Remember when all we had was Trail Days?
Southern Ruck – NOC, Wesser, NC – January
Pennsylvania Ruck – Bears Den Hostel, Bluemont, VA – January
Spring on Springer – Dahlonega, GA – March
April Hiker Fool Bash – Franklin, NC – March
Trailfest – Hot Springs, NC – April
Trail Days – Damascus, VA – May
Trails End Festival – Millinocket, ME – September
ALDHA’s Gathering – West Virginia – October
I have 8 copies of my book, My Own Hike, for sale at half price. I’m getting ready to move and I don’t want to move them, so you get the deal.
Yep, just $8.00 gets you a signed copy of My Own Hike, A Woman’s Journey on the Appalachian Trail. Contact me at thru-hike@appalachian-trail-thru-hike.com and I’ll send you payment details.
Appalachian Trail, how do I hike thee? Let me count the ways. I hike thee for a day, because even the briefest connection is heavenly. I hike thee for a weekend, because one day is never enough. I hike thee in long sections, because I can’t tear myself away. I hike thee end-to-end, immersing myself in your embrace and joining my spirit with yours for all eternity.
How do you hike the Appalachian Trail?
My Appalachian Trail thru-hike provided many memorable experiences, but it was so much more than six months of beautiful scenery and physical challenges. It was more than the awesome stealth camp on Tray Mountain, the sunset at Mt. Hight, and the autumn leaves in the Bigelows; more than longhorns on Hump Mountain, wild ponies in Grayson Highlands, and goats near Angel’s Rest; more than the days of rain in Virginia, the heat wave and drought in New York, and the four-hour climb to the summit of Katahdin. It was more than the fall that resulted in two black eyes, and even more than the mixture of joy, sadness, and satisfaction I felt as I stood at Baxter Peak. These are all lasting memories, but the true highlights involved people, both hikers and trail angels; they are what made my hike the incredible experience it was.
My thru-hike was the first time I’d ever known camaraderie among such a large and diverse group of people. Instead of competing, other hikers truly wished for me to finish the hike, and they were always ready to pass on information, lend a helping hand, or share their supplies. The group with whom I shared a sunset and campfire on Cheoah Bald eventually scattered, but I will always remember the closeness we felt that evening. In the Shenandoahs, instead of standing back and making fun of my awkward attempts to raise my food bag onto the bear pole with the heavy, unwieldy pole, another hiker immediately showed me the trick and helped me slip the bag into place. After I fell and blackened both of my eyes in New Jersey, two other hikers teamed up with me to provide emotional support as I continued northward. One of them, who I knew was a much faster hiker, stayed just a few steps behind me through the rock climbing of early New York until my confidence returned.
Trail angels were kind from the very beginning, and I was moved by the extent of their caring and unselfish giving. After my fall, I had been able to hike a mile to a telephone, and I called an alumni thru-hiker that I knew of but had never met. He drove 45 minutes to pick me up and take me to the hospital for x-rays. That night and most of the next day I spent in his home as one of the family. Throughout the dry section of New York, made even worse by drought conditions and the heat wave of early August, I often came across jugs of water near road crossings. Trail angels in Maine found me waiting in the cold rain for a friend to bring my resupply box. They insisted that I come inside their RV, where they fed me lunch and allowed me to stay warm until my friend arrived.
My thru-hike was the biggest and most difficult thing I’ve ever done. I challenged myself, and I succeeded. But by the time I reached the end, my focus was no longer solely on myself. Any self-importance I may have felt atop Katahdin was tempered by the knowledge that without the contributions of others along the way, I might not have been successful. Now the challenge I place before myself is to become more like the people whose selfless acts of kindness will remain in my memory as the true highlight of my AT thru-hike.
When I hiked the Appalachian Trail, I did it on a shoestring budget. I did all the research and learned about all the technical clothing for backpacking, but I sure couldn’t afford to buy high-tech name brand clothes. And I found out I didn’t need it.
I did buy a fleece jacket, and boots, of course. And some microfleece pants. You can tell I was worried about cold weather. Everything else I either made or found at my favorite store. It’s not too hard to find polyester t-shirts and nylon shorts at Goodwill. And I made fleece pants to sleep in when it got really cold, as well as fleece mittens and shell mittens.
So don’t fret too much about having all the “right” clothes for your thru-hike. The main thing is to not wear cotton. And work out a layering system. Layering is the best way to get the most mileage out of a few pieces of clothing (pun intended).
Some people swear by them; some turn up their noses. Some use one; some use two. Hiking poles are becoming more and more popular on the trail. I’d never thought much about them until I was planning my Appalachian Trail thru-hike.
Growing up, I might have grabbed a long stick as I headed into the woods for a day hike, but nothing more formal than that. Often I went hiking without a stick at all. But in researching for the AT, I started reading a lot about using a pair of poles for hiking. It made sense to have them for extra stability, so I used poles during my thru-hike.
There are so many advantages to using hiking poles on a backpacking trip. They helped me balance, they knocked down cobwebs, and they gave my arms something to do while I hiked. Now, I can’t imagine hiking without them. I even use them on day hikes now. And as I get older, I appreciate them more and more.
