362-pound Oregon hiker rescued on Appala chian Trai

“Appalacian Trail from the Nantahala River to Chehoa Bald, NC.

right on gojo.”

“The descent from Cheoah to NOC sucks! I think I would have preferred to climb it! I started smelling the burgers about 3 miles from the river and the last mile seemed to last FOREVER...I hated that descent. Actually, that descent was the end of the A.T. for one of the guys with us ~ ruined his knee.”

“�It's not uncommon for westerners to get their asses kicked by the Appalachians.�
gojo
3:06:34 PM
4/30/08

generally the fat and/or outta shape ones. and vice versa.”

“Western hiking:



Eastern hiking:

”

“Oh. Where is little rock field? How cute!”

“Mt. Lady Washington, Rocky Mtn. NP - CO


depends on where you hike, lmg :)


that whole, "my trails are harder than your trails" debate is silly. They're all good trails. There's hard hikes and easy hikes in the Apps, Daks, Rocky's, Sierras, Cascades, etc, etc. You can get your butt kicked whereever you want to go.
last edited: 5/02/08 2:45:25 PM”

“spindle ~ it's the top of Pamola Peak in ME

doof ~ yea, it does. There are certainly long grassy walks in the East too...the balds in TN, for example.

I don't think one is harder or better than the other. I do think that some Westerners are mighty defensive though. They think the "hills" in the East are easier or "not as good" because they aren't as big. On the contrary, I think Easterners tend to have an appreciation for both. :)”

“Ah, we're not up to that one yet.

I certainly have an appreciation for both. Although the Westerners get to look up from their boots more often. They're kinda spoiled that way. ;)”

“mountains are good - i like mountains - big ones, little ones, rocky ones, grassy one.

Yeah, mountains are good.

Looking up now and then is good too.

:)”

“I have never slammed someone about the mountains out west. I'm not that naive, however on numerous occasions I have found myself defending our beloved eastern mountains from people out west who think altitude is everything and that our little mountains in the east are little more than molehills. I'd be willing to bet that if you were to figure out the altitude gain and loss per mile, the east coast mountains would present more challenges.”

“see i am from the midwest where our idea of a mountain is anything you can't see over that is made of dirt. so i can poke fun of east and west indiscriminately. ;)”

“and that -is- a photo of a dude hiking up "mallard mountain" or "songbird hill" or some other landfill like that... i mean look... you can see discarded bedroom furnishings at the top!”

“I see cairns and trail signs...but I can see why it would look like a landfill”

“Feh, depends on how you look at things.I see plenty of interesting things. To me, even mountains are optional. I just like hiking.”

“cairns and trail signs... icons of the TRUE WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE. LOL!”

“youre starting to sound like mutt, beggarsan”

“see i am from the midwest where our idea of a mountain is anything you can't see over that is made of dirt. so i can poke fun of east and west indiscriminately. ;)”
Yogisan

ok...that's funny. lol”

“There is plenty of 'western bias' where people that have never ever even BEEN east of Kansas look at the listed elevation of Cold Mtn or Shining Rock or Katahdin and smirk at the 'measly' 6,000 foot height and try to say that "Oh, hell, thats just barely higher than my front porch".

However, what they don't realize is that the trailhead to Cold Mtn is around 2,800 thus providing every bit of the elevation gain that their beloved 14,000 foot peak provides.

It's all relative.

It's all good too.”

“sorry, but 6000 feet in elevation feels nothing like 14,000 feet. You sure have a lot more oxygen at 6000 feet.”

“sorry but blah blah blah. im sick of mountain snobs. eastern trails, youre tripping and falling over rocks and roots up every hill. anyways, its not supposed to be a competition.
last edited: 5/03/08 7:11:01 AM”

“lol...crash...I don't know if that was supposed to be funny but it got me laughing.”

“it was”

“Of course it feels different at 6,000 vs 14,000 - it IS different. If it were the same, it'd be rather boring.

Different is just different. Not better.”

“good point doof.....I can't really vouch for the mountains out west because I've never been out west...not backpacking anyways. One good thing about Eastern Mountains...No altitude sickness and no grizzlies...although I have seen some big black bears but they don't quite have the nasty rep that grizzlies have.”

“WTF? Why should they set up a damned command post to pull some fat bastard outta the woods.

What a bunch of douches.”

“because thats part of the Incident Control System. Its a system thats supposed to be expandable depending on how large the incident gets. This command post may have just been an Incident commander and a medical officer. Its obvious that the crews involved didn't have enough information to know that it was just going to be assisting someone from the woods. They had to prepare for the possibility that the patient may have needed to be evacuated by helicopter depending on his medical condition. As the scope of the operation decreases, the Incident Command System also decreases.”

“in this case the "incident" ws very large.”

“so what you are saying is that big ol fat people shouldn't hike? heck he was out doing what he wanted to do . what about the skinny people that go hiking and have some thing happen to them.....”

“I grew up near the Smokies--mid-East tennessee. That humidity can be a mother. However--
any trail can kick tail at any time. Sometimes you feel great and sometimes you don't.
My toughest has been an off trail So Cal desert hike of 8K gain in less than 8 miles.
I haven't hiked it but the Santa Rosa ridgeline boast over 30K gain/loss in less than 30 miles. I've only heard of a handful of people doing it, due to water caches and the difficulty doing that. No trail, crawl under bushes with a full pack. Doesn't that sound like fun??!!”

“holy crap....30k gain/loss in less than 30 miles.....Thats a butt kicker for sure...I know I couldn't handle that”

“red I feel for you that is tough. I did 5 miles with a 5k gain in the trinity alps once...butt kicker! I pratically crawled into camp LOL!”

“I agree with Yogi, I am also a midwesterner. I have crossed huge rock fields in Wyoming and hunted in the southern Apalachians, elevation gain is elevation gain but when the air is thicker, to me, it is easier. In Montana last year the trail was up one asskicker of a switchback, down the other side, cross a short valley and do it again. That sucked!

I had thought about doing the AT at one time until I read trail reports and books on it and now I just am not interested. For some hikers it would be a blast but for me I like solitude and quiet, not trail shelters and small town stops. Oh, and the smell of burgers frying. But that is just my opinion, we each hike our own hike.
last edited: 5/05/08 7:20:47 AM”

“i definitely couldve done with a few less people on the AT, but it was still fun”

“What's Big Cypress? 25 ft. above sea level? Do it in July...”