SHELBURNE FALLS — For 46 years, John Geyster of Shelburne Falls wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. And this year, he did the full trail with his son, Christopher Geyster, 28, and Christopher’s girlfriend, Alice Gear, 27, both of Heath. The three began the 2,189-mile trek on April 7 and finished it on Sept. 25, on what was a snowy Mount Katahdin in Maine. At first, they walked between eight to 10 miles per day, but averaged about 16 miles per day overall, once they were accustomed to the strenuous exercise.
The 5½-month trek took lots of training and logistical planning, to make sure they were in shape for the long haul, to make sure their gear was right. They needed to plan how much to carry and how much food to bring, since hiking through mountainous terrain in 14 states burns between 3,000 to 6,000 calories per day. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy website says the trail gets about 3 million visitors per year, but only one out of four people that attempt to be “thru-hikers” actually make it.
Their advice to future “thru-hikers” of the Appalachian Trail?
“Leave it at home,” said Gear. She said they mailed winter clothing home as soon as spring weather kicked in. They each carried about four days’ worth of food in their backpacks, she said, and would hike to nearby towns when their provisions were low. At first, they were eating lots of oatmeal, but found it wasn’t high-calorie enough. Ramen noodles and instant potatoes were easy to find on grocery shelves and provided extra calories. Their backpacks weighed up to 40 pounds each, John said.
“Go out and do something shorter than this,” Chris Geyster advised. “Climb a mountain. Make sure your heart is in it.”
To prepare for the journey, the three spent 27 days hiking the 273-mile, mountainous Long Trail in Vermont — a trail that John has now hiked five times in his life.
John fell in love with hiking as a Boy Scout, when his scoutmaster, an ex-Marine colonel, took the troop backpacking once a week. “He took us places we couldn’t get to in a car,” he remembers. One trip was a hike on part of the Long Trail, which runs through the Appalachian Trail at some point. That’s when John decided, at age 11, he would some day walk the Appalachian Trail all the way from Georgia to Maine.
When asked what took him so long, John, 57, replied: “College. A job. Getting married and having a family.”
John planned to hike it in 1983, right after he got married; but he came down with strep throat just three days after starting the walk from Springer Mountain, in Georgia.
John has been hiking ever since Boy Scouts, and Chris has been hiking ever since he could walk. And before that, John used to hike with his toddler son on his shoulders, according to his wife, Cathy Geyster.
“I’ve always kept up the backpacking. The year of my retirement, my wife said: ‘You should do it now, while you still can.’”
Most through-hikers start at Springer Mountain in Georgia, go north, and finish up at Mount Katahdin in Maine, 14 states away. But to stay out of “the bubble” of hikers traveling north, John, Chris and Alice started their hike at Harper’s Ferry, Va., and headed south to Georgia. Then they took a train back to Harper’s Ferry and went north to Maine.
“We weren’t the fastest (hikers), we weren’t the slowest, but we were right on target,” said John. “We didn’t have any set schedule, other than we needed to get to Katahdin State Park, before it closed in October.” It was 34 degrees when they got to that summit in Maine. “That was the coldest morning we had,” he said.
The hikers saw 21 bears on the trip, mostly in Georgia. The bears were not a problem, except for one bear that tried to get their food while they were sleeping in a shelter. They also saw a few wild pigs in the South, and several long black snakes that Chris said looked almost fake. There were also many Civil War markers, indicating battlefields and Confederate trails.
“You walk through a lot of history,” she said of the South. “There were valleys of trillium and every color of azaela — just these arbors of blooming flowers — the perfect wedding aisle of flowers.”
In Virginia, they came across a range of wild ponies. The hikers were told not to feed them, but some must have been fed by people. One pony even let Chris pet him.
Of all the animals, ticks were their worst concern, John said.
When asked if they ever craved “private time” away from their hiking companions, they said each had their slower days, and the others just accepted it. The moments of stunningly beautiful terrain were buoying, but there were also hours of walking along on “auto pilot.”
“They call that ‘hiker brain,’” said Alice.
“The highs are so high on the trail, but there’s a lot of the trail where not a whole lot is happening,” says Chris.
“That tunnel-of-green effect is very strong,” John agreed.
They also had an occasional “zero day” about once a month — where they did nothing but rest and relax.
Once in a while, they came across “trail magic” — a term used to describe the gift of provisions that earlier hikers left for those who come after. “Usually somebody leaves a few water bottles for hikers that are thirsty,” Alice explained. But the best trail magic they encountered was when they came across a Mother’s Day feast put together by five women and a man for anyone who came by. There were six Dutch ovens simmering with ziti, Mississippi mud pie and other fare. “We just had a three-course dinner in the middle of the trail,” said Alice.
The Appalachian Trail has about 250 backcountry shelters and lean-tos for thru-hikers, which are mostly three-sided structures with a roof, which can hold six to eight people. These shelters were located about every 10 miles and had a water source and an outhouse. The three occasionally stayed in a hostel or hotel near the trail.
“A big treat of going into town was that you could take a shower,” he said.
The drought gave them a lot of dry traveling weather, but “there were a dozen days when we were actually walking in the rain,” said John. “Sooner or later, you’re walking in the rain.”
The worst weather wasn’t the rain, but “driving mists” on the Franconia Ridge Traverse in the White Mountains of New Hampshire during 50 mph wind gusts. After they crossed the tree line, “wind gusts were so great they were knocking us down,” said Alice. She said there was zero visibility, and they were at an elevation of nearly 5,000 feet. She said the mist was blowing against their faces and eyeglasses.
“We had some hands-and-feet moments that day,” she said, meaning they climbed on all fours. They thought about turning back, but they had reservations to spend the night at an Appalachian Mountain Club “hut” (a hostel) in the Pemigewasset Wilderness.
It was just starting to snow a little when they reached Mount Katahdin, a 5,267-foot-tall mountain in Baxter State Park, and the tallest mountain in Maine. “The weather changed about 12 times that last day,” Alice said. “Ice started to form on the rocks, and it was a little hairy.”
Chris and Alice kept journals all along the way, and all three came back with breathtaking photos of their adventure. Currently, John is putting together a book about the trek for their family.