Beginning in March, 2012, the U.S. Forest Service will require overnight campers on a stretch of northern Georgia Appalachian Trail to use bear-resistant containers to protect their food supply. (From Access North GA.)
Until now, AT backpackers haven’t had to resort to bear canisters like their western counterparts have in some areas. The usual routine was to hang a food bag in or between trees to keep it safe from bears. Recently, though, the bears have gotten smart, and they aren’t afraid of people anymore.
Once bears figure out that hiker food is an easy way to get a snack, they become a problem. The canister requirement is an attempt to retrain the bears, convincing them they can no longer get a quick bite to eat from campers.
This current regulation applies to dispersed camping in the Blood Mountain Wilderness Area within a quarter mile of the trail, and at Blood Mountain Shelter and Woods Hole Shelter. So far the requirement will expire in June. We’ll see what happens then.
If you’re heading out on the Appalachian Trail in northern Georgia during the months of March through June, be prepared with a bear canister to keep your food, trash, toiletries, and anything else with a scent out of the paws of bears.
I’ve said before that there are as many reasons to hike the Appalachian Trail as there are hikers. Everyone has their own reasons. I bet a lot of them start hiking for one reason, and realize when they’ve finished that it was a different reason entirely. The trail has a way of sorting things out for you when you’re not paying attention.
So what are some reasons people start hiking the Appalachian Trail? Because it’s there. Sure. To see, and to see what they see — as Benton MacKaye said. Because they love the outdoors, love camping, love hiking. Because they like going places and seeing things most people don’t get to experience. Because they like physical exertion. Because they enjoy hurting all over, smelling bad, and being constantly hungry.
Because they’ve read about it all their lives and have a romantic notion about the whole thing. They’ll get cured of that pretty quick once they get out there and the reality sets in. But that doesn’t mean they won’t still love it and stay with it until the end.
Because they want to confront themselves and experience deep spiritual growth. Because they want to toss responsibility and have a 2,000-mile party.
Maybe the most common reason to hike the Appalachian Trail is because they’re at some sort of juncture in life. Graduation from high school or college. A death in the family. A divorce…or a honeymoon. Leaving the military. Getting out of jail. When you’re at a loss as to where to go and what to do next, it’s nice to have white blazes pointing the way, at least for six months.
A tough, physical journey of 2,000 miles will not fail to help you sort some things out. The thru-hiking experience gives you just what you need when you need it. You’ll be alone when you need to be alone. You’ll have help when you need help. You’ll have boring trail when you need to spend time in your own head. You’ll have challenging trail when you need to get out of your own head.
There’s a magic to the trail that few will deny. And that, in the end, is the best reason to hike the Appalachian Trail.
These days everyone seems to be afraid to do anything alone. Maybe they can go through life that way, but if I had to wait for someone to do things with me, I’d never get to do anything. Especially when it comes to adventures like long-distance backpacking or bicycle tours. I know few people who would want to do those things, and the ones who do are stuck in jobs or situations they can’t get away from.
When I announced my plan to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, everyone wanted to know who was going with me. They were shocked when I said I was going alone. They just “knew” it was too dangerous to go alone, especially for a woman. They’d “heard” that people had been killed out there on the trail. I actually got tired of hearing about it.
My usual response to those fearful people was to point out that people get killed in my hometown, too, and we’re not afraid to walk down the street. I stated that if they drew a line on a map between any two towns 2,000 miles apart, there was likely to have been murders along that route.
People heard me, but they didn’t really understand. My parents finally stopped fussing too much about it when they realized they couldn’t talk me out of it, but they didn’t fully relax until they had come to meet me along the trail and met some of the other hikers. Then they realized the other hikers were real people, too, and that we all looked out for each other.
I wasn’t really out there alone. When given my trail name, other hikers knew me or knew of me. They knew if I was ahead or behind and when I was likely to reach town. If hikers don’t show up as expected, other hikers notice and backtrack to check on them.
The point is, you can start an Appalachian Trail thru-hike by yourself, but it is hard to be alone out there. Especially if you’re begining and hiking during the normal season and traveling northbound, you will meet up with other thru-hikers the first week, if not the very first day. Most of them will become your “group” to the end.
Prior to my thru-hike, I was too intimidated to do much of anything alone. How much of life had I missed out on because I always needed someone with me? The hike changed that. I had the guts to take the first step — pushing myself out there alone. And even though there were other hikers close by, the trail gave me just enough solitude to gain confidence in myself. I now take doing things alone for granted, and I no longer feel like I miss out on life.
Hiking the Appalachian Trail alone? Don’t let that stop you. Just go.
The Appalachian Trail Conservancy has welcomed the first Appalachian Trail thru-hikers of 2012 to the headquarters in Harpers Ferry. They are southbound hikers. The ATC didn’t report where the duo had started, but I’m pretty darn sure it wasn’t Katahdin.
It’s hard for me to imagine hiking anywhere on the AT in January. But then, I’m a weenie when it comes to cold. I know thru-hikers are starting earlier and earlier to fit the hike into their schedules or to avoid the crowds. And, of course, calendar-year Triple Crown hike hopefuls normally start on January first.
It doesn’t matter what time of year, though, or where on the trail…when I read about thru-hikers, I just want to get out there myself.
Appalachian Trail Blazes
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