldn’t make ANY stream crossings. Thirty miles in a week, fifteen out-fifteen back to the car. Both AT thru hikers. A week before a hiker drown crossing one stream. Don’t know the section. It’s not quite like down here;a detour is a few miles out of the way, up there it was impossible due to lack of roads.

BW

#3

I read Chris Bagby’s AT journal from 2000. He and a friend hiked the IAT after finishing the AT and its in his AT journal. His trailname was Spur. It was an interesting journal and I recommend it if your looking at the IAT. It sounds great but involves a little bit of planning as you need to make resevations ahead of time for some section, I believe in the Chic Choc Mountains.

Big B

#4

whoa,

i sobo thru-hiked it last summer at the beginning of my gaspe to key west hike. i answered some questions about it a few weeks ago. i can’t remember what the name of the topic was, but if you do a forum search with IAT as the topic, i think it will come up. you could also use my name in the author prompt. i will be happy to answer any other questions about the trail, just e-mail me.

crash test dummy

#5

yah, i asked this one a while ago, got some interesting answers, and by the way crash test dummies is my favorite band of all time, too bad they only do very very limited touring, thats if the band has anything to do w/ your name, have a good one to all,

:boy

clong

#6

Clong, mail me. Spring hikes, Ohio.

Bushwhack

#7

Thanks for the info, crash test dummy and all. It sounds like such an intriguing hike. And that news about Newfoundland being joined to it is exciting too. Check out photos of Newfoundland on google’s image searcher some time. A beautiful place - and one which I intend on spending some hiking time in the not-too-distant.

Here’s something else exciting which is in the works for Canada:

There are a couple decisions they’ve made that I’m not too delighted with. Like the fact that they dip down to Halifax when they could just ferry over to P.E.I. at the north east part of NS. Or the fact that it dips so southerly in Ontario. And I know that they want to include Nunavet, The Yukon and the NWT, but the curvaceous, splintered route they have outlined now means you have to make a choice whether you go west or to the north (coming from the east). And you have to go all the way to the Pacific, of course (Vancouver Island is such a great place).

Hold on. I could be reading this wrong. It looks like you go north in Alberta, get on a northwards flowing river up to NT, cross over to the Yukon, and then hike southerly!! Ahhhh. Much less back-tracking.

Over 18000 kilometers long.

Holy moly.

:eek:

Whoa

#8

All of this talk of Canadian hiking & camping resources is making me wish that there were a section for miscellaneous good trails / parks on this site.

There is a great park in British Columbia I’d like to draw your attention to: Bowron Lake. This is a 120 km circuit of rivers and lakes that takes around 7 - 10 days to complete on a canoe. There are a couple portages, but most of it is done on the water.

http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/bowron.htm

A friend and I did the circuit ten years ago, and it was a phenomenal & memorable experience. If you have ever been intrigued by British Columbia, or have wanted a good canoe adventure, this might be right for you.

Keep in mind though that they mean everything that they say about bears.

http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/misc/bears/bearbowr.htm

Whoa