Other Travels
Back in 1982 I hiked the Appalachian Trail from end (Georgia) to end (Maine), one of the genuine highlights of my life. I kept extensive journals during my hike, and if you follow the links below, you can read excerpts from those journals.
The Appalachian Trail winds through 14 states, from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine. It passes through eight National Forests, two National Parks and some of the most beautiful scenery east of the Mississippi River.
The highest point is 6,643 feet on Clingman's Dome, which straddles the N.C.-Tenn. border in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The lowest is 50 feet, where the Bear Mountain Bridge crosses the Hudson River in New York State.
The total route is more than 2,000 miles, and those who do the whole thing end-to-end (through-hikers) normally take 4-6 months to do it. It took me five months and one week -- April 3 to Sept. 10.
This map of the AT route is by kind permission of Kathy Bilton, who has the single best Appalachian Trail web page I've seen. For a few other web pages about the AT, click on the graphic at the lower left of this page, which will take you to a list of the top 50 AT pages around, including this one.
Now, if you'd like to know more about my own experiences on the AT, click on a trail section on this map to take a look at excerpts from the journals I kept along the way. Or, select from this list:
- AT Journals Part 1 : Excerpts from April and May, in Georgia and Virginia.
- AT Journals Part 2 : Excerpts from June and July, in Pennsylvania and New York.
- AT Journals Part 3 : Excerpts from July and August, in New England.
- AT Journals Part 4: Excerpts from August and September, Maine.
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