two buds of mine started to hike the appalachian

[Pete]

Your confedence is good, I still think its foolish. I'd rather be safe than dead....Read on.......

 

Some facts:

 

A visitor to the A.T. has a one-in-13-to-17-million chance of meeting a violent death.

 

366306[/snapback]

Odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime (Est. 80 years) 1/3000

[Dr. Fong]

Odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime (Est. 80 years) 1/3000

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I've already beat those odds and lived to tell about it. I wonder what the odds of getting struck by lightning and winning the lottery in your lifetime are.

[erynthered]

Odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime (Est. 80 years) 1/3000

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Just like the lottery Pete, you gotta play to win. You're missing the point.

So you get in your car to drive to the store, do you put your seat belt on?

Damn, how old are you bud. think it through.

[Pete]

30,000 Americans died by guns last year. Thats one in 10,000 last year. Seems hiking the AT is alot more safer then walking the streets of America

[erynthered]

30,000 Americans died by guns last year.  Thats one in 10,000 last year.  Seems hiking the AT is alot more safer then walking the streets of America

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Dont look crossing the street either. Chances are you wont be struck by a car.

[Pete]

Dont look crossing the street either. Chances are you wont be struck by a car.

366317[/snapback]

huh? Alright, it makes a difference when you are shot if you look both ways. Great non sequitur logic there.... I would love to carry this debate on but meeting a hottie for a drink. Check back tomorrow. Have a great night and dont shoot anyone please

[ieatcrayonz]

It's $99 for a concealed weapons permit.

[rockpile]

There are more murders and rapes in Rochester, NY.

 

Your confedence is good, I still think its foolish. I'd rather be safe than dead....Read on.......

 

Some facts:

 

A visitor to the A.T. has a one-in-13-to-17-million chance of meeting a violent death.

September 1990—Thru-hikers Molly LaRue, 25, from Shaker Heights, Ohio, and her boyfriend, Geoffrey Hood, 26, from Signal Mountain, Tennessee, were killed as they woke up at a shelter just off the Trail south of Duncannon, Pa., by fugitive P. David Crews (now under death sentence in Pennsylvania). She was stabbed to death; he was shot. Crews, carrying some of their gear and spotted by a hiker, was arrested eight days later by National Park Service rangers on the A.T. bridge above the Potomac River from Maryland into West Virginia. The shelter has been replaced.

 

May 1988—Hikers Rebecca Wight (of Blacksburg, Virginia), 29, and Claudia Brenner, 31, of Ithaca, New York, were camping for a few days in Michaux State Forest in south-central Pennsylvania when Stephen Roy Carr, a fugitive who literally lived under a rock in the bordering woods, encountered them. He proceeded to stalk them as they moved their campsite to a spot off a side trail and shot at them with a rifle from the woods. Ms. Wight died at the scene, but Ms. Brenner, despite several wounds, managed to escape to safety and alerted authorities. Carr was arrested about 10 days after the crime and sentenced to life in prison, where he remains.

 

May 1981—Thru-hikers Susan Ramsey and Robert Mountford, both from Ellsworth, Maine, and 27, were killed near a shelter in southwest Virginia, 20 miles from Pearisburg, during the night, by Randall Lee Smith, who pleaded guilty to lesser charges and was paroled by Virginia in September 1996. Mr. Mountford was shot at the shelter, and Ms. Ramsey was stabbed to death a short distance away. Although he had made an effort to hide the bodies, Smith was arrested and charged within a matter of weeks.

 

April 1975—Thru-hiker Janice Balza, 22, of Madison, Wisconsin, was killed by a hatchet wielded by hiker/tree surgeon Paul Bigley, 51, after breakfast at a shelter in northeast Tennessee. He died in state prison in Nashville. He killed her for her pack, a brand he coveted, testimony revealed.

 

May 1974—Joel Polsom, 26, of Hartsville, South Carolina, was killed at a shelter in Georgia by Michigan fugitive Ralph Fox, who continued to walk south and then caught a bus to Atlanta, where he was arrested. Our records do not have further details on this case or Fox's sentence.

 

Those are the only murders of A.T. hikers—either on the Trail or as a result of an encounter on the Trail—of which ATC is aware. Other murders, of hikers and others, have occurred in the national and state parks and forests through which the A.T. passes, but away from the Trail and any Trail-related activity.

 

In 1996, some news outlets erroneously reported that two “Appalachian Trail hikers,” Julianne Williams and Lollie Winans, were murdered in Shenandoah National Park. The victims, who were murdered in the park, had not been backpacking on the A.T. but instead had planned a week of walks on side trails there. As the crow flies, the campsite at which their bodies were found was about 150 feet from the A.T. — where it bumps up against Skyline Drive at the Skyland lodge parking area — but much farther away by foot on trails. Their deaths did rock the A.T. community, and investigators spent many hours interviewing long-distance hikers in the following weeks, but otherwise that crime has not been connected to the Trail or A.T. hikers.

 

What about Rape?

