I did a section of the trail with a level of danger much greater than I want. I'm both angry about the lack of warnings and relieved to to have done it safely. I had even thought about walking off the trail I was so angry. However, there should only another 70 miles of this crazy stuff.
What happened was a landslide took out part of the trail leaving slick sloping muddy rock with a drop off at the edge. A thunderstorm developed after I left the last shelter. I was within a couple miles of a road and wanted to go to Andover to resupply. The best way to minimize my exposure to the lightning was to move quickly and get off the mountain.
The trail was a very steep incline up with several places with wooden and rebar ladders. At one point, a landslide took out the trail leaving a sloping and slick rock surface to cross. My options as I saw them at the time were to cross the landslide area to get out of the lightning as quickly as possible or walk 10 miles back to the last road.
I wanted to get out of the lightning so I crossed the landslide area. If I slipped, I would likely have fallen off the edge and dropped about 10 feet. The fall would not likely have killed me, but I doubt I could have continued on the trail. Bones would have snapped.
What made me really angry was the sign on the north side of the mountain warning people of the danger. A sign should have been posted at the last road south so that people would have the option of skipping this section. I was so angry with the trail people for not posting a second sign that I wanted to walk off the trail for good. Posting one sign is like warning people on only one side of a bridge that is out. This is not why I'm here. If I wanted to rock climb, I would have brought a rope and climbing gear. I do not want to take this level of risk.
This section of the trail has the most dangerous stuff than any other portion of the trail. There is often little attempt to make the trail walkable. The trail goes straight up and down mountains. If the bedrock is a smooth steeply sloped surface, it doesn't matter. The trail goes right up and over the mountains with no attempt to make it walkable.
There is a difference between physically difficult and physically dangerous. Several places in the trail have rebar ladders. More sections need rebar ladders or wooden ladders. Maybe Boomer can tell us how much effort is required to install climbing bolts. I would think that while this might take some time, rebar or wooden ladders would really help in places.
I met Brian today on his way back on the second portion of his yoyo. I first met him on Blood Mountain when Sonic and I were driven from the mountain by those unruly kids. It sounds like his hike is going well. He is dating Liz who stayed at the first hostile with Sonic and I.
I met a section hiker today who tried to tell me the last 20% of the trail takes 80% of the effort. I tried to tell him that if that were really true, then all of us Northbounders would only be doing 4 or 5 mile days. We are putting in the same level of effort we did over much of the trail, but that effort is only getting us about 75% of the miles we did in the middle states. We were not in good enough shape at the beginning to compare those miles. I think the Southern states took just as much effort as New Hampshere and Maine, but without as much danger and spread out over more miles. He also did not think there was any dangerous sections of the trail except in NH and ME, but those were the only sections he hiked.
I'm staying at a hostile in Andover. I'm getting good at hitching. A couple of guys in a pickup picked me up. I was very wet on a road with very little traffic. My cell phone had no signal and it was 9 miles to Andover. I was wondering how the day would end.
What happened was a landslide took out part of the trail leaving slick sloping muddy rock with a drop off at the edge. A thunderstorm developed after I left the last shelter. I was within a couple miles of a road and wanted to go to Andover to resupply. The best way to minimize my exposure to the lightning was to move quickly and get off the mountain.
The trail was a very steep incline up with several places with wooden and rebar ladders. At one point, a landslide took out the trail leaving a sloping and slick rock surface to cross. My options as I saw them at the time were to cross the landslide area to get out of the lightning as quickly as possible or walk 10 miles back to the last road.
I wanted to get out of the lightning so I crossed the landslide area. If I slipped, I would likely have fallen off the edge and dropped about 10 feet. The fall would not likely have killed me, but I doubt I could have continued on the trail. Bones would have snapped.
What made me really angry was the sign on the north side of the mountain warning people of the danger. A sign should have been posted at the last road south so that people would have the option of skipping this section. I was so angry with the trail people for not posting a second sign that I wanted to walk off the trail for good. Posting one sign is like warning people on only one side of a bridge that is out. This is not why I'm here. If I wanted to rock climb, I would have brought a rope and climbing gear. I do not want to take this level of risk.
This section of the trail has the most dangerous stuff than any other portion of the trail. There is often little attempt to make the trail walkable. The trail goes straight up and down mountains. If the bedrock is a smooth steeply sloped surface, it doesn't matter. The trail goes right up and over the mountains with no attempt to make it walkable.
There is a difference between physically difficult and physically dangerous. Several places in the trail have rebar ladders. More sections need rebar ladders or wooden ladders. Maybe Boomer can tell us how much effort is required to install climbing bolts. I would think that while this might take some time, rebar or wooden ladders would really help in places.
I met Brian today on his way back on the second portion of his yoyo. I first met him on Blood Mountain when Sonic and I were driven from the mountain by those unruly kids. It sounds like his hike is going well. He is dating Liz who stayed at the first hostile with Sonic and I.
I met a section hiker today who tried to tell me the last 20% of the trail takes 80% of the effort. I tried to tell him that if that were really true, then all of us Northbounders would only be doing 4 or 5 mile days. We are putting in the same level of effort we did over much of the trail, but that effort is only getting us about 75% of the miles we did in the middle states. We were not in good enough shape at the beginning to compare those miles. I think the Southern states took just as much effort as New Hampshere and Maine, but without as much danger and spread out over more miles. He also did not think there was any dangerous sections of the trail except in NH and ME, but those were the only sections he hiked.
I'm staying at a hostile in Andover. I'm getting good at hitching. A couple of guys in a pickup picked me up. I was very wet on a road with very little traffic. My cell phone had no signal and it was 9 miles to Andover. I was wondering how the day would end.
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