The Thicket: Walkin'

In our previous entry, we discussed thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. I offered my intention to hike the entire trail in one calendar year (known as thru-hiking) as well as a brief personal background on my experience with the trail so far. In this update of The Thicket, I want to continue this theme with a general discussion of the some of the Eastern long-trails and little bit of an overview of backpacking.

The Eastern US, while certainly not as outdoor friendly as the Western US, has a a surprisingly large selection of extended hiking trails, most notably those that traverse through the Appalachian Mountain chain. Of course the most well known is also the longest. At once a primitive tribute to nature and a grueling race against the seasons, the Appalachain Trail, or AT is a federally designated National Scenic Trail, controlled by Uncle Sam but owned and cared for by the People.

But the eastern US is home to numerous long-distance hiking trails designed specifically for strolling, tramping, and otherwise roughing it:

THE BENTONMACKAYE TRAIL: Benton MacKaye was the New England forester who originally envisioned the Appalachian Trail as a footpath “for those who seek fellowship with the woods.” Over the course of planning and developing the trail, the AT became something somewhat different than MacKaye had originally envisioned. From Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods:

“A hiking trail was only part of MacKaye's grand vision. He saw the AT as a thread connecting a network of mountaintop work camps where pale, depleted urban workers in the thousands would come and engage in healthful toil in a selfless spirit and refresh themselves on nature. There were to be hostels and inns and seasonal study centers, and eventually permanent woodland villages—'self-owning' communities whose inhabitants would support themselves with cooperative 'non-industrial activity' based on forestry, farming, and crafts.”

The grandeur of MacKaye's vision was never seen to fruition but the basic idea behind the trail was present. MacKaye worked for the Department of Labor and was tasked with creating projects which might help to improve moral during the industrialized 20's. His idea for a scenic footpath was originally published in Journal of the American Institute of Architects in 1921.

The AT and the BMT are closely related in history and in location. The BMT runs closely to McKaye's original intended starting point of the AT, running through “some of the most remote back-country in Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina, including eight federally designated Wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas,” according to the Benton MacKaye Trail Association website.

Federally designated wilderness areas are particularly cool because they are supposed to remain largely untouched—no roads, no logging or agriculture, nothing but a thin slice of dirt path winding through acres and acres of unspoiled nature. This also means no cell reception, no easy access for rescues, and no way out other than by the trail. The disconnect from civilization can be exciting, refreshing, and to some, terrifying.

The BMT is listed as “nearly 300 miles” though the entire trail length is variable. The BMT loop can be combined with the AT and several other long trails to make almost 500 miles of hiking. These other long-trails include, but are not limited to, the Mountain-to-Sea Trail and the grandaddy of them all, the Eastern Continental Trail which stretches all the way from Key West, Florida to Cape Gaspe, Quebec, Canada and combines the Florida Trail, the BMT, and the AT, as well as others to make a 4,400 mile hike.

THE LONG TRAIL: The original long-trail, creatively named The Long Trail can be found solely in the state of Vermont, running 272 miles from the Massachusetts state line to the Canadian border along the crest of the Green Mountains, a branch of the Appalachians.

Generally credited with being the source of inspiration for MacKaye's AT, the LT is considered the oldest long-trail in the United States. The terrain is more rugged than the southern Appalachians, passing through all of the major summits in the Green Mountain Range.

The LT has about 70 shelters, which is 69 more than...

THE FLORIDA TRAIL: The Florida Trail, or the FT is in my home state and actually peaks over towards the coast not too far from where I live. In fact, the sunshine state's footpath travels through the proverbial backyard, mostly unnoticed in the face of other attractions like the beach and the whole smorgasbord of theme parks and Touristlandia-glitz.

Like the AT, the FT is a federally designated National Scenic Trail, though portions of it do not fit this designation. Founded in 1966, the FT is still constantly in a state of geographic flux. Changes in trail location make last year's guidebooks obsolete. The distance between resupply points is often long and road walking along incomplete sections of trail are sadly frequent. The most distressing aspect of the FT though is that many sections of the trail cross through land in which hunting is allowed during prime hiking season. The prospect of being target practice turns many hikers away from the FT. In the 2000's, the sections of the trail in the Ocala National Forest gained ill-repute when several campers and hikers were mugged on the trail by drifters. A concerted effort has been made by the forest service to control this problem though.

My dad and I ventured into the Juniper Prairie Wilderness near Lake George and enjoyed a few days of relative solitude, except for the usual crowds at Hidden Pond and Juniper Springs Recreation Area. Dad was particularly interested in reports from other hikers concerning a gathering of Rainbow People up north in Hopkins Prairie. Several of the younger thru-hikers that we met at Hidden Pond expressed interest in seeing the gathering first hand.

No cell phones beyond this point.

Most long-trails have their share of detractors so it is unfair to lambast the FT, particularly because it is a treasure of our state's natural heritage, one which is graciously cared for by a legion of devoted volunteers. A long weekend spent following the orange blazes through the explosions of palmetto will not soon be forgotten. There is a unique and personal joy in traversing through one's home state by foot and I can easily see the charm of such an idea.

I suffered much debate over traversing the FT's approximately 1400 miles. But the experience lacked something for me. Staying within a single state for the length of the hike seemed anti-climatic, in a strange sort of way. Plus--

Who can resist the call of the mountains?!

The Appalachian Trail is a federally protected footpath, closed to all but those who travel by their own two legs (this includes horses, though it didn't always). The trail is specifically designed for hikers. Water sources and shelters are relatively frequent. Road crossings (important difference from road walks) and trail towns for resupply are also frequent, allowing the hiker to carry less supplies than someone thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail or the Continental Divide trail, in which resupplies sometimes aren't for a week or more.

The AT is heavily used, with usage statistics growing each year. Still, the failure percentage for thru-hikers is remarkably high—a testament to the trail's difficulty. An example: from 1930 to 1960 (keeping in mind that trail construction began in 1925), only 22 people are recorded to have thru-hiked. In 2012, 508 completed the trail out of the approximately 2500 who left from Springer Mountain.

Despite the numbers, it isn't uncommon to go days without seeing another human.

Some might hear these facts and shudder with primal fear—alone...in the woods...for...days?! Is this guy crazy?

Perhaps.