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Smokies park preparing for influx of hikers after release of new movie

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    • Smokies park preparing for influx of hikers after release of new movie

      GATLINBURG (WATE) – Officials with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park say they are preparing for an influx of new Appalachian Trail hikers due to the new movie “A Walk in the Woods,” but they want to remind inexperienced hikers to take appropriate precautions.

      wate.com/2015/08/14/smokies-pr…ter-release-of-new-movie/
      its all good
    • A good portion of them probably will not even make it the GSMNP. It is GA and the earlier parts of NC that are probably really take a beating. Thus the prior talk about the BMT alternate path.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Mountain-Mike wrote:

      When I did my AT Thru it was the year after Nat Geo did an article on it. ATC said record numbers of hikers attmped it that year. That was 6 people summiting Springer same day I did back in 88.
      i also thru'd in 88. i had springer shelter all to myself. :) (i got to springer about 6pm on a sunday nite. i'm sure that was part of the reason why i had no company.)

      edit to add: spent the next nite at gooch gap shelter with 2 section hikers. even though i slept at shelter sites the next time i spent the nite with another hiker was when i camped at deep gap, nc. the first time i spent the nite with another thru hiker was at rainbow springs campground. i caught up to a bunch of hikers at the gsmnp; there were 30 of us at the first shelter N of gatlinburg. every nite in the park had full shelters.
      2,000 miler

      The post was edited 4 times, last by max.patch ().

    • When I hiked the lake shore trail this year I came out at fontana dam. Once I hit the paved road and walked across the dam I came across 19 thru hikers heading up the AT, in to the park. That was 19 in 30 minutes or so. I can't imagine how many headed in that day or that week. And I'd sure hate to see what georgia looked like.
    • Mountain-Mike wrote:

      I've heard of nights with 30+ tents at Hawk mountain Shelter. A part of me would love to do another thru but BMT is looking like a better alternative down south. I really think ATC should support this.
      yeah, i've seen 30 at both springer and hawk. day 1, if you're gonna stay at a shelter, ya got hawk at 8 miles or gooch at 16 miles. no surprise that most stay at hawk.

      although if they built trail to the summit of hawk they could put a lot of tents up there. AT used to go over it anyway back in the day. (the rangers land copters there when training so maybe that isn't an option any more.) and the cemetary a couple miles before hawk is a great place to camp but not many thrus do that.
      2,000 miler
    • Mountain-Mike wrote:

      I've heard of nights with 30+ tents at Hawk mountain Shelter. A part of me would love to do another thru but BMT is looking like a better alternative down south. I really think ATC should support this.
      ive had very mixed feelings about this. the bmt isnt really set up to handle any kinds of crowds, most sites have no more than 2 or 3 tentsites. i would hate to see what the trail would look like with 20-30 hikers a day.i'm glad ive had the chance to hike it the past two years.i would also anticipate some inexperienced hikers getting lost.
      its all good
    • max.patch wrote:

      Mountain-Mike wrote:

      I've heard of nights with 30+ tents at Hawk mountain Shelter. A part of me would love to do another thru but BMT is looking like a better alternative down south. I really think ATC should support this.
      yeah, i've seen 30 at both springer and hawk. day 1, if you're gonna stay at a shelter, ya got hawk at 8 miles or gooch at 16 miles. no surprise that most stay at hawk.
      although if they built trail to the summit of hawk they could put a lot of tents up there. AT used to go over it anyway back in the day. (the rangers land copters there when training so maybe that isn't an option any more.) and the cemetary a couple miles before hawk is a great place to camp but not many thrus do that.
      I would totally sleep in a grave yard...my kinda place. :saint: gif.013.gif :evil:
    • max.patch wrote:

      Mountain-Mike wrote:

      When I did my AT Thru it was the year after Nat Geo did an article on it. ATC said record numbers of hikers attmped it that year. That was 6 people summiting Springer same day I did back in 88.
      i also thru'd in 88. i had springer shelter all to myself. :) (i got to springer about 6pm on a sunday nite. i'm sure that was part of the reason why i had no company.)
      edit to add: spent the next nite at gooch gap shelter with 2 section hikers. even though i slept at shelter sites the next time i spent the nite with another hiker was when i camped at deep gap, nc. the first time i spent the nite with another thru hiker was at rainbow springs campground. i caught up to a bunch of hikers at the gsmnp; there were 30 of us at the first shelter N of gatlinburg. every nite in the park had full shelters.
      Bryson and Katz were not there at Rainbow Springs with you were they?
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Astro wrote:

      max.patch wrote:

      Mountain-Mike wrote:

      When I did my AT Thru it was the year after Nat Geo did an article on it. ATC said record numbers of hikers attmped it that year. That was 6 people summiting Springer same day I did back in 88.
      i also thru'd in 88. i had springer shelter all to myself. :) (i got to springer about 6pm on a sunday nite. i'm sure that was part of the reason why i had no company.)edit to add: spent the next nite at gooch gap shelter with 2 section hikers. even though i slept at shelter sites the next time i spent the nite with another hiker was when i camped at deep gap, nc. the first time i spent the nite with another thru hiker was at rainbow springs campground. i caught up to a bunch of hikers at the gsmnp; there were 30 of us at the first shelter N of gatlinburg. every nite in the park had full shelters.
      Bryson and Katz were not there at Rainbow Springs with you were they?
      i predated them by a few years. i thot what bryson wrote about rainbow springs was hilarious. it was half true, and then greatly exaggerated for comedic effect. jenisne, the owner, hated bryson after the book came out. she went into her files and pulled out his receipt from when they stayed there, and would show it to anyone who was interested. bitchin about him the whole time.

      i really liked rainbow springs, and went back there 2x a year until they closed.
      2,000 miler