A few years ago there was buzz on the Appalachian Trail about a family who was undertaking a thru hike together from Georgia to Maine. With four children in tow, their small crew stuck out a bit like a sore thumb amongst the college-aged kids and newly retired seniors trudging along the five month trek north. They were not the first family to ever undertake this journey but they were perhaps one of the strangest. According to stories that traveled along the trail the mother was often seen breast feeding her two year old son at the trail side. He could walk right up for a full or self service fill-up. In chatting with them, soon other hikers learned that the family had decided, based on their interpretation of bible readings, to rid themselves of all bonds of identification - including last names and social security numbers.
In addition to daily downpours, the trail becomes saturated each March with an eclectic mixture of people that have come from all over the country, and even the world, to set out on a 2,175 mile walk. Some have spent months or even years meticulously planning for this trip. Others have thrown their things together at the last moment with little or no experience in the outdoors. They become a caravan of sorts, traveling shelter to shelter, town to town.
To want to spend what amounts to almost half a year squatting in the woods weeds out a large majority of the population. What's left is a combination of hard core hiking enthusiasts, hippie wannabes, and everyday people hoping to run away from, or perhaps toward, something. Like the family mentioned above, some stand out because they are an oddity among oddities. They're unique.
I thought of this family a few times over the past couple of days as the kids, Tricia, and I spent three days and two nights on the trail. We saw a number of people on the trail but few were women and none were families or children. Yet here were our kids strapped to bulging backpacks as they hunched forward laboring through each step, carrying them further and further up an endless chain of mountain summits. I wondered what they looked like to the other hikers. Did they look out of place out there? They must have because one of the first people we saw, a heavily bearded and tatooed guy who worked at the local outfitter, said to Tricia, "Well it's good to see they've got packs. Most parents don't have the kids carry their own shit!" Despite the colorful language in front of young ears, Tricia couldn't help but smile. It was a big task, a 20 mile walk spread out over the course of a weekend, and we hoped we weren't crazy for trying it.
Within seconds of starting I heard the first complaint of a heavy backpack. Just minutes later the darkening sky decided to make things even more interesting. What started as the gentle pitter-patter of rain falling on the forest canopy above became a steady rain that would last for hours. But the struggles were just beginning. Thankfully, we were each equipped with a journal to keep track of our travels. As with our last trip into the woods, I'll use excerpts from everyone's journals to help tell the story.
Day 1: Neels Gap, GA to Hogpen Gap (6.4 miles today, 6.4 miles this trip, 37.3 total AT miles to date)
We had lunch. Daddy took the van to the end of the hiking trail. Then we started hiking. It had a lot of uphills. Daddy helped me down the hard parts. I mostly carried the pack uphill. You have to bend over when you go uphill. I cried because I missed Grandma. We camped by a stream.
Muluken, age 9
We started at Neels Gap and stopped at Hogpen. We did six and a half miles to get there. We had a couple of good views of the mountains on our way. It was great! We had to go up a rocky and steep, steep mountain but we made it! After we made the mountain we took a break and had to switch our backpacks to the next person. We went down a hill for a long time. After we started to go up a hill we got a snack and another break.
Today we began a 3 day , 20 mile backpacking trip with the whole family. My pack weighed about 20 pounds, Chris' 30 pounds, and the kids shared two packs and each was about 10 pounds. We started hiking at about 1:00 and planned to hike six miles and stop at a shelter. Within the first half hour it began raining and rained for about two hours. After that the weather was nice, no rain, and not too hot.
We climbed three mountains today. The first two seemed to be slow gradual climbs but the third was very steep and rocky. By that time the kids were getting tired and hungry and ready for a rest. We found a place to camp by a stream, fixed dinner, and went to bed. It is very dark and the insects are very loud. It was kind of a rough first day. Ty and Ainsley were tired and sore. I am sure tomorrow will be better.
After arriving back at Mountain Crossings (the endpoint of our last hike) I left Tricia and the kids to eat lunch while I followed the shuttle, a fancy name for Dartman's beat-up minivan, to Unicoi Gap. He then brought me back to Neels Gap and we headed out. Ty and Ainsley were sharing one pack and Harper and Muluken were responsible for the other. Each pack was really a bit too heavy but I was hoping that trading it back and forth would provide enough relief to make up for the few additional pounds. Before hitting the trail Harper and Ainsley were gung-ho to carry the packs. However, within just a minute or two Ainsley exclaimed "This pack is heavy!" But she persevered despite the fact that the trail started with a long steady ascent. We stopped every fifteen or twenty minutes to let them trade the backpacks back and forth.
