Date: 2015-08-01
From: Manchester Center

To: Manchester Center
Miles today: 15.0

¢Wrong Way Madison¢This story is sad or amusing, depending on your point of view. Certainly not funny from the hiker's perspective.   Brad told me not to go too hard on Madison, that we all learn from our mistakes. Perhaps, but¢¦.About 2 weeks ago, Brad and I had arrived in Kent, Connecticut, on the AT.   We were hiking together that day, northbound, of course, towards Maine. It was one of the hot days, with high temperatures and high humidity, so we were just kind of slogging along. We hoped to find an unofficial place to camp besides the trail (stealth camping), and if we did not, we would have to hike until about 8PM to reach the next shelter & official campsite.   At 4 PM, we met a southbound hiker, a pleasant woman of 26.   As I often do, I asked her if she was section hiking, and where she was going. She said, yes, indeed, she was section hiking, heading towards Vermont.   Brad and I were immediately confused. Did you say you were going north to Vermont? But you are currently heading south, towards New York!   She initially thought Brad and I were kidding her. She dug out her entire ATC guidebook (all 200 pages), and looked at it.   Within a minute, along came another northbound hiker, and he assured her, that, yes indeed, Brad, myself and he were all heading north.   The women finally believed us, but was unhappy to say the least.   She had been hiking about 3-4 miles in the wrong direction.   Brad and I invited her to walk with us for awhile, so she told us her story.   She is from Madison, Wisconsin (thus the name ¢Madison¢).   She flew into New York JFK the day before. The day before, she made her way to the AT, but immediately lost the trail. She found a road, walked along it for awhile. Some driver saw her, saw her distress, and invited her to spend the night with them, which she was grateful for.   Today, that good samaritan driver had dropped ¢Madison¢ off on the AT, and said goodby. Although the dropoff location had multiple white blazes, indicating that it was in fact the AT, there were no other signs pointing north, south, or giving distances to the nearest shelters. There are rarely signs indicating north or south on the AT. In fact you can¢t tell which way you are going on the AT just from the white blazes.   So Madison picked one direction, and set out.   Big mistake.   Anybody with the guidebook page would immediately spot a problem.   Southbound, there was a very steep 500 foot vertical climb. Northbound, there was a 2 mile very flat roadwalk. So anybody looking at the guide would know within 10 seconds which way was the correct, north, way.   But she did not look at her guidebook for several hours, until she met us.      Madison was experiencing several other problems common to inexperienced hikers.   She was carrying her water bottle.   Hikers never carry anything but their poles. She did not have hiking poles, mentioning that she had just spent about $600 for her hiking gear and hiking poles were currently out of her budget. She mentioned that she was suffering from blisters, not uncommon for first time hikers. Her pack was too heavy.   Among other problems, she was carrying her entire 13 day food supply. Nobody does that. Brad and I carry 3-4 days, until we hit the ¢100 mile wilderness¢ in Maine.   Her sleeping bag was exposed (in a sleeping bag bag, of course), but perhaps not protected from rain.   The sleeping bag was far too big for summer hiking.   She said it was just 2 pounds. I doubt it.   And why would anybody do a section hike in the middle of July? It¢s far too hot. Do section hikes if you can before mid-June or after mid-August.   She also mentioned that her mother offered to give her $1500 is she (¢Madison¢) would take just a ¢normal¢ vacation, not backpacking.   Madison was beating herself up pretty good, stating how bad things were going for this hike. Especially Brad, but partially even me tried to assure her that everybody made some mistakes, and that perhaps she could mail half her food to the halfway point, cutting down on her weight. Brad and I did see to it that we all successfully got to the next shelter, at 8PM.   That included the 500 foot steep descent that Madison had ascended several hours earlier, plus the 2 mile roadwalk. Brad and I camped at the shelter, as is typical for us.   Madison stayed at the shelter. I saw her there, still sleeping, the next morning, when Brad and I left for points north. We heard a day or two later that Madison had quit and returned home. There are two morals for this story. If you don¢t know which way you are going, you can go the wrong way.For Madison, the far better hike would have been the Ice Age trail in her own state of Wisconsin. I have not done any of it, but heard good things about it. Madison could have made all her mistakes close to home, such that any subsequent corrections would have been easier.   I would also suggest May or Sept if possible, not the heat and bugs of mid-summer. Some people claim that they have successfully thru-hiked the AT with no prior backpacking experience. But that seems unlikely, and fool-hardy. And that is the story of Wrong-way Madison.