AT Hike/ One of Many Accounts

By: NEIL KIRBY

Paul Krebs did his best to keep his plans a secret - he didn't want to spread the word without being absolutely sure he could go. But before long, everyone knew he was considering the five-month trip.

"I went to the library and the librarian said to me, 'I hear you're going to be heading off into the Appalachian Trail,' and I said, 'I guess I am,' " Krebs recalled.

resident, Krebs began the adventure this past March in Gainesville, Ga. and would be among the few hikers who would complete the entire 2,200-mile trail, crossing a total of 14 states on foot.
Krebs, 48, said he was always an active person, and had no qualms about being able to finish.
As he would learn though, there was almost no way to tell who could endure the physical hardships and constant foot-pounding the trail presented. While some "thru hikers" - those who walk the entire trail in one go - seemed to him as if they had spent their entire lives in the mountains, others were fresh-faced and inexperienced.

"Some don't have any idea what they've gotten themselves in for," he observed.
According to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, only 25 percent of the more than 1,000 thru hikers each year are able to complete the entire journey; many give up after 20 miles when they reach the first town.

"Some people were very much out of shape and had this optimistic notion they would get in shape pretty quickly," Krebs said. "In some cases that happened, and in other cases that didn't happen. Some people realized after a while they didn't like it. For various reasons, just being in the woods or sleeping on the ground, they just weren't having fun, and at that point you start looking for reasons to go home."

Injury often forced others to bow out, but aside from a minor infection in his ankle, Krebs was spared.
The Appalachian Trail entices hikers for many different reasons. In Krebs' case, he had thought about hiking the path for decades, ever since high school.
"My father would take us out in hiking and backpacking trips on the trail down in Shenandoah," he said. "I got the bug then."

But as the years went on, the idea of hiking the Appalachian Trail got sidelined until a conversation with a colleague's daughter piqued his interest again. The young woman had already completed the Appalachian Trail as well as the 2650-mile Pacific Crest Trail and the 3100-mile Continental Divide Trail.

"She got me a little more enthused," he said. "I think it got my wife concerned that I would do all three."
Krebs was finally able to pursue his dream when he took a sabbatical from Schenectady County Community College, where he teaches culinary arts.
"A lot of hikers I met quit their jobs," Krebs said. "They started a new chapter in their lives. But I liked the job I had."

Krebs insisted that without the support of his wife, Wendy, he wouldn't have been able to finish the journey. When he suggested he might complete the trip in sections rather than as a thru hiker, "She said, 'No way. You keep walking.' "
Life on the trail was different from the daily grind at home, Krebs said. The hikers would often start their day at dawn and hike for 20 or 30 miles until they reached a shelter or decided to camp.

Rodents made life miserable for some, but Krebs managed to avoid the mice that nipped at people at night in search of food. An example: One camper insisted he wanted to sleep in the corner of the shelter. He woke up later that night flailing his arms and shouting.
"Something had fallen from the rafters on him," Krebs said. "It was a mouse running around."
The friendship Krebs found in other thru hikers might have been the most memorable part of the trip, he suggested.

Krebs spent much of his time with "Dodger," who, like many thru hikers, was given a trail name by another hiker.
Dodger's name referenced a story he told about dodging a bear on a previous hike. Krebs' moniker, on the other hand, was "Long Step," for his fairly long stride.
"I kept meeting fun people that were good hiking companions and that helped a lot with keeping a good positive attitude," he said.

One night near the New York and New Jersey border the group banded together with the goal of reaching an ice cream parlor before it closed.
"It was about the fun of taking on the challenge together and seeing if we could do it," he said.
The caravan reached the shop shortly before it closed, and enjoyed their ice cream before shuffling on again.
Tasty treats were often on the minds of the hikers who sustained themselves with trail mix and boiled grains.

"It seemed like an excessive amount of time was spent thinking and talking about food," Krebs said.
"I gave away my culinary background whenever I got around to a place with kitchen privileges," he said, adding that he would sometimes scrounge up whatever ingredients were available and make a savory meal for the thru hikers.
After five months on the trail, Krebs and the others approached the end at Mount Katahdin in Maine, the final challenge for thru hikers. The peak rises into the sky out of relatively flat land, and was one of the more difficult mountains to scale. Krebs called the ascent "dramatic."
"I didn't know how I would feel, but it was very exhilarating to be up there, a real sense of satisfaction," Krebs said. Then the goodbyes started.

