It took me a while to get it put together, but after 4 months I have finally put together a photo recap of my 2014 thru hike of the Appalachian Trail.
Then, check out my Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike Before and After Gear List Here.
It’s February and that means that the thru hiker class of 2015 is starting off soon. Hiking the entirety of the Appalachian Trail is a daunting task and the first few days are a big learning experience. For those of you who are about to begin your journey, here are 5 things that you can expect during your first 5 days on the trail.
I’m sure that most prospective thru hikers feel nervous the night before their hike begins. At least for me, there was a lot to worry about. Would we even make it to the trailhead? Would we get a spot in the shelter on the first night? What would we do if we couldn’t find a spot to camp? Did I pack everything I need?
The first night I sat around camp at Amicalola Falls State Park with other hopeful thru hikers, I started to cook dinner and realized I was too nervous to eat. The next day as I took my first few steps on the approach trail, my nervousness was replaced with excitement.
Unless you are on your second thru hike, odds are you packed too much. Whether your pack weighs 20 pounds or 50 pounds, you brought wayyyy too much. Get used to that feeling because for the next 6 months you will be racking your brain for 10 hours a day trying to decide what else you can get rid of.
At Neel’s gap, the first stop on the AT in Georgia, you will have a chance to mail extra stuff home, so start making a list.
Click here to read about my packing list for the Appalachian Trail before and after my thru hike.
It doesn’t matter which shoes you are wearing, your feet are going to hurt. Many MANY people make the wrong decision when it comes to shoes. Maybe they went with boots when they should have worn trail runners, or the other way around. Frequently people purchase shoes that are too big or small.
On top of that, your body won’t be used to carrying so much weight and hiking up mountain after mountain. Georgia terrain is HARD. Be prepared by bringing some foot first aid like body butter or Goldbond, and don’t push the mileage too hard. If you take care of your body you will make up the miles later, but if you ignore your body, you might end up going home.
I have talked about this in other posts and I will talk about it again. Food on the trail rules everything. At this point on your trek you haven’t truly built up the eating endurance of a thru hiker, but you will start to see the way your body reacts to extra calories.
On my first day hiking up to Springer Mountain I was feeling pretty tired and stopped to eat a snickers bar. 15 minutes later I hit an energy boost that sent me flying ahead of all my new buddies. Make sure to bring food that you like and treat yourself to a snack often.
If you are starting your hike between mid-February and late April, there are going to be a ton of other folks hiking the trail. From complete beginners to triple-crowners, these people have chosen to set out on an epic journey.
There will be a lot of people who are on the same boat as you so remember to support each other! That first night at the shelter at Amicalola Falls, I made friends that I hiked with all the way to Maine.
There are a lot of other things you may learn in the first few days, like what a hostel is, or how to adjust your pack, or how to poop in the woods. You’ll be feeling lot of different emotions but most of all you should be excited! The fact that you have even started this journey makes you different, special, and brave.
Remember these feelings of excitement and keep them for a rainy day, because you are going to have times where you will need to remind yourself why in the hell you started this mess in the first place.
As I mentioned in my last post, “What is a Microadventure?”, I am trying to get out on an adventure at least once every month this year. January is a difficult time to get outside because here in the northeast, its cold, wet or sometimes freezing. To get outside in the winter you also need a lot of cold weather gear to keep you safe, warm and dry.
I really don’t like the cold and I have made promises to myself in the past that I would never camp in the winter. I put off going on any type of winter trip for a long time but alas the mountains were calling and I couldn’t hang up on them this time. This would be my first backpacking trip since I returned from the Appalachian Trail and my excitement of being outdoors surpassed my fear of freezing to death.
We decided that Harriman State Park in New York was a good location to visit because it is a short drive and it offers a lot of different trails and shelters. After scoping out a map we chose to visit Bald Rocks shelter on the Ramapo-Dunderberg Trail. The shelter is just 1.5 miles from route 601 and another 1.5 miles from an easily accessible parking area.
Joining me on this adventure was my husband Andrew aka “Sugardaddy” and Kyle aka “Mac.” To prepare for the trip my husband and I had to borrow a lot of gear and I was surprised to see how much extra stuff I actually needed. Thanks to some friends who are more experienced in this area, I was quickly schooled and geared up with warmer sleeping bags, gaiters, insulated boots, and a stove among many other things.
We had originally planned to spend two nights at the shelter, but as the Friday of our trip rolled around the temperatures started to drop and it began to snow. The night before, a wind advisory went into effect promising temperatures at the shelter to be around -15 degrees. No thank you.
