route alongside the Appalachian trail

[pmspirito]

Not having a desire to actually Hike the AT I am curioius about a road route to cycle that might run paralell to the AT, passing thru the towns that the trail intersects with.  Has anyone done this.

Peter Spirito

[Peaks]

Road biking parallel to the AT is an interesting idea.  I have never heard of anyone doing it, but the concept sounds interesting.  

Down south, much of the trail is roughly parallel to the Blue Ridge Parkway between the Great Smokies and Rockfish Gap.  But, you will need to go off the parkway a fair bit to get into the great trail towns like Damascus and Hot Springs.  Then, the AT crosses the Skyline Drive over 20 times in Shenandoah National Park.  

In Georgia and North Carolina, the AT is in the middle of national forest lands, so there probably isn't a good road close.  

Through Pennsylvania, the trail is on a ridge, but there is probably a good route through the valley, and you can hit the good trail towns like Duncannon (Doyle Hotel is legendary) and the Water Gap.  Through New Jersey and New York, roads are never far away, so that shouldn't be problem to plot out.  Starting in Connecticut, Route 9 roughly parallels the AT until Rutland Vermont.  Then, follow Route 4 over to Hanover.  From then on, it's going to be tough to parallel the AT closely.

Sounds like a great follow up for someone who has hiked the AT.

[brad]

something i think would be a great tour de force would be thru hiking the trail then cycling home (north carolina, but currently living in germany). i have often thought of this.

i am enamored with tying climbing and trekking to cycling, a~la goran kropp.

i wonder if anyone outthere has done this...

[JayH]

Check out the East Coast Greenway, some of it probably parallels the AT except for the part that goes through NYC.  http://www.greenway.org

I biked up to the Berkshires, MA from NJ to do some hiking there on the AT, I am trying to bike up to Maine from NJ to go hike Katahdin, but I'm not really trying to parallel the AT or do a section hike and bike home or anything...

Jay

[brad]

jay, i think we exchanged emails on another site about cycling and climbing!

[JayH]

OutdoorReview.com right? I thought I recognized your name...  I haven't hanged around OR that bit ever since they went to the new format. It's so slooowww from all the ads and doesn't load properly a lot of times...  

Hey, if you ever wanted to come by NW NJ and ride to Maine and climb Katahdin, let me know. I already know a good route and I did alot of prep work for this trip last year but never got a chance to make it happen.  You're from NC?  You could ride here and I could join ya!

Jay

[brad]

jay, i'd definitely be game for that and yes i am from nc but right now i am living in germany.if you have a hankering for any euro-touring let me know - i'd definitely be down for a nice trip and it is fairly inexpensive here if you camp, once you fly in!
seriously...consider it.
brad

[JayH]

Yeah, that would be cool, but I've got plans to go backpacking in Wrangell St. Elias this year and before that, heading to Idaho for some kayaking.  I may go to Maine this year, but that is almost a last minute decision.  I know I've crossed the AT in NJ/NY and in CT.MA on the way, when I went to the Berkshires last October, we staying in Beartown State Forest and the AT goes right through there. When we crossed into CT on the way home, I recognized the AT crossing on Rt 7 just north of Salisbury, CT. In effect, this route does seem to parallel the AT a bit. However, when you start getting into eastern Mass, and Maine, the Adv-Cyc route goes to Bar Harbor while the AT obviously goes further north to Baxter S.P.

Jay

[pmspirito]

I have been following several AT thru hikers via their on line tour journals at www.whiteblaze.net  

We were trout fishing in Helen Ga just this past October. Several other towns on the AT are familiar to me also. With some planning I think this could be a great trip. Hmmmmm time to get the maps out.

Thanks for your imput and encouragement.
  Peter Spirito