OUTLAW SOBO HIKERS APPREHENDED!

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Left to right, Mountain Goat, Greyhound & Chopper after a routine stop led to their removal from the mountain outside Hot Springs, N.C.  Heading SOBO (southbound), the 3 had gotten 6-8 miles inside the fire restricted area before they were seen and warned about the closure. 

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We were inside of 5 miles from Hot Springs at the time and thought the burned areas were “control burns”, which we had seen posted.  It turns out the fire was extensive and a 12 mile stretch of the AT had been closed.  The NOBOs (northbounder) were stopped in Hot Springs and shuttled to the safe zone.  We somehow had slipped through, being SOBO’s.

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Brad Adkins, Forestry Service Professional, provided this picture, showing a ridge in the zone only a day or 2 earlier!

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Brad was also driving the Forestry Service vehicle that gave us a ride off the mountain to Rt. 70.  Interesting that Brad Adkins is also a semi-pro Bass Fisherman from Kentucky ( when he’s not doing Forestry Service work)

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This was one of the scorched areas seen on our hike that day (Saturday).

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Like good thru-hikers, once we were dropped off, we walked the balance of our miles into Hot Springs instead of accepting a free shuttle into town.

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We’d like to thank the Forestry Service Personnel for ” playing along” and also for their assistance getting us off the mountain and safely into Hot Springs!!

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It gave us the opportunity to see the above sunset on Max Patch only one day later (Sunday night), and the sunrise this morning (Monday)

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This morning’s sunrise!

Today’s hike is History, tomorrow’s hike’s a Mystery. Right now is a gift, which is why it’s called the Present;)

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Comments 7

  • Pat Finneran : Apr 26th

    Hey,Duke. See you are already getting in trouble! Sounds like a great time. Best of luck along the trail.

    – Pat Finneran

    Reply
    • Duke Conrad : Apr 29th

      Thanks Pat!

      Passed our 600 mile mark yesterday and should be out of the Smokies by Tuesday. Ran into a bear a couple days ago…., but that’s for another post! Thanks for following the blog;)

      Chopper/Duke

      Reply
      • Pat Finneran : May 5th

        Duke: Sounds great! Can’t believe you’ve gone more than 600 miles so far. That’s pretty incredible. Keep on truckin’.

        Reply
        • Duke Conrad : May 7th

          700 tomorrow and 800 next Sunday;)

          Reply
  • Pat Finneran : Jun 10th

    How’s it going, Duke? It’s end-of-the-school-year time here, and the trail sounds pretty good to me right about now. Hope things are going your way!

    – Pat

    Reply
    • Duke Conrad : Jun 16th

      Hey Pat,

      The rocks in northern Pa are killin us, but tomorrow is our last full day in Pa. Saturday well be in N.J. The first 15-20 miles will be similar, but then we knock out Jersey, NY, and Conn. pretty quick before we finish with Mass., Vermont, N.H. & finally Maine. We’d like to hit Maine by August 4th or 5th if possible!! Thanks for staying in touch!

      Chopper

      Reply
  • Uncle Turtle 1966. : Jun 25th

    I left my charger and battery there at the tailgate. If you could mail them to
    Guy Hays/Nancy Owen
    4400 Overglen Ave
    Wake Forest 27587.

    I’d be very appreciative.

    Thank you

    Uncle Turtle.

    Reply

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