Would You ...

“I have about a years worth of decent day hikes under my belt (6-8 miles each). Last year I hiked 30 miles of the A.T. as my first "overnighter". I find I do so many day hikes because my overnight hiking partner is so busy that I find less experienced hikers to dayhike with.

I am fairly inexperienced but learned alot from my extended hike partner. My G/F is starting to seriously get into hiking and would be up to an overnight packing trip. She has no experience packing at all - short of our day hikes, and depends on me for direction.

So, in short, I'm pretty "book smart" when it comes to hiking but lack real experience - short of the 30 mile hike on the A.T. So here is my question: Would it be a recipe for disaster for me to lead a overnight hike (maybe 12-13miles) w/ my G/F somewhere on the AT (Blood Mountain) or N. Georgia Mtn's? I have all the equipment, know the area pretty well, and have experience day hiking alot of it.

Should I do it, or wait until I can coordinate with my hiking partner again?

Thanks in Advance.
-Saltlick (a.k.a Mike)

P.S.
I have been hearing alot about Bear activity near Blood Mtn and Unicoi Gap. Can anyone confirm this? When is the "wrong time" to hike when it come to bears (spring, etc?)”

“An overnight should be no problem. Just think about it as two day hikes in a row with some sleep in between. I would recomend practicing setting up your tent and cooking over your stove while you're still at home though. You don't have to be bping to camp like you are. Just give it a little practice and go for it.”

“Like deathmarch99 said. Jump right in. The AT is pretty harmless in most aspects. Heck, my first backpack trip was an attempted AT thruhike in '98 (GA-VT). Go for it!”

“You'll never get 12 to 13 miles in around Blood Mountain unless you are Superman. The whole Southern section is pretty though. I wouldn't plan over 10 miles a day down there.
I'm not doubting your hiking strength (or your girlfriend) but It'll kick your @ss pretty good carrying a full pack through there.
I'm a pretty tough BPer on the hills and 12 miles through Ga would be a full day. Not many people could pull off that kinda distance through there.

Can't help ya about your bear question.”

“Just do it!

Maybe with a girl and all, it'd be better to plan a trip where you'll reach your "basecamp" early, set up camp then do a dayhike around the area.”

“What do you mean "WITH A GIRL AND ALL"?!”

“I think he is referring to the inherent frailties of womanhood?”

“Come here, ken, so I can kick your butt. ;oP”

“Stand in line Sunshine. Me first.”

“Girl, or not, you don't want to turn her off backbacking, or yourself, for that matter. Take it easy on the first trip and relax. Have fun!”

“Walkindude -
Tell me about it. My first overnighter was from The approach Trail to Woody Gap (roughly 30 miles in 2 days). We did 7 mountains and 16 miles the first day. Sort of a root canal I don't know of anything more painful.

I was thinking for aiming at Blackwell Creek area if I can find a trailhead not too far away.

-Saltlick”

“Don't kill the messenger, ladies. I was only explaining what he meant. For the record, I beleive that most of the females at this site could probably kick my butt, and I don't want them trying!”

“I wouldn't press yer luck Buddur. Most of the women bper's I know are pretty fukin tough. If this guy's g/f is interested enough in hiking, she should be able to hack it just fine. It doesn't sound like he's tryin to drag her out there by her hair.”

“I wouldn't press yer luck Buddur. Most of the women bper's I know are pretty fukin tough. If this guy's g/f is interested enough in hiking, she should be able to hack it just fine. It doesn't sound like he's tryin to drag her out there by her hair.”

“ken, aren't you being predjudice against women, shame on you, lol.

I think the person with the biggest foot should kick his butt first :{}”

“You mean Big Foot?”

“Sunshine, LH, et. al., you can kick my butt if you want to!!!

SaltLick--lots of day hikes? An overnighter under your belt? Hell, man, go out and do it. I don't know the area, so if walkindude advises a smaller bite you may want to listen, but as long as you use simple common sense you shouldn't get worked up over sleeping in a tent.

