When my little one was 6 years old, one day I said to him...
"Here, put on these boots and this thing called a "backpack" and let's take a little walk."
Kids that age really don't understand the difference between 2,000 miles and 2 miles ... so we hitched a ride to the trail head and spent the next several months hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Loving it so much, within a couple years we'd logged in over 5,000 miles each.
It took him many years to realize that spending months hiking the AT at the age of 6 wasn't what "everyone else does" and that it was rather "unique".
He still hasn't figured out I must have been NUTS to do the AT with a 6 year old in tow!
But he carried his weight.. sort of.
His pack averaged 10-12 lbs.. to match his size. His boots were too big, making him trip a lot .. but he got use to it.
My pack averaged 55- 60 pounds- and was 70 pounds after restocking food and water each time.
Anyhow... since I can barely lift a gallon of milk now, much less a pair of boots.... it will be nice to see this new documentary.
Thought some of you all must have been hikers too... so thought I'd share this for those interested.
BTW- The AT Conservancy and their hikers and volunteer workers support our federal bill!
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America's Wild Spaces: Appalachian Trail
A National Geographic Television Documentary
Tuesday, November 10th
8 pm EST
National Geographic cable channel
Don't miss this exciting new full length documentary America's Wild Spaces: Appalachian Trail capturing the Appalachian Trail as only National Geographic can.
In addition to breathtaking scenery along the entire Trail, you will get a chance to meet hikers, volunteers, angels, agency staff, and scientists.
Celebrate with fellow ATC members Frank Wright volunteering on Springer, Laurie Potteiger greeting visitors in Harpers Ferry, and Gary Hill completing his 2008 thru-hike atop Katahdin.
The film airs this Tuesday, November 10th, at 8 PM EST on National Geographic's cable station, again at 11 PM as well as the following Tuesday (Nov. 17th) at 4 PM EST.
"Join National Geographic on a rollercoaster ride of agonizing ascents and rewarding vistas -- all courtesy of mountains roughly 480 million years in the making.
Explore this 5 million step journey through the five distinct regions of the A.T. landscape and learn what it takes to keep this ribbon of green safe, healthy, and totally wild."
[ 11-10-2009, 07:55 PM: Message edited by: Tincup ]
Posted by Tincup (Member # 5829) on :
OOPs... Wrong section to post this!
Let's see if the new moderators are paying attention! We can give them something to do.
Don't tell goofy or the others.. just let's see how long it takes to zap me outta here.
Posted by massman (Member # 18116) on :
Thx ! Fond memories. Lived in Pittsfield + Stockbridge MA, spent time on the trail hiking + cross country skiing.
Also climbed Mt. Katahdin twice.
Posted by canbravelyme (Member # 9785) on :
Tinny,
I never knew you were a hiker!
Did your 6 year old get sLYMEd? or is he one of the genetic fortunates?
Miss camping too!
Posted by Pinelady (Member # 18524) on :
Sounds wonderful. I lived in the woods and the
weeds. Hunting, fishing, NA artifact hunting. You
cannot see the beauty of the deep woods any other
way. Now I would not even attempt it without
packing the dursban and a big bottle of quick
killer. But I sure do miss it. LOL
Thanks for the link.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Sounds good!! Thanks for sharing your story with us!
I was lymed in the country.. not hiking, but being in the woods each and every weekend.
Posted by Tincup (Member # 5829) on :
Mass... fond memories, indeed. Glad you were able to enjoy it.
Can.. yes, I hiked myself simple. LOVED every minute of it too.
Would be out there now if it weren't for this Lyme stuff. And thank goodness the kid was spared back then.
He did get Lymed twice on the job .. and once was hit with Ehrlichiosis too. .. but we caught it early on and he was treated as if he had contracted 400 infectious diseases and it was done immediately.
Doing fine now... and I say a prayer of thanks for that often.
Where did you camp, can?
Tutu... the woods.... I love them.
What a wonderful place to go to renew one's spirit.
Posted by cactus (Member # 7347) on :
Glad you posted in the wrong section!
Your kiddo was a lucky boy!
I come from a family of thru hikers. Love it, love it.
Loved it so much that all I wanted to do when I grew up was find a career that would let me sleep under the stars - or in a tent if it looked like rain.
Found my dream job, too. Out west. High desert camping, mmmmm.
Will be watching this on Tues - thanks for posting!
Posted by Tincup (Member # 5829) on :
Wow cactus.... that's nice, thru hikers are a breed of their own.
BTW-
It's on now... for those who want to watch it!
I ALMOST forgot!!!!
