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Off Topic Area => Other Hobbies => Topic started by: crazyjays on September 01, 2016, 03:05:10 PM

Title: Love Hiking
Post by: crazyjays on September 01, 2016, 03:05:10 PM
Is it hard for any to Not pick rocks when you go on long hikes?

I have been wanting to hike the Appalachian Trail.
It is hard for me not to pick up rocks when i just want to go on long hikes.

Has any of you guys ever done this trail before part or all of it?
I do know they say it takes 7 months to hike it all the way. Time is on my side.
Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: gemfeller on September 01, 2016, 04:13:58 PM
If you don't mind a lot of humor with your facts, read "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson.  I enjoyed it a lot.

 https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=i95ShDMoWl8C&source=productsearch&utm_source=HA_Desktop_US&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=PLA&pcampaignid=MKTAD0930BO1&gl=US&gclid=CJHx_LGl784CFfMSfgodoboOhw&gclsrc=ds
Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: crazyjays on September 01, 2016, 04:42:59 PM
If you don't mind a lot of humor with your facts, read "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson.  I enjoyed it a lot.

 https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=i95ShDMoWl8C&source=productsearch&utm_source=HA_Desktop_US&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=PLA&pcampaignid=MKTAD0930BO1&gl=US&gclid=CJHx_LGl784CFfMSfgodoboOhw&gclsrc=ds

Thanks Gemfeller,

I will check it out.
Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: ToTheSummit on September 01, 2016, 04:51:13 PM
I've hiked portions of the Pacific Crest trail on a number of occasions.  Longest I spent was 2 weeks on the trail at one time.  Slept on the summit of Mt Whitney on 2 different trips.  The Sierra Nevada mountains are pretty awe inspiring.  But I've been out of the backpacking scene for about a decade and I keep threatening to get back into it.  Still have all my gear and still do a lot of day hikes.  Biggest problem is I lost my hiking partner (he moved to Idaho) and its hard to get motivated to do solo trips.  I still do about 90% of my camping and rockhounding solo.
Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: crazyjays on September 01, 2016, 05:42:24 PM
I've hiked portions of the
 on a number of occasions.  Longest I spent was 2 weeks on the trail at one time.  Slept on the summit of Mt Whitney on 2 different trips.  The Sierra Nevada mountains are pretty awe inspiring.  But I've been out of the backpacking scene for about a decade and I keep threatening to get back into it.  Still have all my gear and still do a lot of day hikes.  Biggest problem is I lost my hiking partner (he moved to Idaho) and its hard to get motivated to do solo trips.  I still do about 90% of my camping and rockhounding solo.

I do the biggest part of my rock hounding solo.
I do some hiking solo on small trips. 1 of my uncles Would go on the Appalachian trail if i pay his way.
Hes a cheap fart if you know what i mean. It would be fun if he goes but i don't think he will. I'm thinking of doing it by myself.
I have not looked a the map for the Pacific Crest trail. Im wanting to get everything setup to do the full Appalachian trail in 2018.
Im thinking of doing a part of it next year. I don't know part yet. I think when i do the full trail. im going to start in Maine and do it backwards.





Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: lithicbeads on September 01, 2016, 06:31:50 PM
I did parts of the trail as a kid but only in winter. I lived in the city so I would hitch a ride to where the trail crosses a road and just go. I have since camped while hiking  at 30 below but not having any equipment, not even shoes without holes in them, made the long winter nights memorable.It began a life of wanderlust and I cherish those memories of frozen nights.
Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: jerrysg on September 02, 2016, 10:54:56 AM
You should start in Maine and do the trail backwards. Just look at a globe. You'll be hiking downhill the whole trip!

Jerry
Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: crazyjays on September 02, 2016, 11:30:33 AM
You should start in Maine and do the trail backwards. Just look at a globe. You'll be hiking downhill the whole trip!

Jerry

That is what i was thinking about doing. Take a bus up to Maine.
Im don't like to fly. The last time i was on a plane was around 1998 or 97.
Thats why i havent gone to South Asia to do any hiking.
Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: Phishisgroovin on September 02, 2016, 07:59:04 PM
when i was a kid, i used to put rocks in the persons pack that was ahead of me  :coffee1: :LOLOL:
Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: crazyjays on September 02, 2016, 08:46:23 PM
 :LOLOL:

Thats to funny.
Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: Ranger_Dave on September 03, 2016, 09:45:36 AM
I've been working in Yosemite NP for about 12 years now. I've been on 3 hikes in the park during that time.   :crybaby2:

When I lived in the East San Francisco Bay Area, I was hiking just about every weekend. I led hikes for about a dozen different groups.

Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: Kaljaia on September 04, 2016, 07:37:26 AM
Have been on one week-long backpacking trip and loved it, a lot of shorter day-hikes, have all the gear for it amassed over a few birthdays and Christmases, but have not yet acquired the right buddy and/or firearm to make distant overnight backpacking doable at this moment in my life.
Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: Ranger_Dave on September 04, 2016, 07:33:19 PM
Most of my hiking has been done with llamas. They're great trail companions. When in shape they can carry 75 pounds of gear. Two llamas, 150 pounds of fresh food, make for a great week long hike. I hope to get a couple more llamas next spring. If not for hiking, they're fun to have around the place anyway.
Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: lithicbeads on September 05, 2016, 10:43:50 AM
I am curious why you think they are fun?





Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: Ranger_Dave on September 07, 2016, 06:10:57 PM
I am curious why you think they are fun?
Each llama has a unique, often quirky, personality. They are very gentle, smart, sometimes too smart, easy to keep, and they make great pack animals. I had one that got excited when he saw me getting out his packs and hooking up the trailer. I'd just open the gate and he would RUN into the trailer and give me this look; "Well! Why aren't we moving?" He loved hiking. At the end of the hike he did not want to go back in the trailer. They're cheap to feed too; a 100 pound bale of hay will feed two llamas for a week. I have 600 feet of barbed wire to replace with field fencing and I'm getting two more.
Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: lithicbeads on September 08, 2016, 08:45:03 AM
And they probably don't kick like my mule. Thanks.
Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: Ranger_Dave on September 08, 2016, 08:16:22 PM
And they probably don't kick like my mule. Thanks.

Llamas do kick, but not as hard as a mule and they usually miss, and, like the spitting, usually only when you deserve it.
Title: Re: Love Hiking
Post by: Sifu on December 12, 2016, 09:49:00 AM
Took the family to Yosemite a few years back and did some fantastic hiking. Our favorite was the Gaylor Lakes hike, which has incredible vistas, and the remains of the Great Sierra silver mine at the top. So...a little mining history thrown in. There is also a pretty much year round mini glacier at the top, so we all enjoyed a bit of slipping and sliding.

Here's a photo of a marmot...and a child who thinks she is a marmot.
(http://[attach id=1 msg=20082][/attach])
(http://[attach id=2 msg=20082][/attach])