hfk trail facts

I will be entering photos, stories and more to this page as I meander down the famed “Appalachian Trail” on behalf of the American father…

Some logistical (fun) facts about my Hike4Fathers:

• Total miles of Appalachian Trail - 2,175 miles
• Total number of states on the A.T. - 14
• Highest elevation on the A.T. - Clingmans Dome, N.C. 6,643 ft.
• Lowest elevation on the A.T. - Hudson River, N.Y. 5′ ft.
• Typical time frame for completion of A.T. - 5.5 months
• Most popular starting point on A.T. - Springer Mtn., GA.

Large animal encounters:

Moose, the largest animal that hikers encounter along the Trail (often weighing in at more than 1,000 pounds), inhabit deep woodlands and wetlands from Massachusetts north, especially in New Hampshire and Maine. White-tailed deer can be found along the entire length of the Trail. Elk have been reintroduced to Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Black bears have been spotted in all Trail states and are especially common in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Wild boars live in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Bobcats and coyotes are stealthy residents along most of the route of the Trail, though they’re rarely seen. Fishers, otters, and beavers are occasionally reported by hikers.

Small animals encounters:

By far the most familiar will be mice, chipmunks, rabbits, and squirrels, but foxes, raccoons, opossums, skunks, groundhogs, porcupines, bats, weasels, shrews, minks, and muskrats are also common. Tree frogs and bullfrogs inhabit wet areas in warm weather, lizards scurry along rocks and fallen logs, snakes (both poisonous and nonpoisonous) are common south of New England, and streams and ponds are home to salamanders, bass, trout, bream, sunfish, catfish, and crayfish.

Rare or endangered animal encounters:

Birders might spot rare species such as the Bicknell’s thrush, hermit thrush, gray-cheeked thrush, northern raven, olive-sided flycatcher, black-billed cuckoo, spruce grouse, bay-breasted warbler, cerulean warbler, blackburnian warbler, magnolia warbler, blackpoll warbler, alder flycatcher, rusty blackbird, Swainson’s warbler, yellow-bellied sapsucker, winter wren, red-breasted nuthatch, sharp-shinned hawk, northern saw-whet owl, golden eagle, peregrine falcon, merlin, bald eagle, and Cooper’s hawk.

Wildflower encounters:

During May and June, as the tree canopy shades the forest floor, the variety of wildflowers blooming along the A.T. becomes too extensive to keep track of. The bubblegum scent and orange blooms of flame azalea shrubs burst out in the southern Appalachians, along with the white and pink blossoms of its close relatives, mountain laurel and rhododendron. The garlicky wild leek, or ramp, flowers in early summer. Hikers may spot the green tubes of jack-in-the-pulpit, dove-like red clusters of wild columbine, vessel-like orchid blossom of pink lady’s-slipper, spade-leaved trillium, bright blue of viper’s bugloss, the blue-violet of spiderwort in sunny clearings, black cohosh’s delicate cone of tiny blooms, and, in the cold bogs of the northern states, the white blossoms of labrador tea and the pink pentagons of bog laurel.

IceRocket Tags: Appalachian Trail,mountain,dome,elevation,hiker,eagle,earth,wildflowers,conservation,creation,Creator,wildlife,moose,deer,frogs,fruit,nature,animals,birds