OT: Hiking in TN/NC/GA

I'm just back from 2+ weeks of hiking where I did 80 miles of the Benton MacKaye Trail from Reliance, TN to near Fontana Dam, NC with a couple of friends in 6 days. Then a solo 9 day 112 mile hike on the Appalachian Trail from Franklin, NC to Springer Mtn and Amicalola Fall State Park in GA. I kept thinking of Nanci backpacking this area with her pigeon. Hiked through a bear reserve area in which we heard a bear and saw plenty of signs. Saw one rattler, one black snake, a couple garter snakes, several deer, turtles, grouse, a raccoon, lots of wildflowers. Slept in my homemade hammock on the BMT, but opted for shelters on the AT since it rained every night. I even spent one night with marble-sized hail in a metal-roofed shelter. My mileage was 15-18 miles per day when I hiked til 5 or 6 pm, but there were shorter days too. Temperatures from 37F to 80F. Pack weight around 25-30 lbs depending on food and water. Max time without a shower was 5 days. If its not sacreligious to say this on a cycling web site, I love getting away from roads and cars and being surrounded by only woods. I had a really good time on the trail, but now I'm enjoying being able to pee at night without putting my boots on.

Wow. Sounds wonderful. 9 days solo on the Appalachian Trail! Did you see many other hikers? I haven't been there since 1990. We had a "scare" on our longest hike on that trip, in which we were sure we about to be eaten by a bear. Turns out it was some loud kind of squirrel. Boomer squirrel, or something like that!

post pix if you have them! I'll bet it was gorgeous. I love that part of the country. Lise

I hit the tail end of the hiking season for GA on the AT. Saw maybe 8-12 hikers per day, almost all northbound while I was southbound. Most thru-hikers leave in March and April - only a few college students starts in May, and some section hikers. And it was getting hot by mid May. My first night in NC there was 5 people in the shelter. After that I never shared a shelter with more than 1 other person, and was alone one night atop Springer. It was a gorgeous area and easier hiking than what New Englanders are used to.

The Benton MacKaye Trail was a different character than the AT, being far less used (saw one other hiker in 6 days) and not well marked or maintained. Often crawling over or around blowdowns, following indistinct tracks through the woods, even wading through waist-high mayapples a few times. Some wonderful old growth forests following the TN/NC border along a high ridgeline.