The frequency of reported rape on the Appalachian Trail is about the same as the murder rate, but this is perhaps the most underreported of violent crimes anywhere.

 

The last reported rape, of a woman alone on a two-week backpacking trip, was in the spring of 1998 in southern Pennsylvania; a suspect arrested a week later was acquitted the following year. The first reported, and most horrific, was in June 1978 when a group of four high-school girls from North Carolina on a two-week camping trip to the Trail in northeastern Tennessee was attacked over the course of several hours by five or six local men, who were imprisoned for a while but later continued to compile criminal records. One of the survivors thru-hiked the A.T. more than two decades later. The Trail has been relocated away from the area.

 

Other Crimes

Trail relocations over the past 15 to 20 years have reduced, if not eliminated, incidences of roadside harassment of hikers, often a problem in the 1970s. Assaults are extremely infrequent. Occasionally, thefts of packs are reported. The most frequented reported crime associated with the Trail is vandalism of hikers' parked cars in certain isolated areas; we try to note areas of reports.

 

:

 

Trust your gut. Always.

Happy trails!!

366306[/snapback]

[nuklz2594]

Your confedence is good, I still think its foolish. I'd rather be safe than dead....Read on.......

 

Some facts:

 

A visitor to the A.T. has a one-in-13-to-17-million chance of meeting a violent death.

September 1990—Thru-hikers Molly LaRue, 25, from Shaker Heights, Ohio, and her boyfriend, Geoffrey Hood, 26, from Signal Mountain, Tennessee, were killed as they woke up at a shelter just off the Trail south of Duncannon, Pa., by fugitive P. David Crews (now under death sentence in Pennsylvania). She was stabbed to death; he was shot. Crews, carrying some of their gear and spotted by a hiker, was arrested eight days later by National Park Service rangers on the A.T. bridge above the Potomac River from Maryland into West Virginia. The shelter has been replaced.

 

May 1988—Hikers Rebecca Wight (of Blacksburg, Virginia), 29, and Claudia Brenner, 31, of Ithaca, New York, were camping for a few days in Michaux State Forest in south-central Pennsylvania when Stephen Roy Carr, a fugitive who literally lived under a rock in the bordering woods, encountered them. He proceeded to stalk them as they moved their campsite to a spot off a side trail and shot at them with a rifle from the woods. Ms. Wight died at the scene, but Ms. Brenner, despite several wounds, managed to escape to safety and alerted authorities. Carr was arrested about 10 days after the crime and sentenced to life in prison, where he remains.

 

May 1981—Thru-hikers Susan Ramsey and Robert Mountford, both from Ellsworth, Maine, and 27, were killed near a shelter in southwest Virginia, 20 miles from Pearisburg, during the night, by Randall Lee Smith, who pleaded guilty to lesser charges and was paroled by Virginia in September 1996. Mr. Mountford was shot at the shelter, and Ms. Ramsey was stabbed to death a short distance away. Although he had made an effort to hide the bodies, Smith was arrested and charged within a matter of weeks.

 

April 1975—Thru-hiker Janice Balza, 22, of Madison, Wisconsin, was killed by a hatchet wielded by hiker/tree surgeon Paul Bigley, 51, after breakfast at a shelter in northeast Tennessee. He died in state prison in Nashville. He killed her for her pack, a brand he coveted, testimony revealed.

 

May 1974—Joel Polsom, 26, of Hartsville, South Carolina, was killed at a shelter in Georgia by Michigan fugitive Ralph Fox, who continued to walk south and then caught a bus to Atlanta, where he was arrested. Our records do not have further details on this case or Fox's sentence.

 

Those are the only murders of A.T. hikers—either on the Trail or as a result of an encounter on the Trail—of which ATC is aware. Other murders, of hikers and others, have occurred in the national and state parks and forests through which the A.T. passes, but away from the Trail and any Trail-related activity.

 

In 1996, some news outlets erroneously reported that two “Appalachian Trail hikers,” Julianne Williams and Lollie Winans, were murdered in Shenandoah National Park. The victims, who were murdered in the park, had not been backpacking on the A.T. but instead had planned a week of walks on side trails there. As the crow flies, the campsite at which their bodies were found was about 150 feet from the A.T. — where it bumps up against Skyline Drive at the Skyland lodge parking area — but much farther away by foot on trails. Their deaths did rock the A.T. community, and investigators spent many hours interviewing long-distance hikers in the following weeks, but otherwise that crime has not been connected to the Trail or A.T. hikers.

 

What about Rape?

The frequency of reported rape on the Appalachian Trail is about the same as the murder rate, but this is perhaps the most underreported of violent crimes anywhere.

 

The last reported rape, of a woman alone on a two-week backpacking trip, was in the spring of 1998 in southern Pennsylvania; a suspect arrested a week later was acquitted the following year. The first reported, and most horrific, was in June 1978 when a group of four high-school girls from North Carolina on a two-week camping trip to the Trail in northeastern Tennessee was attacked over the course of several hours by five or six local men, who were imprisoned for a while but later continued to compile criminal records. One of the survivors thru-hiked the A.T. more than two decades later. The Trail has been relocated away from the area.

