The Dudes of the Mountain: The REAL mountain men

The Dudes of the Mountain: The Real Mountain Men

Inside the shelter

We got to the shelter and there was a fire going, with three men sitting around it. We set up tent away from them. Kind of nervous being 2 girls on a mountain far from town. We sat down and started talking to the 3 guys around the fire. They had all started in Georgia, all at different times, all walking different paces, all with the same goal of making it to Maine. They helped boil water to reconstitute our dehydrated rice and beans, yum. As we continued talking I came to realize the, “Appalachian Trail Hiker” culture and it amazed me. For

The Shelter

once I felt like I could be myself around them and get along with them. These men were all tied together with their love for the ‘great outdoors’ and the common objective of making it to Maine. They told us most people stared late March/early April on the trail in Georgia and head north. In Georgia, they would meet/camp with other hikers trying to make it to Maine. The trek averages 6 months of their lives and is approximately 2,181 miles. 

Classy Hobos

view on the mountain

The 3 men didn’t know each other before the trip and all began in Georgia. They all got on the trail different ways, whether it be train or even their mom driving them down. They hiked at their own pace, looking out for one another. They developed deep relationships with each other even though they had just met. "The trail really brings out the best in people," kyle told us. It also brings all types of people together. The Appalachian trail through hikers even create trail names for each other to use on the AT.

the trail after it flattened out

Vertical descend

The hikers will offer any thing of what they have. Sometimes they even leave equipment on the trail with the intent that another hiker will need it or want it. They seriously hike around with their homes on their backs. Sometimes they will meet up with people that take, “zero days”- not hiking any miles and just relaxing in town whether it be in a hotel, hostile or finding a place to work for a little to make money or wait on packages in the mail, so they could move on the trail more comfortably.

The mailing system is really cool on the trail you can bump packages up and down the trail along the towns and have family and friends mail you things. This makes the trip a lot less expensive and more enjoyable. Some interesting things are received in the mail by the hikers...

Our beloved home.

Every person hikes the trail differently, "There is no wrong way to hike the trail regardless of what people tell you." some people carry as little as possible just using a tarp to sleep under. Others carried pounds of clothes and food on their backs for miles. Some sleep in hammocks, others just rely on the shelters. Apparently, one guy was walking the trail with an amp, computer and an electric cello. There are some pretty eccentric people that hike the trail...

The AT runs through towns were the hikers usually restock on food and shower. Sometimes they will even go into town to get food then go back to the mountains to eat, this way is a lot cheaper. It was hard being so dirty and sweaty just for one night; I can’t imagine how they do it for 6 months! The towns along the trail are usually prepared for hikers, usually the hikers are their only business, most of the time the towns have an outdoors store, hotels, hostiles, camp grounds, laundromats and food available in every town along the way.

The trail has its dangers of bears, poisonous snakes and terrain. We had to hang our food up in a tree and Heather took the liberty of telling me a scary bear story during our hike and so we made sure there was no food in the tent, not even tooth paste. Of course when we woke up Heather tells me there was a granola bar wrapper in her pocket the whole night. Haha, at least no bears gave us a visit.

Being in the wild for over 48 hours just makes you realized the impact of electricity and technology has on our lives. In the woods things move, tree branches drop, bugs fly around and animals live their lives fending for themselves. "If you just sit an observe the wilderness so much happens in just one day." I purposefully turned off my phone and refuse to go on Facebook for this part of my summer. Let alone realizing the power of a toilet and just running water makes wilderness camping an amazing adventure.

Heather loved that monocular...

I didn't realized this until after the trip but when technology is in my life I become so distracted and I multitask way too much making me so much less productive. I left my phone off the whole trip other than to text my parents the location of my car and town I was in in the event they needed to find my body or rescue my arm from under a rock haha. Then I'd turn the phone off and not even remember I had one. It felt so good to be completely and utterly unavailable for once in my life.

Log in the Shelter

We woke up in the morning to they guys letting us know they’ll see us in town and Kyle asked for a ride to Damascus, VA for Trail Days- a giant festival for through hikers that are meeting up May 13 – 15th. We told him we’d try to help him out and meet up with him in town. We packed up and wrote in a notebook left in the camping shelter, the notebook had been there since September 2011.

"Lauren and Hdawgz made it to the Appalachian trail! There's some awesome people out here. We are so happy we're out here enjoying the great outdoors and weather. Peace!"

We made it back to town sweaty but not as tired as when we arrived. We rinsed off in a river by the car, it was freezing but never felt better. Got something to eat in town then drove Kyle to Boone to check out Appalachian State University, another highly sustainable state school.

On the drive to Boone we saw fields of poppy's I had to pull over and get some pics. These are one my favorite pics from the whole trip.

Before we left, Kyle took us to a hostile he was planning on staying at, that was created for the purpose of hikers to stay at while hiking on the trial. Breakfast and dinner was cheap and offered. It was $20 a night and the house was a beautiful, a remodeled historic home, just check out the pictures of it. We met some awesome people at the hostile as well, including people working there that where hiking on the trail.

Pesto Bread Sticks

We got to Boone, the college town, and I instantly knew it was not for me, so did Heather but it was a cool town. School had already let out so we just proceeded to check out the town with Kyle then got some bread sticks. We exchanged info and said our good byes to Kyle, I hope he had a good trip to Damascus, VA.

art in Boone, cool but not super impressed.

We want to meet up with him and the mountain dudes at Trial Days it’s suppose to be huge this year because of some anniversary. We really made good friends with Kyle and the other guys in such a short amount of time but it was a friendship I have never experienced before something completely genuine and real. Nothing fake at all. These mountain dudes aren’t too bad after all. . . =]
 
This trip is really helping me reflect upon myself as a person and how I affect and interact with the people around me. I want to work on how people  view me and think about me. I feel like I am gaining an understanding of patience and word choice to not come across as so bossy, I just get frustrated easily. It’s just hard to deal with my “know-it-all” attitude because I want people to feel like I am smart but I need to stop trying to prove that to other people and start believe it myself.

We returned to Heather's grandmother's house to take a much needed shower. The next morning we woke up and spent a few hours trying to plan the rest of our trip. I was getting frustrated with where to go and what to do. So I pointed to a spot on the map said "Heather were going here. Close the maps, pack your stuff, lets go." And so we did, and we ended up in Tennessee. The spontaneity on this trip is oozing from it's very core.