So this trip has become an improvised plan B trip...
My son, who is a senior at Appalachian State University, and I had planned and over-planned our fall break trip to do the western North Carolina portion of the Trans-America Trail since the summer because his fall break lined up with Columbus Day. Then Helene happened...
My son fared extremely well through everything. His apartment is at the top of a hill so flooding wasn't an issue, he lost power a few times, the first time was about 12 hours then no more than an hour or two each time after that. The water was out for a little while and when it came back he was on a boil first advisory for the first day or so. He still has no internet to his apartment and cellular/5G is spotty. His best friend didn't fare so well. Luckily she was already home for a family birthday, but her apartment flooded with the waterline being nearly 5 feet up the wall. Her roommate and many others in the complex had to be rescued by boat. All the cars in their parking lot were flooded and floated/washed and crashed up at the end of the parking lot and her building was condemned.
So obviously the NC TAT was out of the question. I originally told my son we'd just call the trip off and not go anywhere. But even a 20 y/o kid can pull at your heartstrings. He sounded very disappointed when I told him. So I started coming up with a plan B.
The MABDR was always on our list of trips to do. Originally I wanted to do the whole thing in one week-long trip, but now the plan is Friday we head East on 421 to I-77 then to I-81 North. Start near the PA/MD border and work our way south until either the route gets too rough to continue or time runs out and we need to head back for me to make it to work Tuesday.
Normally I'll do technical portions on a trail up to a 7/10 beyond that is beyond my comfort level, but given everything else I'll stop at 5/10 for this trip.
I've never done a multi-day trip with this little planning, but I do tend to over-plan. So far booking a campsite on recreation.gov I got the last site where we will camp Friday, then Sat & Sunday nights we'll just use iOverlander to find something or worse case we'll just sleep in the GX. But this will be an interesting experiment and will be a welcome escape for my son who has been dealing with a little too much reality.
My son, who is a senior at Appalachian State University, and I had planned and over-planned our fall break trip to do the western North Carolina portion of the Trans-America Trail since the summer because his fall break lined up with Columbus Day. Then Helene happened...
My son fared extremely well through everything. His apartment is at the top of a hill so flooding wasn't an issue, he lost power a few times, the first time was about 12 hours then no more than an hour or two each time after that. The water was out for a little while and when it came back he was on a boil first advisory for the first day or so. He still has no internet to his apartment and cellular/5G is spotty. His best friend didn't fare so well. Luckily she was already home for a family birthday, but her apartment flooded with the waterline being nearly 5 feet up the wall. Her roommate and many others in the complex had to be rescued by boat. All the cars in their parking lot were flooded and floated/washed and crashed up at the end of the parking lot and her building was condemned.
So obviously the NC TAT was out of the question. I originally told my son we'd just call the trip off and not go anywhere. But even a 20 y/o kid can pull at your heartstrings. He sounded very disappointed when I told him. So I started coming up with a plan B.
The MABDR was always on our list of trips to do. Originally I wanted to do the whole thing in one week-long trip, but now the plan is Friday we head East on 421 to I-77 then to I-81 North. Start near the PA/MD border and work our way south until either the route gets too rough to continue or time runs out and we need to head back for me to make it to work Tuesday.
Normally I'll do technical portions on a trail up to a 7/10 beyond that is beyond my comfort level, but given everything else I'll stop at 5/10 for this trip.
I've never done a multi-day trip with this little planning, but I do tend to over-plan. So far booking a campsite on recreation.gov I got the last site where we will camp Friday, then Sat & Sunday nights we'll just use iOverlander to find something or worse case we'll just sleep in the GX. But this will be an interesting experiment and will be a welcome escape for my son who has been dealing with a little too much reality.
