Where Is Everyone on the Appalachian Trail?

I am tracking nine thru-hikers on the trail right now with at least four more to join them before the month of over. One, Genesis, started in West Virginia and is hiking north through Pennsylvania. He posts sporadically and as of February 18^th, he had hiked about 79 miles. To help give you a visual on the journeys of the rest of the gang, I constructed the following table. The first column is an indicator of the first 200 miles of the AT. The second column is the miles hiked by a particular thru-hiker; the third is the name of the hiker; the fourth is the destination of each hiker on February 22; the last column is the date that each hiker began his adventure. (The last post by Hard Knocks was made on February 20 so he is, most likely, pushing his way through the Smoky Mountains where cell phone coverage is scarce.)

Miles Miles Hiked Hiker Destination Start Date 0 12.3 Sour Kraut Cooper Gap 2/21   15.8 Chip Tillson Gooch Mt. 2/20             31.7 Class Act Neel Gap 2/18           50                     69.9 Bamadog Dick’s Creek 2/15                     100           106 Zin Master Rock Gap 1/23   114 Vagabond Jack Silar Bald 2/1                     150                     164.7 Opa Fontana Dam 2/10                     200 199.1 Hard Knocks Clingman’s Dome 1/31

Four individuals were supposed to begin the hike since my last post. One hiker, Rogue Patriot was delayed waiting on his new tent to arrive in the mail. He hopes to hit the trail this Monday, February 26.  However, three others have officially joined the class of 2018.

Class Act

Class Act (Alan Conlon) began his adventure on February 18 and has hiked about 32 miles on the AT. He is a retired physician but is not a stranger to the trail. He took a leave of absence in 2014 (I did not meet him on the trail) to attempt a thru-hike. He completed 554 miles before an injury ended his hike. He is beginning his 2018 hike by utilizing a timeshare in Helen, GA. His wife is helping him slackpack along the way. He hiked 8.1 miles on day one; 7.6 on day two; and then 4.8 on day three having trekked over both the Sassafras and Justus Mountains and then meeting his wife at Woody Gap. They spent a zero-day together on the 21^st in Dahlonega and then he hiked to Neel Gap on Thursday before his wife picked him up about 5:30.

Chip Tillson

On February 20, 2018, Chip Tillson (no trail, yet) hiked the approach trail from Amicalola Falls (8.1 miles to Springer Mountain) Unfortunately this mileage is on an approach trail and does not count as AT miles. Day two lead him 7.6 miles to Hawk Mountain Shelter. Day Three ended a Gooch Mountain after another 7+ mile day. I don’t know much about Chip background (hometown, age, or vocation) He mentions a special girl, Joyce, that I am assuming is his wife and his initial picture has a young man on his shoulders which looks like a son or a maybe a grandson.

Sour Kraut

Sour Kraut (Tim Pfeiffer) is the newest member of the cohort who started this past Wednesday, February 21. Sour Kraut hiked the approach trail as well so day one was only 0.3 miles on the AT. On day two he met a 70-year-old hiker, Dane, aka OG- old guy. He motivated Sour Kraut to hike up and over Sassafras Mountain and log in a 12-mile day. He ran into his first taste of trail blessing provided by “Snap” who offered fresh veggies and hummus. Sour Kraut is well on his way.

Zin Master

To quickly update the adventures of the others let me just give an insight from each. The chart above will tell you where they are. Zin Master, who was off-trail for over 2 weeks with blisters was hiked over 12 miles on two different days in the past week. He shares in his journal, “my feet have remained blister free now for 57 miles since I restarted…. If possible during the day I stop, change into dry socks and make any necessary adjustments to my taping. I’ve noticed the new boots becoming more and more comfortable as time goes on and hope the break in period is about over.”

Hard Knocks (still no photo), who started on January 31, is hiking very strong. He is somewhere in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It has been several days since a post but on February 20, he was at Clingman’s Dome and the 200-mile mark of the trail.

