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  1. #41
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    They have braille GPS units?
    I love the smell of esbit in the morning!

  2. #42

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    Read the article, it talks and takes voice commands. It's a good thing he's testing it thoroughly.

  3. #43
    Registered User ChinMusic's Avatar
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    I brought this topic up at our Lions Club meeting today. There was a lot of interest.

  4. #44

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    Quote Originally Posted by ChinMusic View Post
    I brought this topic up at our Lions Club meeting today. There was a lot of interest.
    ChinMusic, I've done a lt of work here in Chattanooga with visually impaired young people. I have worked extensively with local Lions Club chapters to gain support (both financial & volunteer) for this work.

    Send me a PM with your email, and I'll send you a PDF file of a poster I co-wrote for a Centers for Disease Control & Prevention conference on eliminating barriers to hiking for the visually impaired. Your Lions Club might find it interesting, and perhaps it will inspire the club to hold a hiking related event in your community for visually impaired people.

    Check out this video;

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGYBamx_8D0
    'All my lies are always wishes" ~Jeff Tweedy~

  5. #45
    Registered User orangebug's Avatar
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    Sorry, but I didn't find a link to an article on his website.

    I still wonder about accuracy of GPS - text to voice to text - and question how well it will get the specificity of location for hazardous areas - like the ledge drop off north of Blood Mtn. He isn't going to have enough benefit of the white blazes - that many of us miss on lousy spots like the Humps in rain and windstorm.

    And in any case, how many drivers will slow down for him at NC US 19E, much less at the NY Turnpike? What will he do to find the blue blazes? How will he find the trickling water sources that many of us miss north of Mt Rogers halfway to Wise shelter?

    I hope this guy will take advantage of all the kindness of strangers that will be offered.

  6. #46

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    Quote Originally Posted by orangebug View Post
    Sorry, but I didn't find a link to an article on his website.
    The article is in the first post of the thread, text and link to original. His website is just a placeholder with his pic and a little meaningless copy.

    I hope this guy will take advantage of all the kindness of strangers that will be offered.
    He's blind, not crazy like Blanche DuBois.

  7. #47

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    Yesterday I spent some time talking to Michael Hanson about his upcoming thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. You can listen to a 21 minute with Michael at the link below;

    http://americanhiking.chattablogs.co...es/062072.html

  8. #48
    •Completed A.T. Section Hike GA to ME 1996 thru 2003 •Donating Member Skyline's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MOWGLI16 View Post
    Yesterday I spent some time talking to Michael Hanson about his upcoming thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. You can listen to a 21 minute with Michael at the link below;

    http://americanhiking.chattablogs.co...es/062072.html

    When I click on the link to listen all I get is a HTTP 404 Page Not Found error message.

  9. #49

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    Quote Originally Posted by Skyline View Post
    When I click on the link to listen all I get is a HTTP 404 Page Not Found error message.
    I haven't listened yet but, it worked for me.

  10. #50

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    My apologies. I fixed the link. Please let me know if you have any problems accessing the audio file.

    http://americanhiking.chattablogs.co...es/062072.html
    'All my lies are always wishes" ~Jeff Tweedy~

  11. #51

    Default Mowgli, you know that talk is cheap...

    [quote=MOWGLI16;428369]Yesterday I spent some time talking to Michael Hanson about his upcoming thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. /quote]

    Most people who talk about how they're going to hike the whole AT never so much as get to the Trail, and most of those who do, never come close to finishing the whole thing. Let's just not consider this guy's talk as important until he actually has a few states behind him, the odds being what they are. (And, no, my situation was not analogous; I had no irremediable physical handicaps that made a solo thru attempt unsafe, as he does.)

  12. #52
    Registered User ChinMusic's Avatar
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    I'd be impressed if he gets a few MILES behind him, let alone a few states.

    If he manages to get from Springer to Neels he might be golden.

  13. #53

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    Quote Originally Posted by minnesotasmith View Post
    (And, no, my situation was not analogous; I had no irremediable physical handicaps that made a solo thru attempt unsafe, as he does.)
    You weren't obese, and perhaps morbidly so, when you started the trail?
    'All my lies are always wishes" ~Jeff Tweedy~

  14. #54

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    No he wasn't. A little plumb, maybe, but not morbidly so.

  15. #55

    Default I think this sums up what this guy is about to do...

    Apt pic:

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...tor3584183.jpg

    (Note it is PG-13, so don't look at it in front of Grandma or the under-12 set.)

  16. #56
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    I think it's way cool.

    I haven't been on the AT, though I did drive under it once. I'm also not blind, but relating it to the Fundy Footpath, and from what I know of blind people, I would have to say that it is both doable and worth doing. I can see it taking a long time and requiring a lot of patience and determination in some sections. Blind people seem to have patience and determination in spades, and just as much sense to use their time wisely as the rest of us, with perhaps more wisdom than most.

  17. #57
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    Try and imagine what his memories will be filled with for the rest of his life when he finishes a journey such as that. The intensity of the sounds, the clarity of the smells, dampness, wind currents, and the tap tap tapping, learning the AT from one end to the other like no human has before.

  18. #58

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    Quote Originally Posted by JAK View Post
    Try and imagine what his memories will be filled with for the rest of his life when he finishes a journey such as that.
    Yeah, as a blind parapalegic. No way can this guy honestly (e.g., both truly blind and alone) make it through Mahoosic Notch and a hundred other places that were a PITA for a fit, sighted hiker.

  19. #59
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    Well whether he only makes it that far, or all the way, it will be so much
    greater an accomplishment because of the opinions of you and I eh.

    p.s. Congrats on your successful thru-hike by the way. Cheers.

  20. #60

    Default Thanks on the belated congrats, JAK...

    Quote Originally Posted by JAK View Post
    Well whether he only makes it that far, or all the way, it will be so much
    greater an accomplishment because of the opinions of you and I eh.

    p.s. Congrats on your successful thru-hike by the way. Cheers.
    It's just that the AT in so many places is NOT a trail. It's a bog, a rockpile, a steep slope that's almost a cliff, a trackless waste, etc.

    BTW, did you look at that picture I posted just above that I thought perfectly summed up his situation?

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