I'm Back…

[Stephen Graf]

#140039

My son and I have finished our through-hike of the Appalachian Trail.  We started on Feb 17 at Springer Mountain in Georgia, and finished up on July 24th atop Mount Katahdin Maine.  For the most part, I have been free from technology more complex than a good tent since February.  So I have some reading to do to catch up on the goings-on here with the forum.

That said, I have a BUNCH of catching up to do around the farm too.  And a stack of mail a foot thick.   Mostly junk I suppose, but still I have to go through it.  I do see a few TB magazines sticking out the corners of the stack, so there is something to look forward to.

And then there is my bow hanging on the hook.  I wonder if I can even pull it anymore?  I will find out this morning.  I will have to floor exercise it a bit, string it up, and let it remember how to bend.  I guess I’ll do that when I get my second cup of coffee.  Then in a few hours, I will go out and see what happens…

And then there are the hair cuts.  My son did not get a hair cut or shave the entire trip.  He looks  a bit like a cave man.  I shaved every few weeks and got a hair cut half way through.  I wanted to remain a bit more civilized.  Still, we’re a couple shaggy dogs.

I hope you folks have had a good summer so far and are anticipating the coming fall.  I went for a quick walk last night to see how the sheep and the mushroom logs were doing,  and to check on the chestnut trees.  All seem fine.  I saw a half dozen deer and a couple rabbits along the way.  I hope that’s a good omen for the season to come.

[Raymond Coffman]

#140043

Hi Stephen

Well Done! Congrats on your major accomplishment ! How about some pics when you get a chance ? See much game?

I have thought about doing the continental divide trail – done parts in the past. Unfortunately do to health issues I’ve waited too long to travel the whole route anymore.

Scout aka Ray

[Stephen Graf]

#140052

We haven’t found a way to directly connect my sons phone to my desk top to download pictures.  So He is putting them on a google drive so I can get to them.  Long process with our country internet.  When that is done, I will reduce a few and post them here.

Did a bit of shooting yesterday, and nothing broke (on me or the bow), so it looks like I will be ready for deer season when it gets here!

I’ve been joking/threatening my daughter with hiking the PCT since my boy and I have been planning this AT hike.  From what I know, it sure is a trail through some beautiful country.  We met a few hikers on the AT who had already hiked the PCT.  They were unanimous in their appreciation for it.  Feeling as I do now (broke down from 2200 miles with a pack) I can’t imagine hiking another trail.

Whoops.  You said CDT.  That’s a doozy.  I met a guy on the AT who has hiked all 3 mentioned trails 3 times each.  Some people never learn…

[Raymond Coffman]

#140065

Stephen

Glad you made it thru and home ok – and apparently “little the worse for wear”

Hiked parts of PCT in CA when i was younger, but didnt do any of it in the other states.  As you indicated the CDT ( not completely finished and at least in NM short on water along large portions) is a humdinger —-

I did walk some of the PA parts of the AT when I lived there many moons ago so have a basic idea of part of your experience.

Looking forward to seeing your posts . Glad your grand adventure concluded without any major injury etc —just good memories and the satisfaction of accomplishing a difficult goal with your son.

Scout aka Ray

[David Coulter]

#140066

Steve, I can tell by all the photos and when I was lucky enough to visit with you that it was a great adventure for the two of you. You know the old saying, what doesn’t kill you, didn’t kill you….  Great lifetime adventure.

I literally lived along side the trail in Delaware Water Gap. It came down the mountain, turned in front of my apartment and headed over to Jersey. I never through hiked though I probably logged hundreds of miles in a few mile section close to home in those dozen years.

I’m very happy for the two of  you. You’re arrows will fly as true as ever. best, dwc

[richard roop]

#140073

Cool !!!!

[Ralph]

#140351

Quite the walk about eh?

Glad y’all made it safe and seemed to have enjoyed and you and your son are still happily related:-))

Ready to see the “cave drawings” you guys made…………. I mean the pics the hairy ones took.

[Stephen Graf]

#140362

Thanks for all the kind words!  Still haven’t figured out how to get the pictures off my sons phone and onto my ‘puter.  But here are a few.  Most of these are from the second half of the trail.  Still haven’t gotten the early pictures or some of the later pictures either.  I can post more if folks are interested.

When the temp was low, or the rain was hard, we had breakfast in the vestibule of my green tent.  Being the sophisticates we are, we referred to our meal as “breakfast in the green room.”  Proper attire required

Every now and again, I just had to draw my bow.  Well pretend anyway.  Here are a couple places that inspired me to cast an arrow into the void:

And here is a deer that doesn’t know how lucky she was.  Yea, cause it would have turned out different with a real bow.  Well, maybe not.

Here is what a LOT of the trail looked like.  You have to look really close to see through the water.  I think this trail might, more accurately, be called the trench foot trail…

Even though it felt like we would never make it, we eventually did.  If you keep putting one foot in front of the other, you can go anywhere.  It’s a powerful lesson.

[Robin Conrads]

#140364

Love the pictures and looking forward to more stories and photos. Happy to allow this off-topic thread as long as you throw in a few “here’s me drawing my pretend bow”. Ha ha, and that reminds me of Col. Mike for those of you around here a few years ago.

