Dangers and Discomforts on the Appalachian Trail
Because of the interest in my last month’s article on hiking and maintaining the Appalachian Trail and because the trail is unusually beautiful in Virginia at this time of year, here is another article about the adventures of the Happy Hikers.
“It isn’t a tale worth telling if there aren’t any dragons.” I read this quote once and this week I’ve been pondering how it applies to hiking the AT. Yes there is beautiful foliage and spectacular vistas but would this be as intriguing and interesting if there weren’t also dangers and frightening, uncomfortable moments?
Very soon after beginning to hike with the Happy Hikers I learned to watch out for poison plants. Poison ivy was in abundance on the trail. Sometimes the huge 3 pronged leaves could be seen climbing trees or shrubs. Just as frequently it crept alongside paths, covering the ground. A close cousin was Poison Oak and in lower, boggy sections of the trail, Poison Sumac. Just brushing against these plants could cause an ugly, itchy rash—red with blisters appearing within hours or sometimes days. Whether leaves, branches, or even the roots of these plants, all contain rash-causing sap or resin. Some of our hikers claimed to be immune to these poisons but since 70% of the population suffers from contact with poison plants, we took no chances. We washed ourselves and our clothing as soon as we got home from a hike.
We were always on the look-out for dangerous animals. The AT in Virginia is said to contain the largest number of black bears anywhere on the trail. We never encountered any but once we did see a coyote who followed us across a meadow for a while. I hustled to be in the middle of the group on that occasion because I had read that coyotes always attack the last member of a group or a straggler. Once one of our hikers spotted a small Mountain lion on a rock high above us. But I guess we made enough noise to keep other large animals away.
We saw many snakes and lizards. The scariest time was once during a rain hike. The path was covered with small branches blown off by the rain. Wet, these branches, looked black and we soon discovered that some of these were not branches at all but black snakes, some 3 to 4 feet long. Our leader walked right through them. Later I asked her about that and she replied, “Oh, snakes never bite the FIRST one in a group.” But I was right behind her!!
The most pesky agitation were the swarms of tiny black gnats on hot summer hikes. Like a cloud they would encircle you, getting in your eyes, nose and mouth. Some of us had gnat-hats that we wore for protection and we learned that if you hold your hiking stick high above your head the gnats will swarm there. Another insect we tried to avoid were the chiggers. We carefully chose our resting places on rocks, not wood. There is nothing more miserable than being invaded by these tiny critters and, because of the location of their bites, not even being able to scratch them in public. Sometimes it was more than we could stand and one lady said, “Go ahead! Scratch where it itches and not where it looks best.”
The unevenness of the trail presented obstacles and dangers. In some instances giant roots from near-by trees protruded in the path, tripping us up. Other areas were extremely rocky and unsteady. We fell and slipped and even crawled. Sometimes there were giant trees across the path or large obstacles we had to climb over or under or find a way around. There were streams we had to cross and rickety bridges Once an ice-storm had spread cylinder-shaped ice across the trail. The ice was very strange looking. The ice cubes were long, pencil-shaped strips of ice 6” to 8” long. We knew to keep on the trail, which was well marked with large white blazes.
Fortunately there were only two accidents during the three years that I hiked with the group. One June hike when we were about one mile from our exit, Edith fell and broke a bone in her ankle. With several of us, taking turns, one on each side, we hobbled to the exit and our waiting cars. Within a month she was back on the trail.
I missed the hike when we had our most serious accident. Molly, a 70-something hiker lost her footing and tumbled down a hill. 911 was called and rescuers managed to get her on a stretcher and carry her out of some dense overgrowth. Though shaken up and covered with scratches and bruises, no bones were broken.
We never knew what the day would bring when we set out on a hike. These dangers, alongside so much beauty made the hiking of the Appalachian Trail always an adventure.
Judy Smith