Danger on the Appalachian Trail

Bears are not the biggest danger on the AT

People like to ask me what the scariest thing that happened to me on the trail was. They have visions of me fighting off bears or running away from crazy hill people. First off, in my experience bears are super terrified of people. I saw 3 or 4 bears on the entire trail and they all took off as fast as their fat paws could take them. I managed to get a butt shot of one as it was running away. Oh, and the only crazy hill people I saw also happened to be the same people that I was hiking with, myself included.

The scariest things out there are the ones you can’t control

The most dangerous and scary thing that happened to me on the trail had to do with the weather. During a thru hike,  you realize that there is nothing you can do about cruddy weather. You are going to get wet no matter what and you just keep marching on. We faced rain and sleet in the Smokies, high winds in the Whites, thunderstorms in the Summer, and rain all the time. In the mid-atlantic in the summertime thunderstorms are a common occurrence. You can always tell when a thunderstorm is brewing. You watch the sky get dark and feel the wind pick up. The air seems heavy and you wonder where you will be when the storm hits. Most times there is no where to go, you are in the wilderness and the most you can hope is that you are under tree cover when the lightning starts.

Besides that, there is often no where to go. Nowhere to run and hide, no shelter to keep you safe and dry. This equates to a complete and utter feeling of helplessness. There is a thump in your chest when you realize that there is nothing you can do. You have to face the elements and take what it has to give you. We had hiked in thunderstorms over mountains, through valleys and fields, none of which are recommended, but we did it anyway, and we were fine. With those experiences behind us we felt like we could brave any weather.

The Situation

It was early July and the days were hot and long.  During this time most thru hikers are somewhere in the lowlands between West Virginia and New York. In Summer, thru hikers enjoy lighter packs and combined with flat terrain, BIG miles. No mountains to climb. light and fast. 20 plus miles a day.

Mac and I had made our way to Tumbling Run shelters  in southern Pennsylvania. It was a nice area with two small 4-person lean-tos and a covered picnic table. It was around dinner time we decided it would be no problem to stop and eat before continuing on another 7 miles before calling it quits for the day. There had been reports from day hikers of possible thunderstorms in the evening, but we had some serious ground to make up.

Recently we had been on a mission. When checking the shelter logs, we could see that a group of our friends were only about 10 miles ahead. We hadn’t seem them for over a month and we were hot on their trail. There was only one problem, when you are trying to catch up with someone that is 10 miles ahead of you and also hiking 20 miles a day, it can be tough or almost impossible to catch them.

As we were eating our customary mac and cheese with tuna, the shelter caretakers showed up with some trail magic. Cold soda and some snacks. Amazing. We chatted with them a bit and they confirmed that the weather was supposed to turn bad. As we spoke we looked up at the sky and saw that there were dark clouds coming towards us from the West.

Mac and I discussed our plan. It was too early to stop for the day and besides we were trying to catch our buddies! A little rain wouldn’t kill us.

Braving the Storm

As we were getting ready to leave, the storm was visibly closer. Heavy air and dark clouds. I set off first because Mac was still eating. He was faster than me so i knew he would catch up fairly quickly. I was moving fast hoping we may be able to outrun the worst of it. About 1/4 mile from the shelter the wind started to blow faster. We had hiked in the rain so many times before, and this would be no different I told myself. It was hot out and the rain would feel good. By the time we reached the next shelter our clothes would be as dry as they were like to get this time of year.

As I hiked the trail took me upwards at a manageable incline. The wind blew again, this time harder, and I prepared myself for a heavy rain. It would hit any minute now and I thought about putting on my pack cover. I looked to the West and was a little nervous when I saw how quickly the storm was rushing towards me. A curtain of grey was speeding at me so fast that I was afraid it would knock me over. I panicked. There was no time for rain jackets or pack covers. There was no time for anything. The only thing I could think to do was hug the nearest tree and brace for impact. I threw myself at a large tree on my left just as the rain hit. Sheets of water poured from the sky and the wind seemed to create a vortex around me. I had been wrong, there was something different about this storm. It’s veracity, its speed, the wind and the sheer amount of rain. As the first wave hit, leaves and sticks began to fall, then branches, then bigger branches until it seemed that I had been enveloped in a whirlwind of falling trees.

I couldn’t continue on. Up ahead I heard crashes as trees fell. It was too dangerous. A gust of wind tore a branch off of my tree, whipping it across the trail. In a few short seconds the trail became covered in branches and debris. I looked back the way I had come and realized that I could make a run for the shelter I had just come from. I was about 1/4 mile away and it was all downhill. I looked and listened for falling branches and trees. The rain was blinding and the wind threatened to bowl me over.  I ran, or more like flew. I used my trekking poles to vault over obstacles easily covering 5 foot distances one leap at a time.

The Comfort of a Roof

I saw the shelter through the trees as I reached the bottom of the hill. I whipped around a turn and threw myself inside. Mac was waiting and he looked at me wide eyed.

“Thank god you had the same idea as me, I didn’t wanna hike in this,” he laughed.

I looked back at him completely out of breath.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I took a minute to think about what had happened and decided to respond in the most level headed and realistic way I could.

“I almost just died! Trees were falling everywhere around me!”

Okay, so I may have exaggerated a little. Maybe I didn’t almost die, but my adrenaline was turned up to a hundred and I had been terrified. Mac and I made the decision to spend the night at the shelter. We watched the rest of the storm under the roof of the tiny 4-person shelter with two other hikers.

The next day as we hiked, we kicked branches out of our way and climbed over and around massive fallen trees. We made it to Caledonia State Park, excited to destroy their concession stand, only to find that they had lost power due to the storm. Concessions were closed. We were devastated. They were throwing away perfectly good food that needed to be kept cold. A dumpster full of food can look like a buffet to a hungry hiker…Ash but that’s a story for another time.

So, whats your scariest or most dangerous hiking moment?