“I would never do the Appalachian Trail any way but northbound,” I have told many people. “I just love the way the hike develops with a crescendo effect in the final two states of New Hampshire and Maine.” Well, I have now broken that pledge. A friend asked me to accompany her (only to have to cancel at the last minute!) for the first part of her southbound thru-hike. Like many southbounders, she was beginning in the...

Are you looking for something in our Sports & Outdoors books department? If so, you might be interested in these items. Sports & Outdoors books Skywalker–Close Encounters on the Appalachian trail Bill Walker, Jerry Gramckow, Audra George Price: $4.95 Skywalker: Highs and Lows on the...

I had always said I would never hike the Appalachian Trail any way other than northbound. However here I am in Millinocket, Maine, poised to begin southbound tomorrow morning at 6:30. Incidentally, what a nice trail town here, where hikers all stay at the Appalachian Trail Inn and eat at the Appalachian Trail Restaurant. The shuttle driver last night reported that the number of southbound thru-hikers is expected to reach 400 people this year....

It was 7 o’ clock in the morning. I had been walking for over three hours and was exhausted. Okay, that’s par for the course for long-distance hiking. But now there were two new elements in the equation. I was short of breath. Not surprising considering I was at over 17,000 feet and still climbing. And secondly, I had a headache the likes of which hopefully few mortals experience. Altitude mountain sickness had set in. The lack of...

“I have become obsessed about reading the Appalachian Trail,” Jennifer Haig wrote in my 200th Amazon book review. Good for you, Jennifer! Honestly, there are few things worth getting obsessed about in life. But this storied national scenic trail running through fourteen states from Georgia to northern Maine may be one of them. What a success story it is, with 3,000,000 hikers per year, whether day hikers, section hikers, or...