Appalachian Trail, USA A WALK IN THE WOODS Want to experience the Appalachian Trail but don’t have time to hike it all? Forget the backpack and blisters – grab a car, turn on the cruise control and check out the best bits in just two weeks... WORDS PHOEBE SMITH PHOTOGRAPHS NEIL S PRICE New York state of mind From the top of Bear Mountain, the AT continues on for over a thousand miles Appalachian Trail, USA Books, Bryson and boots... Reading up on Bill Bryson’s route at Amicalola Falls Lodge (far left) where many walkers sign in with Interpretive Manager Heather Wilson (bottom left); the sign on Springer Mountain that marks the start of the AT for walkers heading north (the most common direction); blown-out boots hang in the tree at Mountain Crossings; (right) the only way to tackle the AT is on foot... or is it? fter the first the time most northbound walkers have is too large an undertaking and decides week my feet reached this point, they’ll have hiked all the instead to do prime chunks of it), I’d already had grown way from Georgia, over 2,000 miles, for the hired a car to drive the length of the trail from a size best part of 5-6 months, across 14 US states. instead, cherry picking the main highlights “ eight to a size Gone are the niceties of breakfast-appropriate to explore on foot as I went. 11,” declared small talk; by this stage, nothing is off limits. “Sounds like a good idea to me,” agreed the girl – And even if it doesn’t put you off your Tom Lamb, member of the Georgia ‘Using Bryson’s travel known pancakes, it’s more than enough to make Appalachian Trail Club, as we hiked unsurprisingly any sane person vow never to thru-hike one together up Springer Mountain, the trail’s classic, A Walk in the as Superfeet – over breakfast. “They were so of American’s oldest long-distance paths. southern terminus, on the first day of my swollen and purple that it wasn’t new boots AT journey. Tom began walking the trail Woods, as inspiration AI needed, it was clown shoes,” she happily Only 2,180 miles to go… with his son Murray back in 2004, starting continued as most of the other diners Thankfully blisters weren’t something I had at the northern end on Katahdin mountain I decided to drive the slowed their chewing. “And the blisters…” to worry about. I had already decided that in Maine. He put in over 100 miles and At this point the man next to me dropped walking that kind of distance was way 28 days but then decided to come home. “It 2,180mile length of the the egg on his fork and made an excuse to beyond my capabilities, my budget and – became a job,” he explained. “You’re under leave the table. more crucially – my annual leave allocation. time constraints and have to do the same trail, cherry picking the Such is the conversation around the table Instead, using Bill Bryson’s travel classic thing every day no matter how you feel. main highlights to of a hikers’ hostel along the Appalachian A Walk in the Woods as my inspiration (in Doing it in sections is much more fun – you Trail. Especially here in Monson, Maine. By which he decides, three states in, that the AT can actually enjoy the experience.” ⊲ explore on foot as I went’ 28 | Wanderlust October 2015 Appalachian Trail, USA Wild woods (clockwise) The stone summit shelter on the ominously named Blood Mountain, Georgia; the hikers’ nickname for the Appalachian Trail is the ‘green tunnel’ and it’s easy to see why; the highest point of the trail is Clingman’s Dome, in the Smokies; a pileated woodpecker chows down; a black bear in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia ‘Lacing up my boots I hit the trail and within five steps from the car park I had left the road and been swallowed up by trees’ ⊳ We were certainly doing that now. 3,000 or so thru-hikers who start each year, steps I had left the road and been swallowed where it constantly crosses between North Hot Springs – the first time I saw a map of Sunset rosé), breweries (whose trucks offer Whereas most thru-hikers have to start at only 25% finish. This was underlined at my up by trees. The AT is known as the ‘green Carolina and Tennessee. As I arrived, a the entire route – I realised I wasn’t even lifts to beer-deprived thru-hikers) and a top the more accessible Amicalola Falls State next stop, 30 miles north: a hostel and gear tunnel’ as most of the route leads under thunderstorm blew in. The rain hammered a quarter of the way through. If I wanted