 

Other Crimes

Trail relocations over the past 15 to 20 years have reduced, if not eliminated, incidences of roadside harassment of hikers, often a problem in the 1970s. Assaults are extremely infrequent. Occasionally, thefts of packs are reported. The most frequented reported crime associated with the Trail is vandalism of hikers' parked cars in certain isolated areas; we try to note areas of reports.

 

:

 

Trust your gut. Always.

Happy trails!!

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[nuklz2594]

I live in Maine and not too far from the AP Trail. Use common sense when out in the woods. Never travel alone. Have an agenda or schedule for checkpoints. I hike all along the trail in Maine etc...I bring my dog(doberman), hiking stick, canteen, carb bars, and a hunting knife. Just common sense. If you go camping you need the proper gear and experience. The statistics you have shown need to be taken with a grain of salt. If you want a real adventure go wonder around the Bronx or Brooklyn or be a real thrillseeker and wander around Central Park. More people meet disaster in the city than ever will on the AP Trail.

By the way I was born and bred in New York--Rochester. Was stationed in Louisiana. Mardi Gras is fun, but very unsafe.

That's my two cents.

[rockpile]

Back in 1973, me and a buddy walked about 90 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Vermont (Green Mountains) in nine days. It was in May and we were walking north. Everything we needed was in our packs, which weighed about 45-50 pounds.. You learn fast to eat the heaviest food first.

 

It was warm enough by day but cold at night. Mostly we spent our nights in three wall lean-to shelters. We used to keep our canteens inside our sleeping bags because if we left them in our packs the water would freeze.

 

We had wanted to walk all the way to Katahdin, but I ran out of money and my gear was not really meant for winter camping. So, when we got to Rutland, VT and heard that Memorial Day was a ski weekend in Killington, I was done. I used the last of my money to get a bus to NY City (my buddy kept going another 100 miles) and I called friends from the Port Authority to come get me. What a change that was -from the wilds of the mountains to the wilds of the city in a day.

 

Our warm up hike was three days in the Allegheney National Forest. Some friends dropped us off with backpacks, geodesic survey maps, and compasses. We walked about 25-30 miles in a few days and hitch hiked home from Bradford, PA.

 

Another time I did about 15 miles of the AT in New Hampshire, starting at Mt. Liberty. The Old Man in the Mountain is near there. It is a great feeling to be hiking above tree line with Mt. Washington visible (I think) about 70 miles away.

 

A Walk in the Woods is a very accurate book on the joys and pain of backpacking, from an honest personal perspective. There is a zone you have to get into to backpack. Getting the "real" world out of your system takes 2-3 days.

 

I still hike, but the Adirondacks and day hiking is all I can handle. F*ckng MS sucks sometimes.

 

Good luck to your friends. If they are still walking a month from now they have a good shot at making it. Maine, the White Mountains of NH and then the Green Mountains are a very ambitious start! The Presidential Range is a ball buster.

 

 

They camped out of the base of Mount Katahdin yesterday, hiked up it today then head south.  For those of you that dont know the The Appalachian trail is 2,167 miles long and runs from Maine to Georgia.  The trail goes thru mostly the highest part of all 13 states it runs through and it will probably take them 4-5 months.  Other great trails in this country are the Long Trail, Pacific Coast Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail.  I would love to do any of them but time is too short.  Good luck to my buddys- I hope they make it all the way!

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[nuklz2594]

In New Hampshire, The Old Man In The Mountain---rock formation is gone. It sheared off and went splat, 2003, I believe. The mosquitoes are brutal but the black flies are the real pain in the ass. The Maine slogan--"Black flies don't bite, they suck." Mt. Washington isn't the highest mountain on the planet, but has some of the worst weather. The mountain is under 7000 feet. It is the highest peak in the entire northeast. Climbers train on it before taking on Mt. Everest. Mt. Washington has the highest recorded wind speed in history. The wind speed was over 231 mph in 1931!! This is no b.s. It is still a record to this day. The temp. difference is typically 40-50 degrees cooler on top than on the bottom. For more info on "The Rock Pile" go to

www.mountwashington.org or www.mountwashington.com

Right now the temp on top is 46, winds are 30 mph, with gusts over 35 mph. That comes to a wind chill of 32. People go up there unprepared and have to be rescued. In winter there are avalanches in places like Crawford's Notch and Tuckerman's Ravine.

Just a tidbit from a Bills sufferer in Maine.

The Bills are due, hell the Red Sox won the world series.

[macdaddy]

Make all the jokes you want. Thats a tough trek. A 45 is not a bad idea, no?

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Not a bad idea if you want 1 year mandatory in the Mass State Pen for an unliscened gun.

[Alaska Darin]

You also get snake bites every other turn...

366251[/snapback]

That's why God created the .410.

[Reuben Gant]

Odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime (Est. 80 years) 1/3000

366309[/snapback]

 

But if you were really trying to get hit by lightening, I bet your odds would be much better.