(The only other off topic thread allowed is What ya got going? 2)

Thanks, Mom

[Raymond Coffman]

#140375

Stephen

Great pics – was the water in the low ground ( lot of rain) and /or a lot of stream crossings? See any bear sign ? How about Elk, I know some of the state’s you went thru have reintroduced elk, any up on the trail. Lessons learned? Advice for any others who might take the trail? If you are going to write an article or two about it – curious about what gear worked and what didn’t.

Scout aka Ray

 

 

[Stephen Graf]

#140384

There was water EVERYWHERE.  From the bottom of the hill to the top of the hill and every spot in between.  That said, there were a couple stretches on the trail where we had to go 30 miles or so between creeks to fill our water bottles.  But that was rare, and we never got desperate enough to fill them from muck holes.

We saw quite a bit of bear poop on the trail in northern VA.  There is no hunting in the Shenandoah park, so the bears get pretty bold.  We had a couple bears hang out around our tents one night in that area.  Other than that, we had no bear contact.  We donated our can of bear spray to a south bounder somewhere in PA I think.

I was hoping to see some elk as we passed through NC and TN.  We didn’t see any, though we saw a few tracks.

As for lessons learned, there were a few.  We hunters could learn a thing or two from them long-walkers.  I may try to put some thoughts into article form.  If it doesn’t work out that way, I expect I’ll put it here on this forum.  Nothing is gonna get done in the short term though, till we get the kids back to school and I get the farm cleaned up a bit.

 

[Raymond Coffman]

#140387

Stephen

” water water everywhere and all the boards did shrink ”  Sounds pretty amphibious- might even have had to watch out for trench foot under those conditions—just the opposite for out here ( CDT).

Did you find it very crowded ? Looking forward to your thought on ” lessons learned” —

A grand adventure – thanks for letting us tag along

Scout aka Ray

[David Coulter]

#140478

Steve, I’m curious as to what sort of water purification you use. There’s a few good filters and some sort of stir stick. Thanks, dwc

 

[Stephen Graf]

#140498

We used glass fiber filters from 2 manufacturers.  Glass fiber filters consist of a canister stuffed with hollow glass fibers that have 1 or 2 micron holes that allow water to seep from the outside of the fiber to the inside of the fiber.  The ends of the fibers are all sealed together and empty out the good water side of the filter.  The dirty side of the filter brings water into contact with the outside of the fibers. These filters will remove all pathogens from the water except for virus’.  Virus’ are too small and pass through the pores.  These filters must be back washed regularly, not allowed to freeze, and not dropped to hard.  They are made of glass right?   So  The filters we used were configured a bit differently from each other:

1. 8L Platypus – this system consists of 2 4L bags, and the glass fiber filter, and a hose.  This was our main supply.  We could bring 8 liters of water to camp.  This would be enough to make supper/breakfast and fill our bottles.  On hot dry days, we would fill the bag again for a total of 12 liters.

2. Sawyer mini squeeze – This was a small glass fiber filter along with a collapsible liter bag that we used to filter water as we hiked.  If we crossed a stream and wanted a drink, or to fill our bottles, we used this quick and easy filter.

Having two systems optimized for the two different situations was convenient, but it also allowed us to have a backup.  If one filter failed, we still had water.  That said, we never had a failure.

I will probably stick the sawyer in my kit for back country hunts.  This will allow me to cut down on the water I drag along.

We used smart water bottles as our water bottles as they are easy to get, and light.  We went through about 3 of these on the trail.  The flip top lid on the smart bottle also perfectly matched the stem of the sawyer filter which allowed for easy backwashing.

[Raymond Coffman]

#140513

Thanks

Very informative,  I Havn’t used the Sawyer but intend to check it out.

What did you use for protection against ticks / skeeters etc ?

Scout aka Ray

[Stephen Graf]

#140532

Bugspray and a thermacell patio shield.

Bugspray worked fine during the day when we were hiking.  At night, we’d fire up the thermacell and it would clear the area around our tents by the time we were set up.  Then we could have a nice sit and eat our dinner unperturbed by bugs.

The thermacell and the bug spray works against skeeters and black flies.  As for the ticks, the best defense is diligent awareness and a nightly inspection.  I had 2 ticks that I had to pull off during the hike.  Liam had a few more.

Some folks start out spraying pyrethrin on their cloths.  I think that might be a futile effort against the daily rain, sweat, river crossings, and camp washing.  Cloths are constantly wet, most of the time.

[Raymond Coffman]

#140534

Stephen

I do a similar regimen. Glad it works well in a tgt rich environment like the AT.

NM has less bug issues than there . But when I go to Texas I spray down pretty good, probably going to have my legs fall off soon from all the deet  in the past.

A friend gave me an anti bug elixir called Fu Bug ” Florida’s ultimate bug spray” supposed to be all natural. It seems to work good, although I have only used it on one hunt. We’ll see —-

Scout aka Ray

[Vintage Archer]

#141015

Steve ,

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S  on your great accomplishment and adventure.

Looking forward to the article or posting with more details. You are a lucky dog to be able to make this trip. Especially great to be able to share it with your son. What great memories!

Joe Furlong

[Raymond Coffman]

#141029

Hi Joe

Good to see you here again, I hope you visit often

Scout aka Ray

[Stephen Graf]

#141081

Thanks Joe.  I hope you are enjoying your new found freedom from work?  Gonna get in a bit more hunting this year?

 

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