From reading AWITW I got the impression that there are sections where, if you lose the marked trail, you’re history (or, rather, ecology). Did you get to such a part yet?
The East Coast of the USA is populated enough that I think you could walk 5-15 miles in a consistent direction and reach some sort of road or house.
Except for the woods where the Blair Witch lives.
Safe and happy trails to you! Let me know when you make it to Trail Town, USA. This family would be happy to show you a little local fun or help you out with some errands. Any chance you’ll make it for Trail Days?
Best of luck!!
Believe nothing from AWITW. It’s about as accurate a report of hiking the AT as Flash Gordon serials are for the Apollo space program.
First aid kit, thankfully. Nothing other than that, though.
A better way of keeping my camera from getting scratched up.
Hammock – Treklite doublenest. Will switch to a varaint on the Hennessy in summer.
I hear that a lot, actually.
Well, it’s theoretically possible, I suppose, if one got lost and then suffered a major injury, but it ain’t likely. In the Smokies, you only cross one road in a 70-mile section, but even there there are other hikers on all sorts of side trails and rangers and whatnot. The vast majority of places, you’re never far from emergency help.
FWIW, I think you probably misunderstood Bryson; he was irrationally afraid of such things, and said so, even though he knew better.
I’ll be rolling through Damascus in a couple of weeks, then coming back for Trail Days.
Don’t forget to let me know when you’re up in the Whites. Trail magic can be arranged.
I was under the impression that the most isolated section is the Hundred Mile Wilderness in Maine. Is that the case?
(Even that, if I remember correctly, has some logging roads through it, so you’re still not totally out of reach of the outside world if something goes wrong.)
That was my thought as well, and the 100 Mile isn’t really that isolated. You’re never more then a days walk from some civilization. It’s possible to get lost anywhere, but by the time you reach Maine you should be pretty good at staying found.
Have you considered continuing on from the Maine end to take the International Appalachian Trail through Quebec and Newfoundland?
I ask because I just finished translating Ulysse’s tour guide to the national parks of the Gaspé and Bas-Saint-Laurent, many of which protect sections of the Appalachians.
No questions. Just wanted to say that I read your whole blog this morning. Fascinating stuff. Please keep on blogging (as long as you keep hiking, that is).
To pick up on matt_mcl’s question, I recently read Alone in the Appalachians, by Quebec journalist Monique Dykstra. She hiked part of the IAT, starting from Mount Katahdin, continuing through New Brunswick and ending up, as I recall, somewhere in the Gaspé peninsula. Wasn’t the best book I’ve ever read, and she wasn’t much of a hiker (by her own admission). Frankly, your blog is better. To give her credit though, fate threw her a curve ball, in that she expected her boyfriend to accompany her through parts of the toughest and most isolated areas, but he was too sick to even meet up with her once. So she hiked alone, and this was in 2000, when the IAT was, I gather, still quite unknown, and there wasn’t much trail magic to hope for.
If I recall correctly, however, there are very few people who have done the entire trail – including the Canadian part – in one shot.
Most of the AT community hasn’t embraced the IAT. It’s kind of a letdown after reaching Katahdin.
Glad you’re doing well. Keep up the good work.
I think so, but Telemark is right – “wilderness” is kind of a misnomer even there.
It’s a wonderful idea … wanna pay for it? (and get me a new job when I tell mine that I’m adding another few months to my LOA?)
Thanks to all for the kind words…
Are you back on the trail? Your last blog entry, as far as I can tell, is April 19. Not wanting to put any pressure on you, or anything… 
And I know you were visiting family for a while…
Just got into Damascus, VA today.
My mom has a weeks’ worth of journal entries that she promised to enter for me (I was going to do it myself but ran out of time); I’ll try to gently remind her. The few days after that have been mailed to my transcriber and should be up soon. Thanks for the interest.
Can you play Dueling Banjos?
To be honest I totally envy you.