Backpacking:
Stories
Here you will find people's favorite backpacking stories. Send us yours!
Maintaining Chatfield Shelter on the Appalachian Trail
In the early 1980's Glade Mt. Shelter was on Va. 86. Due to vandalism
and littering it was decided to move the shelter a few miles north. In
1989 it was renamed the Louise Chatfield Shelter...
Susan Alcorn
As a 68-year-old long-distance hiker and backpacker, I can personally vouch for the benefits of using hiking poles. I don't leave home without them...
Mama Boots: Trail Angel - Mentor - Hero
A trail angel is someone who helps a hiker through acts of kindness. A kindness could be a hitch into town or back to the trail. It could be drinks and snacks left along the trail...
Backpacking The Appalachian Trail:
Verna "Grandma Soule"
My friend, my mentor, my hero. I had the pleasure of meeting Verna when I started backpacking and asked the Appalachian Trail Conservancy if there was an older woman backpacker who I could talk to...
How NOT to Pack:
The Old Gray Goose
This is a painfully funny story of how NOT to pack for a week long hike. A few years back, I bought a new "day" pack and since the cu. in. size seemed to be ALMOST (but not quite) the size pack I was striving to carry, I thought I would see what I could do with it for a week hike...
Backpacking:
Hiking In Slovenia And The Appalachian Trail
Vincent R. ("Swamp Fox") Mariani
I am a 68 yr old retired engineer, well into my second childhood. When I retired in 2005, I started the Appalachian Trail...
Thru Hiking The Appalachian Trail:
Windtalker
Here are a few ideas that my wife and I found useful during our hike (by the way, I am 57 and she is 48)....
Monadnock to Sunapee Greenway Trail:
Singer
I just finished a four-day hike with some friends on the Monadnock to Sunapee Greenway Trail...
Backpacking The Appalachian Trail:
Kathleen Cutshall
At the age of 50 I didn't know a thing about the Appalachian Trail. I had never been backpacking although we did a lot of camping with our children and we were an "outdoorsy" kind of family.
Tom Logsdon
Each spring about 2000 people begin the walk north from Springer Mountain, Georgia, on a foot path called the Appalachian Trail. Their hope is to reach the State of Maine and summit Mount Katadin before winter.