View Single Post
Old May 21, 2013, 10:08 PM   #23
Culhnd
Junior Member
 
Join Date: March 21, 2013
Posts: 3
I hiked the AT and the only times I ever wished I was carrying were for 2 legged critters, usually when staying the night at a shelter near a road crossing. If you encounter bear or rattlesnakes, consider yourself lucky. Plenty of them around, but a well traveled trail isn't the best place for an encounter. I got asked a number of times if I carried, usually followed by "but aren't you afraid of the bears?" "Nope, I'm afraid of the skunks, I gotta carry this pack all the way to Maine". The smokies are pretty well bear polluted though and since there isn't hunting in the park, they aren't as fearful as bears elsewhere. The shelters there all have chain link fencing across the front and bear boxes/poles for food storage.

If you go in the smokies, road access is limited, going in the central road may be your best bet. Clingmans Dome is the highest point on the AT and Charlie's Bunion has some great vistas. It's also worth checking out some of the southern balls (goggle Appalachian trail balds and you can get a list of them). Roan mtn is pretty cool area, as are the Grayson highlands over the border into Virginia.
Culhnd is offline  
 
Page generated in 0.03464 seconds with 8 queries