Staff Photo by Meghan Brown -- Chattanooga resident Monica Dobbs, standing near her home, hikes 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail each year and carries a handgun for protection while hiking.
Bump for later reading.
I usually carry my .357 or .44 mag on the trail. A little more punch, no matter if the violating critter is 2 or 4 legged.
When I worked for a California firm one of our employees went backpacking in the desert with friends. While they were resting in the shade at noon a dune buggy came over the top of the hill. A guy got out of the dune buggy and proceeded to empty a clip of .223 at the backpackers. Our employee was hit in the head and died. The perp was never caught. After that I always hiked armed and still do. The two legged varmints are the most dangerous.
Oh I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more,
To be the man, who walked 5000 miles then fall down at your door.
I’ll go hiking with her any day. Even though I’m terribly out of shape.
My son and I have hiked sections of the trail for the past three years. Last year’s section was northern Maryland through central Pennsylvania. We try to time the sections so that we will run across the largest number of thru-hikers.
Thru-hikers are quite a subculture. Most are kids taking a break from school and retirees taking the trip they wanted to take during a break from school years before. Mixed in are a few hardcore hikers looking for “triple crown” success (Appalachian, Pacific Crest, and Continental Divide trails). They are more-or-less professional hikers (and most have no jobs and live the rest of the year with their parents - at 30 years old or so).
There is also a contingent of hikers who are basically homeless nuts. You’ll have a few on the trail every year. Last year there was one who was hiking with a series of duffel bags filled with books. He would hike one bag down the trail, leave it, and go back to get another. Every night he would burn a book in a little campfire. Every now and then you’d come across one of his campsites and you would find the remains of one of the books (I remember one was the story of the sinking of the Bismarck). Most of these folks are relatively harmless, but some are really off of the deep end. I knew of a couple of guys hiking the trail last year who other hikers were genuinely concerned about. One of them was a thief who would steal things from people’s packs while they slept. Another carried a machete (there isn’t much on the Appalachian trail that you need to hack through). Another had bizarre stories that would change from listener to listener. At least one was being sought for assault.
Then there’s the locals. A couple of times I’ve come out on trail-heads to be stared at menacingly by yokels who seem to have come to the parking area just to scare hikers (or worse). One night two years ago, we had a group of “at-risk” kids camp at a nearby site. These were inner-city kids who definitely had issues. One was up all night screaming the vilest obscenities and wacking a stick on the ground.
There are a few women hikers (probably as many as 1/5 of the hikers). Most don’t look like the one in the picture posted here, but some could be attractive. But attractive or not, you have to be pretty desperate to get past the smell that all long-distance hikers acquire over a few days on the trail. Some will attach themselves to groups of male hikers for safety. Others will hike with other women. I’ve often wondered how frightened they are out there amongst the wild-and-hairy.
All-in-all, though, most of the thru-hikers are a great bunch. We’ve enjoyed our hikes with them (although politics are definitely off limits as most of them are left-wing wackos). We all have a common bond, enjoying the outdoors - and that is good enough for me. It’s not like our more adventurous journeys in the true wilderness. It’s more like following a band of hippies on their way to a Woodstock they’ll never find.