Unfortunately, only moments later the sky opened up and what started as a light sprinkle turned into a steady rain. "I'm not to happy with you right now," I heard Tricia say from behind. I turned and gave her what I intended to be smile but probably looked more like a smirk. The three girls all pulled out their rain jackets and we covered up our packs with rain covers. A while later Muluken and I also dug out our rain jackets but Ty was content to get soaking wet. "It better not rain all day!" Tricia said. This time I didn't turn but kept walking.
Fortunately it stopped raining after about two hours or so. I decided to label it a "fun rain" because it was enough to make things interesting for a while but not so bad that we were all miserable. I tend to think I'm going to have to be a glass-half-full guy as much as possible over the next couple of days.
There were really no streams today which further complicated things. Despite the rainy summer we've had there just isn't enough to keep some of these smaller streams flowing. We were thirsty and hopeful of finding a good campsite with a water source.
Near the end of the day we came down into Low Gap, crossed by a road with very fast trucks passing, and headed up what must have been the steepest ascent we've encountered so far on the AT. There was a series of switchbacks that just kept climbing up and up and up at an incredibly aggressive pitch. Ty sighed and moaned and whined. Harper bent over at the waist with her hands on her knees and breathed heavily. Ainsley began crying that she missed Grandma but, though I'm sure she did, I would imagine she was just overly exhausted and maybe even a bit frightened by what still lie ahead. I wondered what I had signed my family up for. I worried about the miles and miles ahead. Muluken kept chugging away without complaint and I took comfort in that. I knew that if nothing else I'd be able to count on him to help the others along the way.
We made rice for dinner, brushed our teeth, and hung our food bags up in a tree about fifty yards from the tent. Our final few camp chores were completed by flashlight as the sun dropped down behind the mountains to the west. It was a really hard day.
Day 2: Hogpen, GA to Chattahoochee Gap (9.5 miles today, 15.9 miles this trip, 46.8 total AT miles to date)
We thought the water dried up. I hiked up a big big mountain.
Harper, age 9
Today we woke up and had powdered milk. I kind of liked it. It was very watery. What we ate was one Pop-Tart. We packed up and started hiking.
We hiked on and played games as we went uphill. We played I Spy at Home to see how well you can remember your own house. You only get two clues: color and room. But if you have to you can give another clue.
We found a shelter and stayed there for about a hour to have lunch. We were playing in the stream and those same guys came by and got some water as well.
After lunch we kept on hoping to find some water in the next 1.4 miles but no. We kept on going but we did not have some water. Finally we found some coming from a pipe. Then we started to hike again.
At the end of the day we had hiked from 9:30 am to 7:15 pm. Nine and a half miles! It was a long day but we got a well deserved sleep.
Chris, age 36
We've heard stories from other hikers about wild hogs and bear cubs. This news scares the girls but the boys are itching to see something big. However, I'm not too sure this will happen because Harper has taken to humming loudly as she hikes whenever she fears there might be a bear nearby. Muluken, unhappy with this, turns to shoot her mean looks.
There were many easier climbs today. To pick up our pace Muluken has agreed to carry one of the two kids packs full time so that Harper, Ainsley, and Ty can share the other one and have longer breaks. I've taken three pairs of sandals and one of their sleeping bags and stuffed them into my pack so that their load will be lighter. This has made quite a difference. There's no more complaining about a heavy pack. They were really too heavy so it's easy to understand why they were struggling so much.
We had a scare today. A stream that was listed on my data sheet was nowhere to be found. It was getting close to 5:30 and we were miles from water and did not have enough left in our bottles to cook dinner. Harper was felling a bit panicky but held it together really well. We all stayed calm and just kept walking. Around 6:00 or so we came across a water source that hadn't been listed on my sheet. In fact, it was a spring running out from behind some rocks at the side of the trail. Maintainers had even installed a big pipe to route the water under the trail where it emptied onto some rocks down the pitch. Placing our bottle under the pipe almost made it feel like getting water from a faucet. How lucky!
Our luck did not run out there. We walked on for another hour or so and were amazed to find that we had walked much further than we thought. By 7:15 we were already in Chattahoochee Gap, 9.5 miles from where we started this morning. We couldn't believe it. We must have really been walking quickly.
We stopped and dropped our packs right next to the trail and proceeded to fix our dinner and eat right away. As we were eating a group of five or six guys came in behind us and sat to rest. They were moaning and limping as they collapsed onto the ground. I overheard them discussing whether they should stay here for the night or press on to the next water source and campground a little over a mile away. I told them there was plenty of room and they explained that they might need to move on to a more isolated spot because one of them had a backpacker guitar and that they stayed up until four in the morning singing the previous night. Given that, I was happy to see they were moving on.