Saturday morning we packed the car and made the quick drive up to New York. The cold was numbing us as we put on our packs. The 1.5 mile road walk up to the trail was easy and fast. It felt good to feel the weight of my pack and the burn in my legs again. I happily noticed that I hadn’t lost all the physical endurance that I had gained on the AT. When we reached the trail, we were greeted by a foot or more of fluffy white powdery snow. Luckily for us, someone had broken in the path already, and we didn’t have to guess at which way the trail went.
The sun was bright and the sky was super clear as we started our uphill hike. Tramping through the snow was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. It presented a new challenge to hiking and since I had the right equipment I stayed nice and dry.
We reached the shelter around 2pm. After a snack we took to the trail without our packs and explored a bit. When we returned Andrew and Kyle searched for firewood while I cooked dinner. Andrew had brought his hatchet and we had some fun chopping wood.
I was super excited to cook over the fire. On the Appalachian Trail we were always hiking late into the day and had to make quick dinners. I took this opportunity to cook up something really awesome. I cut up potatoes, onions, peppers and kielbasa and threw them into a pot. When it was all done we doused it in Franks Red Hot Sauce and went to town. Amazing.
That night we caught the sunset on a hill just behind the shelter. Even with the temperatures diving into the 10s, it was exhilarating to be outside and in nature again.
The next morning we took our time gathering our things as I cooked up some scrambled eggs and coffee. We were lucky to have some great weather again and made a quick and easy decent back to the car.
February’s microadventure is coming up fast and I am looking for a place in the Philadelphia area that’s great for watching the sunrise. If you have any suggestions, leave them below!
Somewhere in the southern Appalachian mountains I stumbled across a shelter and sat down for lunch. I flipped open the shelter log and found that one of my fellow hikers had penned a poem about beginning his thru hike. As a read through it, I was surprised to see how much it hit me right in the feels.
In the fifth verse the author had written:
This I walk not because I’m bold or brave,
but from fear of that day I’m old and grave…
I almost choked on my snickers bar reading those lines, and felt overwhelming relief at the realization that I wasn’t the only person out there for that same reason.
After returning home I was happy to find that the author, trail name Raven, had posted some of his poetry online. He has been kind enough to allow me to share his poem “Five Million Steps” here on Appalachian Trials.
By: Andy “Raven” Cai
The month of March will set into motion
a journey through woods as wide as oceans,
from the Georgian foothills of Nature’s fane
to sky altars in the mountains of Maine,
a pilgrimage of whole devotion.
I shall hike on this Appalachian trail,
following the blazes of white detail,
‘neath the open sky be it blue or grey,
looking forth only to the northern way,
across these wild rivers, ridges, and dales.
Twenty-two hundred miles to walk and wend,
five million steps before I reach the end.
From start of Spring I now must sprout the will
to go outward bound until Autumn’s chill,
with the last days my youth has left to lend.
And in these earnest months of much travail,
when I’m lost amidst fog draped morning veils,
immemorial truths I hope to find
from the whisper of branches, leafed or pined,
to the roaring vigor of rain-kissed gales.
This I walk not because I’m bold or brave,
but from fear of that day I’m old and grave,
and with regret, I’ll only meekly sigh
of an unlived life that has passed me by.
This is an adventure I cannot waive.
While I know not if I’ll succeed or fail,
I do ask of you, dearest friends, regale!
For now, walk along with me in your mind.
And should you find your own path as divined,
by taking that first step you’ll have prevailed.
If you like the poem, make sure to visit Andy at https://fivemsteps.wordpress.com/ for more.
Photo courtesy of AeLin “Birch” Compton
A microadventure is an escape from the ordinary in everyday life. With planning, practice, and a little bit of dedication, you can be camping on a hill tonight and at work again tomorrow.
After my 6 month thru hike on the Appalachian Trail, I got to feeling a bit restless in everyday life. I have a few adventures planned for this year, like a road trip to Colorado in June among others, but what about in the meantime? What about right now? I needed to find something that would give me a feeling of adventure without all the hard work, planning, money and vacation time that usually comes with it.
“You work from 9 to 5 but what about the 5 to 9?”
A microadventure is just that. It is getting out of your home or office if just for the evening. Cooking dinner and sleeping on a hill. Watching the sunrise over the nearest city. Trying something new like a race, or biking to a part of town that you have never been to before. The idea is that you can get outside anytime with adventures that are quick, easy, cheap, and fun.
As Alastair puts it, “you work from 9 to 5 but what about the 5 to 9?” You don’t have to wait for the weekend for an adventure, you can have one right now!
This year along with some other adventures I have planned, I want to follow the microadventure calendar from alastairhumphreys.com.