Posted by Tincup (Member # 5829) on :
Oh my! How beautiful.
AND.. they talked about how to stop people from getting Lyme disease!
Really they did!
When they got to the Hudson River area of the AT they talked about Lyme for a minute or two. Showed a bunch of ticks and had a guy with Lyme talking about it.
They said if you want to get rid of Lyme, just have more copperheads and rattle snakes to eat the rodents!
No rodents, no Lyme!
HELLO?
Yes, that was their solution. For real! I kid you not!
Otherwise... a beautiful documentary.
BUT...
I have to say after seeing thousands of trail hikers... and even being one....
Those were by FAR the cleanest hikers I've ever seen!
One girl... and I've never seen this.. was wearing a SKIRT while THRU hiking the AT.
And one guy had on a pair of white slacks!
Come on now....
Oh well!
Posted by massman (Member # 18116) on :
Cactus - high desert camping !
I spent 4 years in OR and all vacations were high desert camping / fishing / rafting the Deschutes, Hell's Canyon Snake River and more.
I admit I did get addicted.
Posted by canbravelyme (Member # 9785) on :
quote:No rodents, no Lyme!
Well, I guess no rodents is included in no mammals after a major nuclear blast? Then no ticks; OK.
It always irks me when someone says control deer ticks by culling the deer population.
Or another one, "What do you mean you pulled deer ticks off your dog? They're dog ticks if they're on your dog. Eesh.
I was an "insta-camper". I had a tent at all times in the back of my TR-7, and myself and my trusty dog in the passenger seat, we would sneak away to a campground for the night, just to be in the tent.
It's sort of sad, looking back, to how beautiful it was.
ANYway, pre-dog I used to drive and camp in Maine and New Hampshire; one of my most beautiful serendipitous occurrences was camping on Mount Agamenticus in Maine; waking up in the wild rose bushes with my tent door facing out from the side of the mountain into the sky-gap between this mountain and the next.
I can't tell you where all I camped. Mainly campgrounds. Algonquin park when I was younger.
I camped crown land camping on Georgian Bay. Just pick a small rock / island and pitch the tent.
I hiked a lot in the back fourty on the farm I lived on; hiked along the river below where I lived in a geodesic dome. Hiked in Nova Scotia near where my house was; beautiful moss hanging from the trees. Tick central.
Posted by canbravelyme (Member # 9785) on :
What really annoys me, and I know it's banal conversation for this place, is how it was that my contracting Lyme was not recognized.
I was in a high risk group. All of us on this page were in high risk groups. When all hell broke loose; when all the wheels were flying off left and right from the bus screaming downhill from someone who hadn't had any illness up until that point, you would think the first thing to suspect was Lyme.
When I became disabled by it, I'd go to doctors,
"I think it's something that I got camping and it has to be something that humans and dogs can contract, 'cause the dog has the same symptoms".
How many things could that be? Plus I was covered in a rash (twice; three years apart; two exposures), mind you it wasn't bullseye.
The doctors would either look at me with a helpless feeling as they didn't know what was going on, or else look at me skeptically and suggest IBS.
That would account for the diarrhea, rarely does IBS involve vomiting, but OK; the real stretch was the inability to count change.
Of course it became much worse. Burning pain from head to toe and behind my eyes with feelings of large grit in my eyes. Spasticity. Throwing up 3-5 times a week. Trouble speaking. Psychological? Are you kidding me? Good gracious!
Plus the dog was throwing up and acting paranoid. She got better with doxy. No doctor (other than an American one) would think my discussion of the dog's symptoms and how they related to my own anything but insanity.
Over and Over I would encounter: Lazy. Mediocre. Arrogant. The three ran together like thieves, and there are herds of them.
"The highest cost is the human cost", I said to an acquaintance the other day. "What did [I] mean?"
I said, "The physical suffering; looking down into the deep thin well where you know the hells extend far past where you can see, and knowing that you just never want to know and avert your eyes because the physical suffering you're experiencing is brutal.
"Having the luxury of going camping taken away from you. Not being able to see friends. Being housebound (but not realizing it); bed-bound then housebound again as I recovered."
Posted by shazdancer (Member # 1436) on :
I'm a day hiker at best, though I just had the opportunity to hike the third highest mountain in Maine (Old Speck) just a few weeks ago. It is part of the AT, in Grafton Notch between New Hampshire and Maine. Caught the fall colors and the smell of the balsam woods. Beautiful.
I've also hiked a section of the AT closer to Katahdin, in an area called Gulf Hagas. Deep gorges, waterfalls, pine forests, mossy glades. Fantastic.
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Miss camping too!
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