"When I first came back there was a sense of relief," he said. "But now that a little time has gone by - I've been home for a month - I do miss the peacefulness of the routine and the carefree days."
Krebs kept in touch with a few thru hikers who finished the journey after he did. Some kept attempting despite injury.

"It's amazing how persistent some of these people are," he said.
As for himself, he's still feeling the physical effects of the trip. He's heard some hikers say it takes three to six months for one's feet to feel normal again.

"They're still kind of tender, a little bruised on the bottom," Krebs said.
He returned to work last week and plans on staying home for a while, rather than hiking the Pacific Crest or some other several-thousand-mile trail.
"I think one will be enough for me," he said. "At least for now."

SECTION HIKING THE AT

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Hiker Charles Rohrbacher stands atop Mount Washington. At 6,288 feet, it is the highest peak along the Appalachian Trail.

Three pairs of boots, nine years and 2,175 miles later, Charles Rohrbacher did it; he finally finished hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Hiking segments on the trail during six summers, Rohrbacher finally stood atop Mount Katahdin in Maine on July 14 this year and claimed victory.
"I had enjoyed hiking during my 19 years with the Boy Scouts and what inspired me to finish the trail was when a former student, Ryan Schmit, completed it in 2006," Rohrbacher said.
Rohrbacher, who is a High School business teacher, only had time to hike during some summers when he first started his odyssey in 1998 from Springer Mountain, Ga., to Hot Springs, N.C.
The idea for a national hiking trail was first conceived in 1921 and was finally completed in 1938 with the assistance of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Appalachian Trail stretches through 14 states, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Rohrbacher hit the trail again during the summers of 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007. Averaging approximately 10-15 miles a day, he found the last 100 miles were the most remote, had difficult terrain and weather and it was harder to find a place to sleep.
"There are shelters every 8-10 miles but some are small and primitive. I’d check my trail guide and if there was a town close, I’d hitchhike and find a laundry, groceries, and place to shower and sleep," he said.
Obviously not able to pack food for three weeks in an already stuffed 30-to-40-pound backpack, Rohrbacher also relied on family and friends who mailed food packages for him to post offices along his hiking route. And then there were the "trail angels," local friendly residents who would bring trail hikers cookies and other goodies to brighten their day.
Rohrbacher saw quite a bit of history during his hike; Harper’s Ferry, a 300-year-old stone monument to George Washington, the site where Audie Murphy’s plane crashed, the nation’s largest tree in girth and Dartmouth College where the trail goes right through the campus.
He also saw his fair share of deer, moose and bears but didn’t have encounters with any. "In the Smokey Mountains they have chain-link fencing around the shelters so the bears can’t get in," he explained.
Rohrbacher said the north portion of the Trail through New Hampshire and Maine is the most arduous.
"There are warnings of the dangers for inexperienced hikers. There are also some rivers that have to be crossed and a marker at one place requires hikers to be ferried across by canoe," he explained.
On a lighter note he mentioned a remote restaurant on an island that could only be reached by boat.
"There is an air horn on the dock and when you sound it, they send a boat to pick you up. Some people complained about the food prices but it was good and it was the only place to eat for miles," he laughed.
After finally achieving his hiking goal, would he do it again? Rohrbacher simply said, "I’m glad I did it and I would do it again."

http://thenewspaperthatwalks.com/

Hiking trail is 'about living on your own'

By Janene Holzberg Walking the entire Appalachian National Scenic Trail isn't really about hiking, says James Sharpe of Ellicott City."Hiking the trail is about living on your own more than anything else," said Sharpe, who completed the 2,175 miles through 14 states between April and October. "Of course, it's exciting and it's challenging. But it's the trail culture -- knowing that everyone is very nice and trustworthy -- that lures people" to make the journey from Georgia to Maine.It's not uncommon that people assume that hiking the trail is one lengthy camping trip, Sharpe said. In fact, "thru-hikers" -- people who walk the "A.T." in one continuous journey -- don't hike every day or sleep outdoors every night, said Sharpe, 25.Every three to five nights, they sleep in a hostel or a hotel in a nearby town, he said. They shower, eat a meal that's not dehydrated or cooked over a campfire, and sleep in a bed. They replenish their supplies, send and receive gear at the post office, do laundry, socialize with other hikers and then hit the trail again.

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