That that ad doesn’t end with them murdered.

That turn would result in him being launched out of my car.

[ducking] Because she was a woman.

It's a joke, folks.

I keed, I keed!

Lived near the southern end in Georgia and hiked a bit there. Lived about a half mile off the trail in Pennsylvania and used to do 50 mile backpacking trips on it over Christmas break when I was a kid. It is a beautiful thing.

That was a hell of a hike. Ran into a couple of people who were hiking the whole thing or portions of it. I've never been on the trail longer than 4day/3nights. People who hike the AT or PCT are different. That takes a lot of preparation and determination.

I plan on hiking some of the AT this summer. Going to white water raft in Tennessee and make my way to North Carolina to hike a portion of the AT.

I spend a good chunk of my summers around the Timberline Trail and parts of the PCT up at Hood. Where'd you guys go? Ramona Falls, McNeil Point, Yocum Ridge, Muddy Fork Valley, Bald Mountain... any of those ring a bell?

I'm doing the whole TT this summer with some friends, looking forward to it.

Started at the trailhead and made it to Yocum Ridge. I was solo that trip and didn't have enough time to do the whole thing. The elevation gain was a lot tougher than I thought. I almost turned back after Day 2 but decided to stay out for the whole time of 4 days. I'd go back to do the whole thing.

I have a great picture from my last campsite where the clouds are settled below me and you see the mountain peaks emerging from the clouds. I love hiking in the PNW. Olympic was my first experience with backpacking and turned me into a huge fan. I want to do Mount Rainer one day.

We do it as an overnight. It's a bit grueling but worth it. No better place in Mt Hood National to camp. The alpenglow as the sun sets is unreal.

Agree with you on the PNW. I love Colorado, California, the Appalachians, etc., but something about the PNW nature feel like home. On that note- if you ever get a chance to do the North Cascades, jump on it. We've been up a few times and are going back in June. I think my favorite camping experience of my life was when we canoe camped on Ross Lake. We slept on Cougar Island and had the whole thing to ourselves. It was unreal.

Used to hike from Sisters up over the mountains and down to Cultus Lake every summer in college. Great trail, great camping.

My girlfriend has a good friend who lives in Bend now which will hopefully change that. Going there in June for a Jason Isbell/Father John Misty show, and to do a bike ride up to Bachelor. I need to backpack there, though.

My sister lives in Bend and will be there.

Lots of lakes/campsites along the Cascade Lakes highway that are great for hiking.

Ross. We're there every year. 🙂

It's not easy to get to- both the park in the country, and the lake in the park. It makes for some beautiful solitude if you're willing to work for it.

Accessed from the North, that is a fairly easy hike.

We also like Elk Meadows, accessed from the South, which is an even easier hike except for the crossing the river on a downed log part. Just a bit sketchy. Elk Meadows has fewer spots and fills up quick. The actual meadow portion is quite soggy. I have never seen elk there, but friends have.

I usually park at Top Spur TH or the Ramona TH. It's a bit of a trek to get to it from there. We did Eden the last time we camped near Lost Lake.

I've done a little backpacking there myself to get to a couple of climbs. Although I really, really, really hate Devil's Club.

Made me want to get into climbing.

I will say that Big Bend NP in Texas was another beautiful park. The terrain was way different than the PNW and virtually no water sources but it was beautiful. I don't know if I would do another desert hike though. Carrying your own water is a MF'er and weighs a ton. I was in Big Bend in the middle of December but it was still 75 and sunny. I think I had something like 9L of water on me and needed every last drop.

I also gave a ride to three backpackers from Abol Campground to the Baxter State Park entrance last summer. They just completed the entire AT in a season and they smelled terrible.

I've only hiked the AT through NY, NJ and ME...backpacked for a week in the 80s.

I'll be training for a 2020 Grand Canyon backpacking trip this spring and fall.

Do you think it appropriate to start new topics on this board without closing the parentheses on your Maye Musk post from a few weeks ago? You think you can just drop a one-liner like that without explanation?

As to the trail, one of my ND roommates did. A year or so after he graduated. He'd always hinted at it but we mainly figured he was just talking. Then one day we got an email saying he was leaving in two weeks. Just got up and went for it.

He knocked it out, too. I think he hit Katahdin in under four and half months. He was the quiet, introspective type. Brilliant kid. Resourceful. And tough. This was definitely in his wheelhouse.

Couldn't grow facial hair for shit though. His "beard" pic at the end was nightmarish in a child predator kind of way.

There’s a lot of girls that finish it. I saw a few wearing yoga style pants Saturday. Nice. I want my kid to appreciate nature, perseverance and of course yoga pants. As for Maye Musk well what can I say?

and he's done the Appalachia Trail from start to finish. Said it was a unique experience, some parts of the trail are well marked and some are not, but you meet a lot of people along the way. I forget how long it took him, but it was months of hiking. With that long a hike you do have issues like injury and getting sick that you have to deal with as well as just fatigue of hiking so much distance. Said you have to keep kicking yourself to keep going day after day. He took breaks and stayed in hotels, esp when he wasn't feeling good.

I had no idea how long it was, I thought it was just in the South, had no idea it went all the way to Maine.