to coffee shop (Mojoe’s), Damascus is known as Park and hike an 8.5 mile approach trail shop called Mountain Crossings. Located branches; when the canopy parts to show on the hot tarmac with such ferocity that finish this, I would need to pick up the pace. the friendliest town on the trail. So it wasn’t before they even reach the official start of on the first proper road to cross the AT, it open sky hikers get very excited. And I did the road itself started to steam. When it Before I left town, though, I stopped at surprising when I met a master brewer who the route, we had made use of an unpaved offers an easy escape route for those who’ve too when, from the top of Blood Mountain, eased I swapped tyres for trail once more Sunnybank Inn, one of the oldest hiker told me he’d decided to stop thru-hiking forestry road to take us almost within already had enough. I arrived to find boots I had a view over the forest that seemed to and hiked up Clingman’s Dome – the hostels on the trail. It’s run by Elmer Hall, three years ago and settle down here. a mile of Springer’s summit. We strolled, in dangling from the tree branches and stretch on forever. highest point on the whole AT – just in who walked the AT in 1976. “The biggest He’s not the only one to find a place he no particular hurry, with small, light a noticeboard plastered with shuttle time to see the mountains before they change has been in numbers,” he explained loves via the trail. The next day I hiked up to daypacks on our backs. Cicadas hummed, company adverts offering to rescue hikers Picking up the pace disappeared into the darkening sky. as he creaked in a rocking chair on the perhaps the most iconic landmark on the AT a refreshing breeze tickled my neck, and from months of misery. Back in the car, I drove into North Carolina Leaving the Smokies a funny thing porch, wafting away flies with his hand. – McAfee Knob – with Andrew Downs. slices of sunlight broke through the leaves “We do get lots of drop outs here,” said and stopped at Nantahala Outdoor Center. happens. Suddenly you’re not in the woods “Back then there were only a handful of us After thru-hiking several years ago, Andrew and fragmented on the forest floor as Jason Hulsey, one of the live-in staff, who Here, in the hot summer sunshine, people anymore, but in a sprawling jungle of neon doing it; maybe 30 people finished. We did opted not only to move closer to the path though bouncing off a disco ball. has thru-hiked the trail. “Some of the boots were drifting down the river in inflatable lights and concrete buildings: Gatlinburg. it for the solitude, to be alone with nature, but got a job at the Appalachian Trail At the top a simple plaque informs you in the tree are from people who gave up, tubes and restaurants bulged with hikers This was where Bryson realised just how now it’s much more of a social thing.” Conservancy, the organisation responsible that thousands of miles of trail lie ahead, but inside we hang the boots of those who drinking beer, aptly brewed in Bryson City, long the AT is, and concluded he couldn’t for maintaining it. each marked by a rectangular white blaze. made it all the way – like a hall of fame.” while dangling their tired feet in the water. do the whole thing as a thru-hike. By now, Living vicariously This theme continued in Shenandoah Navigationally the AT isn’t too technical Eager to get some more boot-miles in After crossing Fontana Dam, the trail I was on day four and felt like I’d made The trail doesn’t get more social than my National Park where – while watching an undertaking, but that doesn’t mean that myself, I laced mine up and hit the trail, leaves the road and heads into the trees of a good dent in the mileage; however, next stop – Damascus, Virginia. Home to a black bear mooching along just metres in people don’t drop out; statistically, of the bound for Blood Mountain. Within five Great Smoky Mountains National Park, a few hours later in the small town of winemakers (who produce an Appalachian front of me – I met a ranger called Woody. ⊲ 30 | Wanderlust October 2015 Wanderlust October 2015 | 31 Appalachian Trail, USA ‘I had become a trail junkie – getting excited by every white blaze I spotted from behind the wheel, eager to pull over to tread parts of the pathway’ Meet the Thru-Hikers Every year around 3,000 people start on the Appalachian Trail intending to thru-hike it, only 1 in 4 will complete it.