After a rough first day, as well as a couple of rough hours this morning, it's nice to finish strong. Our dinner tonight was great and the kids had a lot of fun helping set up camp. There are three campsites here in the gap and they are set up shotgun style - meaning that you have to walk directly through each of them to get to the next one. The second site was already taken by two young guys who we've crossed paths with a number of times throughout the day. Muluken, Harper, and I scouted out the other two sites and elected to take the last one since it's set back by iteself and noone will be passing back and forth by our tent as they run down to the stream for water. As we made our way back to our site one of the two young guys asked me to hang back for a moment. "What do you need?" I asked.
"We were going to be lighting up a (recreational cigarette, let's say) a little later tonight and just wanted to make sure you're okay with it since you're with your kids." he said.
I almost laughed but caught myself. He was being very serious and I knew that regardless of whether or not I gave them the okay they were going to light up. Our campsite was at least a good sixty yards away and I really couldn't have cared less what they wanted to do as long as they didn't keep us awake.
"No, that's fine. I don't mind," I said.
"Cool," he responded. "Hey, and if you and your wife want to come back over a little later we'd be glad to share."
I couldn't believe it. This was getting more fun by the second. Again I suppressed a laugh and thanked him but explained that I was a little too old and had to get the kids to bed. Tricia enjoyed this story quite a bit.
The mood has changed over the past three or four hours. Everyone is having fun and excited to know that tomorrow will be an easy day. Just four and a half miles into Unicoi Gap where our van is waiting to take us for ice cream and lunch.
Chattahoochee Gap, GA to Unicoi Gap (3.5 miles today, 19.4 miles this trip, 50.3 total AT miles to date)
Chris, age 36
Today's four and a half miles were easy. Despite a few long climbs everyone did a great job. We came across a few day hikers who stopped to talk to us. One of them said that he tried to come out on the trail yesterday but that his dog chased a bear cub up a tree and he was hesitant to move on knowing that the mother would be nearby. Again we kept our eyes out for bears but didn't see any. Tricia and I heard a really loud cracking noise come from the woods once but weren't for certain it was actually a bear.
The trail today was extremely rocky. The going was kind of slow as we had to carefully plot out the course for our steps. Ainsley was hiking a few dozen yards behind me with Tricia and fell. She later rushed up to me to tell me all about it and show off her dirty scratched up legs. Covered in bug bites, scratches, and mud, her legs are definitely those of an outside girl.
After a little over four hours of hiking we emerged from the woods to find our van waiting for us. What a welcome site. We all rushed over to a large rock with an AT plaque to take group pictures commemorating the completion of this leg of the hike. After changing out of our dirty shoes and putting on clean shirts we drove back to Neels Gap for a celebratory ice cream. A perfect ending to a trip that started off very rough but finished wonderfully. Within two or three weeks the kids will have forgotten most of the trials of the hike and reflect fondly on the fun of being together in the wilderness.
We're now all back home and healed up from our hike. Tricia grimmaced a bit when going down stairs that first day back and my shoulders were a bit tight. Ty's feet were bothering him and Harper and Muluken were recovering from some type of bite or sting that had them near tears for a few minutes on the trail. After nice hot showers most of these ailments disappeared. Already everyone is back to their normal routines and games.
It was nice to get home but I miss being on the trail, too. It's hard sometimes to deal with the hike itself when you are trying to parent at the same time. There's always someone to encourage or a question to answer or a story to listen to. Though there are times when I would have loved to just put my head down and walk for a while I was appreciative of the time I had to do nothing other than talk to the kids and Tricia. Tricia was a wonderful cheerleader for those who needed it. She often hung back with whoever was struggling at the moment while I stayed near the front or middle. I've heard that parents spend an average of twelve minutes a day talking to their kids. Talking - not correcting or preaching or instructing. I'm thankful for the time we had to talk about books and friends and school and sports and nature and the trail itself.
We now have fifty miles down and 2,125 to go. The next leg, as determined by convenient road crossings where we can access the trail and get back to our car, will take us across the Georgia-North Carolina state line. I'm not sure who all will be coming along but I know that in time everyone will make it back out.
I have so much to say that I must do most of it in person. First, I continue to be impressed with you two as parents. You love your kids enough to take them on this wonderful adventure. They are all going to be little hardbodies - nothing wrong with that. Even more important, they will know this world like very few other Americans. They will know the smell of dirt and decaying leaves and mountain streams and wild flowers. They will feel scratches and stings and bites, but also how soft the moss can be when you are taking a break and how cool and refreshing a stream is when you are hot and tired with real labor. They will appreciate a sunset or moonrise like very few others. And rice, simply rice will taste delicious.
ReplyDeleteThat time you spend with your kids talking? That is gold, my friend. And you are right to appreciate it. What an amazing time in your lives - and how great that you are making the very best of it.
That picture of Ainsley's legs is to cool!
ReplyDeleteToo cool, not to cool.
ReplyDelete