MetaFilter posts tagged with hiking

The First Thru-HIker

Miko — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:28:48 -0800

In 1948, WWII veteran Earl Shaffer decided to "walk the Army out of his system" by hiking the full length of the Appalachian Trail, Georgia to Maine, in one season. At the time, no one had attempted it, and the Appalachian Trail Conference didn't think it could be done. Not only did he complete it, setting the standard for generations of thru-hikers to follow, but he did the walk twice more in his life, the last time at the age of 79.

How To Find Yourself In One Easy Step

scrump — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:33:44 -0800

Approximately two years ago, James Kim died after he and his family were stranded, snowbound, in their car on the Oregon coast (Previously, previously, and (selflink) previously). But what if he'd had a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB)? PLBs are a subset of emergency locator transmitters, which have been in mandatory use on aircraft since 1973. Somewhat more recently, Mo Nickels posted in 2001 on the COSPAS-SARSAT program. Founded in 1982, it's still going strong twenty-six years later, as you can read in their reports on rescues. In 2003, PLBs became available for nationwide civilian use: prior to that time, only Alaskans could use them. According to ACR, a major PLB manufacturer, PLB use has exploded since the Kim tragedy in 2006. As of October, 2008, NOAA credits emergency beacons with helping to save almost six thousand people in the US and over twenty-four thousand people worldwide, including 236 people so far this year. You can rent them, you can buy them, and, most importantly, you can find out how well they work from the gearheads at Equipped.org. Finally, if you already own a PLB, you can register yours with NOAA.

"We were on our own resources and we knew it. And that's what this business is all about."

A dead Quaker — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:52:27 -0800

So you've finished hiking the Appalachian Trail, just came down from Mount Katahdin, and you're wondering what to do now. Well, there's always the International AT, which goes through the Chic-Choc Mountains on the Gaspé Peninsula before crossing over to Newfoundland. Then you'd have hiked the tallest mountains in Quebec, right? Wrong. 800 miles to the north, on the border of Quebec and Newfoundland, lie the Torngats. The name "Torngat" comes from the local Inuit for "spirits". The tallest of them, Mount Caubvick/Mont d'Iberville, was first climbed in 1973 by a group of kayakers who paddled up the Labrador coast, trekked 40 miles inland looking for runnable streams, and finding none decided to climb some of the mountains. To protect (slightly) against the steepness of the climb, they belayed each other using towlines from the kayaks. Of their experience at the summit, one of the hikers, Christopher Goetze, had this to say: "It was 5:00 P.M. when we got to the summit and the air was getting colder. We had nothing to eat and dinner was a long way off. Would bears have cleaned out our campsite while we were gone? ... Perhaps our boats were being destroyed this very minute by some arctic rodents. ... for the moment we put (these thoughts) out of our minds and leaned contentedly against the small cairn we had hastily built. To the east Bruce was a small red speck beyond the minarets. To the northeast we could see the ocean, covered with pack ice to the horizon. North of us were the calm shadowed waters of a large fiord 5,500 feet below us. To the west mountains became gentler, petering out to the ocean again beyond the horizon, while to the south we could follow the route we had walked through the interior rolling lowlands. It was a vast and beautiful land." Other stories and some beautiful pictures are here. Peakbagger.com has some more information about Mount Caubvick.

A Beautiful Place to Die

rollbiz — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:51:15 -0800

"STOP. The area ahead has the worst weather in America. Many have died there from exposure, even in the summer. Turn back now if the weather is bad."

A Boston Globe piece on the White Mountain National Forest, the common disregard for danger of those who hike in it, and the people who often go and get them when things go wrong.

Colin Fletcher, RIP

mosk — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 09:34:07 -0800

Colin Fletcher, hiker and author of The Thousand Mile Summer, The Man Who Walked Through Time, and The Complete Walker series, has died at age 85. LA Times obit.

Bikes + GPS + Geeks = MTBGuru

fenriq — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 23:13:24 -0800

MTBGuru is a new site that enables bikers, hikers and runners to upload GPS info, along with photos and comments, from their routes that get mashed up with Google Maps to create an ever-expanding trail resource. Mostly Bay Area now but that is changing.

Never Hug a Swiss Cow

mr_crash_davis — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 11:47:12 -0800

Keep your distance. Avoid eye contact. And even if it looks cute, never hug a Swiss cow. With helpful warning poster (PDF).

a woman alone on the appalachian trail

jessamyn — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:14:03 -0800

"It’s a cliché among hikers that there are as many ways to hike the trail as there are people who hike it. Most start at Springer Mountain in Georgia and end at Katahdin in Maine; a few start in Maine and head south. Purists walk every 2,167.1 miles of the trail marked by white rectangular blazes painted on the trees. Blue blazers take short cuts on side trails marked with blue. Yellow blazers hitchhike ahead along roads. And then there are the pink blazers. Pink blazers pursue women."

To think I can walk, but don't get up to change the channel

mek — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 16:35:54 -0800

Wheelchair mountaineering: stunning ascents by the seemingly disabled.

Trail Season

borkus — Sun, 29 Feb 2004 09:24:51 -0800

It's that time of year - time for thru-hikers to start the Appalachian Trail! Last year, over 1700 hikers started the hike with only 352 completing the 2,200 mile walk from Springer Mtn, Georgia to Katahdin, Maine. Given that walking the AT takes about six months, most hikers start in March and April so they can finish before winter sets in. With town spread out along the trail, many hikers keep online journals - probably some of the few blogs where what you had for breakfast and what the weather was like make for interesting topics.

Let your feet do the walking!

wells — Thu, 24 Jul 2003 11:53:42 -0800

"We're walking from Chicago to San Francisco. Many have responded with, "You guys are stupid!" Some, on the other hand, have said, "Wow, that's cool!" Either way, we hope you'll keep coming back to see what will happen next in our walking adventures."
Current mileage, photo galleries, and journal entries abound -- and really, when was the last time you walked 627 miles (inside of 60 days)?