Any other hikers amoungst us?

Well since I moved to NE Ohio last year I was impressed to find out I live quite near Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and the plethora of trails, waterfalls that permeate it.

I've not hiked really since I was in the scouts, and kinda took it up again........ Since winter I've done around 40 miles of the Buckeye Trail and maybe a hundred or so other miles of various other trails in the national park.

I've got a hankering for doing a bit of an expedition. Now the AT is waaay to daunting for someone as wobbly as me. but I'd like to do the Long Trail in Vermont for the month or so it would take.

anyone else out there done anything such as this?

used to do loads but not surprisingly we haven't done much since the kids came along.

Totally love hiking! Have hiked the entire length of the Appalachian Trail in Maryland, some of Connecticut, and a lot of 'sections' in NJ and PA. Also have hiked some of the Laurel Ridge trail in Western PA.

Wow! Long hikes! I used to hike a lot years ago, nothing recently though...the group I used to hike with disbanded, and I never found another good group to hike with.

I never went on such a LONG hike, but the best hike I ever did was down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, Havasupai. Lots of gorgeous waterfalls, turquoise water, neat canyon walls, camped out for 2 nights down there and hiked out. I didn't like the camping outdoors part, but it was well worth the 5-hour hike and killer switchbacks to see Havasupai Falls.

The pictures here look unreal, but I can vouch for the fact that the water really is that color! http://images.google.com/images?hl=e...gbv=2&aq=f&oq=
Rene

I haven't hiked in Vermont much recently, but back in the 70s and 90s (in the 80s we lived in England..) we often did sections of the Long Trail, some of them many times over. You're right, the Long Trail is definitely more attainable for a through-hike than something like the AT. There are plenty of trail shelters, really nice lakes & rivers to swim in, and plenty of nearby towns & villages to get to conveniently if you need the laundromat or a night in a hotel or B&B. Plus, the mountains and forests are magnificent..
I'm moving to an 11 month contract next academic year, so will be taking the whole of July off.. I'm hoping to do a lot more hiking including Mount Mansfield.. if the sciatica and herniated discs allow..

where in New york do you live Robin?

Up in St. Lawrence County, just about 120 miles west of Burlington, Vt. Burlington is where we go to buy decent wine, look in the bookstores, and get some decent food.. living in the boonies has its advantages, but once in a while you have to spend some time in a city!!

+1

Hiking it ruins the bloody heels on my Christian Louboutins.

I did a week on the AT (Virginia) a few years back. I think there are stretches that aren't too challenging ... the section we were on was pretty boring. As Bill Bryson called it, "A Walk in the Woods" - nothing to see but trees. We had this idea we'd be walking on ridges with views for miles. But it was the toughest physical challenge I've ever done - something to do with the kitchen sink in the backpack, I think.

Have also been on a few trails out in the wildies of TN and NC (cue banjos).

We started our kids out very young with hiking and backpacking; they took to it like ducks to water. One advantage; you can get the kids to carry all the heavy stuff, the wine box, frozen Sara Lee cakes etc. They're too young to know any different!

This is true about the AT - some of it is boring for long stretches. The Long Trail is one mountain peak after another, with plenty of good views..

We are trying to do more now our daughter is 7. We did 6 miles yesterday in the Santa Monica Mountains. My husband has a friend flying out in August who is attempting Mt Whitney, hubby is going along for support as much as anything no way he will make it to the top.

We were recently in Yosemite and did Vernal Falls which was fantastic. There are lots of wonderful hikes out there which vary in difficulty and distance. I don't think you can beat YNP for the scenery.

I can't imagine I will ever get past the 10 mile point though

Used to...done loads of the Austrian alps...until I realised I could bike them a lot faster and did most of Austria, Northern Italy, bits of Germany, Switzerland...very fun.

AT through Maine is quite nice, but I wouldn't want to do the whole trail, worth picking and choosing the best bits, hike them and then send over you gear in the post to another pick up stop and get a coach/train/car rental there. Plenty of the post offices along the trail are set up to hold belongings that people send along so they don't have to hike with everything under the sun, so it's also a good way to skip bits, make it quicker too if you can't take all that time off...

I'd say reaching Katahdin would be quite a buzz if you started in Georgia.