Anyone ever walk across the USA?
Stephen W. Anderson
news:7ipqdj$obh$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> Hi, I'm interested in talking with people who have walked across the
> country.
>
> In the year 2001 I'm thinking of undertaking this and can already think
> of all kinds of problems. Food sleep shower rain etc. Imagine all the
> ones I haven't thought of. Are there books to address long hikes along
> roads?
>
> I hope to do this without carrying a full camping pack. Walking is one
> thing, toting the load is another.
The American Discovery Trail is a project promoted some years
back by an ad hoc organization of walking-oriented organizations, including
Backpacker Magazine. Since there is no undeveloped corridor crossing the US
in any direction the "trail" had to be a paperwork patch of real trails,
roads, bikeways, and the like. It is in other words a mapping project, a
virtual trail rather than what most people would think of as a real trail.
The result, of course, is that
few walkers have much interest in it, and its routing is used more by
bicyclists
and vintage car enthusiasts instead. As a pedestrian I considered it pretty
much wasted
effort and rather cynically assumed it had been undertaken for institutional
promotional motives. I would, however, call it a model for the best you
could hope to find should you carry out this plan ("the best" because that
group had research resources not available to an individual and so could
optimize the route). You could of course follow their plan if you wanted.
For a second take, look up an article National Geographic published several
years back about a man who walked a north to south route through the eastern
US. Having considered trying something similar I had a little private
correspondence with him at the time, and as I recall it he reported he
usually had to use roadways and that he found the problems one would expect
with traffic, dogs, bad water, shelter (which was often a motel), suspicious
policemen, random aggression, and the like.
The closest thing the US has to the British inn-to-inn walking network is
probably the Blue Ridge's extensive set of bed&breakfast inns. With enough
planning you can walk from one to another, threading your way through paths
in the Ridge's trail network, without much need for camping out or carrying
camp food supplies. Those places can get expensive, though, and of course
the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive do not cross the country.
I doubt your plan is especially practical, but people have done it before,
so it's possible. Please keep us posted as it
develops. I am interested in heaing how it goes, and I'm
sure plenty of others are, too.
--
Stephen W. Anderson
Rocky Mount, NC
--
Stephen W. Anderson
Rocky Mount, NC
ri...@kana.stanford.edu
I remember reading about one around the time of the US bicentennial.
It was a several part serial that may have become a book.
Its a doable, doesn't have to cost that much, and you learn alot about
yourself and other people in process.
I believe it takes mroe preparation if you are in the wilderness for
weeks at a time, e.g. Divise, AT, or Pacfic trails.
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Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
Gary Pagac
>news:7ipqdj$obh$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> Hi, I'm interested in talking with people who have walked across the
> country.
Try "Walkin' Jim Stoltz". Quite a fellow he is, just met him
recently.
He is mostly a long distance wilderness hiker, many weeks or months at
a time sort of chap.
Storyman
for Ian Komorowski, (spelling may be a bit off) he might be able to help you -
He finished his walk across the US several years ago and now gives slide shows.
Rick
Stephen W. Anderson wrote:
> Dale Howard <dhho...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
> news:7ipqdj$obh$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> > Hi, I'm interested in talking with people who have walked across the
> > country.
> >
--
To send a reply back to me, please remove the word "JUNK" from my E-Mail
address
Thanks
Rick Story
SRoweCanoe
also hike accross America? As part of the American Discovery Trail?
Steven Rowe
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Stephen Balbach
across country on back-roads? Wheres your evidence that the ADT is an evil
plot by corporations to cash in on hikers?
Check out the ADT web page -- it can be found on Yahoo! under the
Recreation main heading then hikeing->trails->etc..
Theres a biography there of a guy who just joged the entire ADT end to end
sleeping in barns, yards, motels, etc..
BTW I maped out the ADT on the Maryland Eastern Shore, a 40-mile section,
just to see what kind of trail it is -- its cool. Old historic backroads,
old historic towns, parks etc..
I have done historical hikes traceing the retreat of Robert E. Lee from
Petersburg to Appomatix, 6 days 100-miles, mostly along back-roads. Its
not bad! You dont need to be in the Bob Marshell Wilderness to have a good
hike.
Stb
Stephen W. Anderson
news:y%k53.520$K2.2...@iad-read.news.verio.net...
> Stephen Anderson, your a load of optimism --
And you're a straw man, Stephen Balbach. Ain't Usenet a wonderful medium for
reasoned discussion?
Stephen Balbach
>
>And you're a straw man, Stephen Balbach. Ain't Usenet a wonderful medium for
>reasoned discussion?
I see no reasoned discussion here.
Stb
Stephen W. Anderson
Bingo.
walkb...@home.com
eventually settled in Los Angeles where he was a writer, head of the
public library and founder of the Southwest Museum.
Stephen Balbach
Your original post had some extreamly far-fetched ideas with no supporting
facts. I appreciate you may be a person who strives for reason, but if
your going to make radical claims and then not back them, expect some
flack. Whats most curious is you didnt even defend your ideas when
confronted by my post instead deleteing both arguments and simply saying
"strawman" with (again) no supporting arguments ie. the actual definition
of a strawman! So -- Im out of here. As I said, there is no reasoned
discussion here.
Stb
Scott Bryce
>
> >Dale Howard <dhho...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
> >news:7ipqdj$obh$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> > Hi, I'm interested in talking with people who have walked across the
> > country.
In the 1970's a man named Peter Jenkins walked from upper New York
state, down to Baton Rouge, then to the Oregon coast. He wrote two
books, A Walk Across America, and The Walk West. Whenever he ran out out
of money, he would find a place to stop and work for a few months. When
he earned enough, he would continue walking. It took 6 years to complete
the walk. His books are highly recommended, if they are still in print.
--Scott