500-Year Plan

I did my first walk on the Appalachian Trail in July, 2005. It wasn't a week-long plunge into the wilderness or an amazing athletic feat of mileage covered in an afternoon. We just parked at the Byron Herbert Reece Memorial off of US 19, walked the approach trail to Flat Rock Gap, the on up to the summit of Blood Mountain on the Appalachian Trail. Oh, and then back to the car. Possibly everyone who lives within 500 miles of Neels Gap and owns a pair of hiking shoes has done this walk.

Studying books about the Appalachian Trail, I decided I probably was never going to be a through hiker. I enjoy sleeping indoors in a bed too much to backpack from Georgia to Maine (or the other direction). I idly considered a scheme of doing section hikes over the years till I had hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. To some extent, it's not so idle. Whenever we're in north Georgia, I try to work in a hike that includes part of the Appalachian Trail. So now I tell people that I'm on the "Five-Hundred-Year Plan"--that in 500 years I'll have hiked the entire trail.

So am I on pace?

According to mileages in the Appalachian Trail Guide to North Carolina-Georgia, that first walk was 1.4 miles. On 8 August 2006, our walk included the stretch from Springer Mountain to Three Forks, 4.1 miles. On 9 August 2006 we covered the trail from Blood Mountain to Jarrard Gap, 2.6 miles. 2 September 2007, a leisurely stroll from Three Forks to Long Creek Falls, .8
miles. On 18 November 2007 a walk over Wildcat Mountain from Hog Pen Gap to Tesnatee Gap, 0.9 miles. On 2 May 2008 I finally got the bit from Flat Rock Gap to Neels Gap, 1 mile. And on 23 August 2008 we went from Unicoi Gap to Indian Grave Gap, 2.7 miles. So, in all, that totals to 13.5 miles in the last three-and-a-half years or so, or less than four miles a year. The Guide lists the length of the Appalachian Trail at 2,173.9 miles. At this rate I'll finish the trail in just under 564 years. The "Five-Hundred-Year Plan" is in jeopardy.

Which, aside from being a cheap excuse to play games with numbers, is my way of admitting that I'm never going to do all of the Appalachian Trail. Wherever the Appalachian Trail goes there are just too many other trails calling out to be walked. And closer to home I haven't even done all of the Florida Trail in the Big Bend, let alone all the more attractive trails in the area.

And I've still got that thing about wanting to sleep in a bed at night.