Vagabond Jack

Vagabond Jack, continues to make progress. He is logging less than 10 miles per day, but he seems to be enjoying his adventure. On Thursday, Jack got a late start (11:30) and only covered 4.6 miles. But he also experienced part of the power of the trail, “As the trail passes near Siler Bald [his destination for the day], it enters what appears to be a pasture. A side trail to the left climbs to the top of the Bald, where camping is allowed. It’s a rather steep climb to the top; similar to walking up a ski slope. But the climb is more than worth it. I’m so glad I decided to make the journey, arriving about 4:00. I was blown away by the views from the top. Finally, I was on a mountain without it being covered in fog!”

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Four Horsemen -Opa on far left

Opa is putting in some nice mileage each day. He has found three other hiking buddies (Night Train, Jeep, and Captain Blackbeard) and they are calling themselves the four horsemen. “Each of us (the Four Horsemen) hikes at our own pace so we are scattered during the course of the day while hiking, but we have an agreed upon end of day destination.” They are taking a zero-day at Fontana Dam getting ready for the hike through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Bamadog

Bamadog is making good progress although his journal is rather sketchy and short. He seems to enjoy finding stealth (unmarked) campsites so it is not easy to discern where he is along the trail He stayed at a hostel (Top of Georgia) on February 21 just a few miles from Dick’s Creek Gap. He shares, “Took a nero. It was a good chance to dry out wet gear and get a good meal.I will be in North Carolina tomorrow God willing!”

Vagabond Jack Headed North

View from Sassafras Mt.

After hiking on the Appalachian Trail for two days and covering 8.6 miles of the trail, Vagabond Jack took two zero days (rest days – not hiking at all) in Dahlonega, Georgia, avoiding some wintry weather. On Monday, 2/5/18, Jack got back on the trail where he left off at Hightower Gap. The shuttle driver dropped Vagabond Jack about 9:15 on this cold and windy day. He climbed up and over Sassafras Mountain, a nice introduction to the climbs in northern Georgia. He was not surprised by the challenge as Jack has experienced several of the mountains in the Smokies this past summer. Monday’s hike ended at Gooch Mountain Shelter just before 3:00. He completed his 7.2-mile trek in under six hours

Tuesday (2/6/18) brought a 12.1-mile trail to Vagabond Jack’s agenda. The goal was to walk to Wood’s Hole Shelter, only 4 miles from Neel Gap and civilization. He was hoping to be on the trail by 8:00 but his need for some added sleep delayed his start by 45 minutes. He was 5.2 miles down the trail by noon when arrived at Woody Gap and State Route 60. It was here that he experienced his first Trail Magic (what I would prefer to call Trail Blessings). A young man hopped out of a car and asked Jack if he was a thru-hiker. He handed Jack a banana and some words of encouragement.

Preaching Rock

Jack continued down the path and was rewarded when he reached Preaching Rock with beautiful views of some the valleys and mountains of the AT in Georgia. About 3:00, he arrived at Lance Creek campground with another 4 miles to Woods Hole Shelter. Rain was predicted for early evening but had not started at 3:00. He did not want to set up or tear down his tent in the rain, so he decided to continue to the shelter. He arrived about 5:45 and the rain was still just a threat in the evening sky. He made himself comfortable in the shelter realizing that he was the only one there. He went to sleep knowing that he was only four miles to Neel Gap, but also aware that he would need to summit Blood Mountain on the way.

Vagabond Jack woke up to rain on Wednesday morning. Knowing that he had a short hike into Neel Gap, he decided to wait for a while hoping that the rain would calm down. About 10:30 the strength of the rain began to weaken and by 11:00 Vagabond Jack was on the trail. Blood Mountain is the real deal. It is a challenge to climb, but it presents a more dangerous descent. It was foggy and misty as Vagabond Jack made his way up and over the summit. The large, rain-slickened rocks demanded the use of his hands to maneuver down the steep sheets of rock.

He was tired and thirsty when he walked into Mountain Crossing, the outfitters at Neel Gap. It was about 3:30 so he bought some food, grabbed a coke and caught a ride to Blairsville, Georgia, about 14 miles away. He checked into the Season’s Motel and took a long hot shower. He is taking a zero-day in Blairsville on Thursday and should be back on the trail on Friday.