This calendar serves as a quick look at some of the best days to get out there and experience nature, and a great reminder that it doesn’t have to be difficult to do so.
So… who wants to come?
Hiking in White Mountain National Park was hard. SO SUPER HARD. I would only be able to do, like, 8 miles a day.
“That’s ridiculous,” I thought, “I can walk 20+ miles a day; certainly 13-16 miles a day in the Whites would be cake.”
This is what I thought about as I hauled my way slowly and painfully up Mount Kinsman. It was my second day in the Whites. The previous day, I had pushed up and over Mount Moosilauke with an elevation gain of over 3000 feet. As we reached the bottom of the mountain, the sun was starting to set and I was completely exhausted. I had only hiked 10 miles.
I had been hiking with Mac. We decided to stick to our original plan and push another 3 miles that day. Looking at the elevation profile that night, I told myself the worst was over. Mount Kinsman lay ahead with a much smaller elevation gain. The plan was to get over the mountain and make our way into Lincoln, NH for the night. It would be another 13 miles, but if I could do today, certainly I could make it though tomorrow.
My neck hurt from looking up at the trail that loomed above me. As I was in such great shape, I had a hard time believing that people could come out here for day hikes. I felt like I was rock climbing but without a rope. I grabbed each handhold above me and hauled myself up, my pack threatening to drag me backwards. My trekking poles were essentially useless. As I reached the top of the mountain, I spied Mac waiting for me.
I laid down, completely exhausted. I felt like crap. Maybe I was fighting a cold; maybe I was in an enormous calorie deficit. Maybe both. I didn’t know the reason, but I knew I definitely didn’t feel right. I pulled a Snickers bar out of my pack and solemnly ripped it apart. Mac talked excitedly about getting to town that night. For me, though, the thought of hiking another 6 miles and then having to hitch into town made me fight the urge to throw up.
As I readied myself for the descent, I again told myself that the worst was over.
It hadn’t rained that day, or the day before for that matter, but in the Whites everything is always wet. As we traveled down the mountain, I realized that those wet, slick slabs of rock that some maniac deemed a trail were even more treacherous on the descent.
For reference, imagine a sheet of ice at a 45-degree downward angle. You have to go down it. You can’t go around it and you are carrying about 25 pounds on your back, about the weight of a small child. Now do that over and over again for MILES.
The fact that this trail could even be considered open to the public was beyond me. I grabbed trees for balance and gingerly lowered myself down over each slab of inexplicably wet rock. I fell once. I fell twice. I slipped hundreds of times, my heart beating in my chest. I was overwhelmed with frustration. I was tired, hungry, and hurt. All I wanted to do was hike faster so we could get to town, get a warm meal, and get a good night’s sleep. The faster I hiked, the more often I fell.
My third fall wasn’t so much a fall as a slip-n-slide gone awry. On a particularly large slab of rock, I decided to sit on my butt and slowly slide down. It was so steep and slippery that I still kept sliding. I landed hard at the bottom and added a fresh rip in my shorts, not to mention a few scrapes on my ass. I burst into tears. What the fuck was I doing out here? I could be at home with my husband watching Game of Thrones and eating Chipotle, but here I was, torturing myself.
I cried on and off the rest of the way down the mountain. I ran into a few day hikers who wanted to chat, but I pretty much completely ignored them because I was afraid of bursting into tears if I opened my mouth. I still feel bad about that. Sorry, day hiker guys.
Three miles short of town, I caught up with Mac who had very strategically stayed well ahead of me for the last few miles. He convinced me that the next 3 miles would be easy and that I could do it. If I could just stick it out, we would be in town that night eating Chinese food and sleeping in someone’s garage. Luxury.
Mac was right. We cruised to the highway and hitched/walked our way into town, eventually making our way to Chet’s hostel.
I wanted to go home and never hike again. The thought of returning to those mountains nauseated me.
I ate. I rested. I slept. The next day, Mac and I took the whole day off and hung out at Chet’s place. We ate more. The weather was nice. We caught up with other hikers. I called my husband. I called my mom. I bitched and complained, and then ate some more. I felt better.
When I set out hiking again with Mac by my side, we made a deal to aim for only 10 miles a day. It seemed short, but in the end it was the best decision we could have made. The Whites became a much more enjoyable experience.
Over-hiking is a common mistake in the Whites and I found my limits pretty quickly. I will always remember that shitty day on Mount Kinsman as one of my most difficult and frustrating days on the trail.
Was I ever actually in danger of quitting? I don’t think so. I had a great support system and all I really needed was a break and a lot of food, but my resolve had never been tested so soundly.
