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A piece of advice from a relative newbie to this site: I spent several weeks searching the threads, reading new posts, focusing on my areas of interest and learned a huge amount before I made the...

Tent camping is allowed in GSMNP only at designated sites, only one of which is on the AT. (And that's just three hours out from Fontana, so not relevant to your itinerary.) A young, strong guy ought...

Much of the time you'll be fine, but if you encounter any extended periods of rain (as I did last week in the Smokies) you may find yourself uncomfortably cold at higher altitudes. A big,...

Last week I paid Jeff at The Hike Inn $130 for a shuttle from Fontana to Davenport Gap, which amounted to about a 200 mile round-trip for him, and roughly four hours on the road. (Also included: The...

If you don't want to hear any more preaching, try something like this: "Ha, Ha, HA! YOUR puny religion has only one god. But WE have THOUSANDS of gods!" It helps if one of your eyes is twitching...

My hitching days are well behind me, but when I was in school I could ALWAYS count on making a trip, whether from college town to home town, or to some other obscure place where my buddies were in...

Have used the same route many times. When it's two of us traveling, we can get a sleeper for the northbound (night-time) leg, spend no more than two plane tickets would cost, and be in midtown...

I WEAR glasses, can do OK without them for distant vision, so concluded it wasn't worth the weight of carrying a spare pair. Baseball cap was very helpful in keeping rain off. Also, dry TP is...

I just completed the same route, but southbound (Davenport/I-40 to Fontana) in six days. Quite doable for a relative novice like myself. I wouldn't have wanted to try to cover that mileage in less...

Well, seems to me both are "facts," and like so much in real life and history, incompatible facts can be reconciled, or we can accept ambiguity. The witness says the mapped trail didn't exist in...

Having gotten rained on a good bit between June 19 and 24, I can report that there's plenty of water to be had in the Smokies, though the official spring at Mollies Ridge remained dry as of last...

Don't wait to the last minute to make shelter reservations. They get pretty full this time of year. Call to line up your overnight stops, then reference your reservation number when you fill out the...

Looks like there was a good bit of rain over the Smokies last night. Would appreciate any reports in the next day or two about how the springs are flowing.

Picky critters: My first summer of Scout camp when I was 11, I stocked up on a week's worth of candy. (Spent a whole dollar, too, kids! You can look it up!) Figured that sleeping with it in my tent,...

There's quite a bit of documentation of animals like bears, moose, elephants, etc., getting drunk from eating fermented fruit. And I wouldn't leave a glass of beer or wine out, either, as the photo...

This may clear up the mystery:
http://cone-ing.com/

I guess that explains Apalachicola in Florida -- also with the "atcha" pronunciation.

"Cheese going bad, next 10 miles."

True that. There's no single "southern" accent, and each region has its own flavor. In North Carolina, the folks around Boone call their college "app-a-LATCH-un," so I guess that's definitive for...

A strong second for the idea of taking some shorter hikes first. Two weeks, or even one, can be a lot when you don't have any experience. I'm planning a week on the AT, and for lots of reasons am...

The aroma of woodsmoke on your clothes may have some deterrent effect on insects. On the other hand, it may attract other nuisances, like hungry hikers, because you'll smell like a walking side of...

It's probably more trouble than it's worth, but there's a device that plumbers use for bending soft copper tubing so it doesn't crimp. Looks like a long coil spring that fits snugly around the tube....

More an obsolete term; not completely lost yet. Pretty common not so long ago. Kinda like "actress" or "waitress."

Three miles on the beach. This afternoon. Have done as much as a 10-mile round-trip when time permits.

When you have evidence, argue the facts.
When you have no evidence, attack the source.