Start to take notes on the gear you use and don't use, have and don't have; subsequent trips will be more enjoyable as you add/remove stuff from your pack. Everyone has different ideas of what luxury items are, and there is no "formula" for the correct gear.

Some wackos here even sleep in a hammock!

;^P”

“Hey! Keep your feet to yourselves. I?m not prejudiced against women. The only reason the women here can all kick my butt (except maybe you, Lips) is that they are individually tougher than me. And I?m not the one who brought up that frailty thing. I only translated somebody else?s remarks.”

“I wish I had some bp buds, that would allow me the chance to be frail.”

“Ditto what other folks and Nike say. Worst case scenario is you learn from your mistakes and your g/f dumps you. Best case scenario, you have a blast, learn from your mistakes, and get your g/f hooked.”

“I wish the best case scenario for you. Planning fewer miles per day would allow you both to more easily offset mishaps, enjoy the scenery along the way and have more energy in the evening for other forms of recreation. But only you two can decide how many miles is too many.”

“saltlick, you sound pretty experienced already with that many miles under your belt and that many day hikes. Being trail smart is avoiding things that will hurt you like standing to close to edges and not putting your feet securely infront of you, and just be prepared with extra food incase of anything. Know where you are going, and how to get back.

Take what you need to sustain you on the trail, i.e. tent, sleeping bag, stove? whatever you need to face the conditions you will be under.

It's good to be concerned, but I wouldn't worry, because your girlfriend sounds like she is up for it.”

“Life is short --
Eat desert first.

&GO4IT!”

“Rick with his once a month post!!! (hey Rick)

Hey Rick (between you and me) are you Dr. Laura? Shhhhh, I won't tell.”

“do less miles...

go somewhere that you've overnighted before...

and you should not have a single problem...

unless it rains. new hikers hate that sh!t.”

“flyguy6x...
No!!!!!!

By the way, it's more than 1x per month... But I have a life!

(kiddeeeen!!!!)
:-)”

“Mr.bcTrailguy said what I meant..."you don't want to turn her off backbacking, or yourself, for that matter. Take it easy on the first trip..."

I don't hike with many girls...'cause there ain't many that I know that hike. Beings that this would be Mr.Saltlick's womans first hike, I figured she'd be like those that don't backpack. The kind that you DON'T want to bust their ass on the trail, 'cause then it'd be even harder to get them out there again.

I certainly wasn't talkin' about you gals that already like this activity. Especially younz that could kick my butt!

Want to kick my butt. That's just like a girl!”

“13 miles in two days should be no problem. Make some mistakes. Learn. Have a blast.”

“Tommy, You're so cute, I couldn't bring myself to kick your butt. Can I just spank you? ;o)”

“I'd shorten your milage some. BOTH of you will thank me for it later. Wait till ya got some more overnighters under your belt, them step up the milage. Carrting a day pack vs. a 30+ pound backpack is a totally different story.
If you do decide to go with 12 mile days, PREPARE FOR AN EPIC!
Good luck to yall.”

“That which doesn't kill you will only make you stronger. If backpacking is what you want to do, don't just talk/read about it go out there and do it. become experienced the old fashioned way....learn by application. If sitting on the couch reading books about backpacking (not that there's anything wrong with the how-to books) then you'll need another web site, this one as you can see from the who met who thread is about getting out there.”

“Yo sirpete
We want him to go out and have fun, but we don't want him to go out and kill his self either, or his chick. LOL. The epic trips WILL happen. Just try to ease into 'em.”

“LOL I agree with you walkingdude... We need him & his trail whore to have a good time... If your first time is bad, often there's not a second time”

“someone messed up. heh heh heh.”

“Don't you freaks remember what it was like to be a kid.. You need 6 potatoes 6 cans of Spam a tarp and a good pair of shoes... there is your first one week trip. from that point you take notes and decide what would have been great to take.. You then take it and decided if it was worth taking. I think we've all had enough of using "kid gloves" on these hiker wanna be's. It they want to go out for an extended stay. GO and get off this ridicules soap box. How do we expect Darwin top work his magic is we keep protecting the idiots”