Category: AT Thru-Hike 2023
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Puzzle pieces: Coming home from a thru-hike
I remember reading somewhere before I left on trail that coming home from a long-distance hike felt like “being a puzzle piece that got mixed in with the wrong puzzle.” Now that I’m home from the Appalachian Trail, it’s become a repeating phrase in my mind. I keep getting asked what it feels like to…
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Maine: Hiking the last state on the Appalachian Trail
Entering Maine felt surreal. Four and a half months, 1,900 miles of hiking, and three pairs of shoes, and we were now at the border of the last state left. It was a 17-mile day to get to the border, and our shelter was just across the state line. Earlier that day we’d run into…
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White Mountain National Forest: Appalachian Trail edition
The White Mountain National Forest (or the Whites as we hikers refer to them) may very well have won the spot of “most terrifying to NOBO hikers.” Much like ‘Rocksylvania,’ we’ve been hearing about this section of the trail since we’ve begun. Reportedly, it’s the hardest section of the trail. New Hampshire and the Whites…
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Vermont: Rain, mud, and the Long Trail
Since Vermont, I’ve been sleeping in almost every morning. By sleeping in, I mean sleeping until about 5 am when we start sliding out of sleeping bags, rolling up mats, and packing up our gear for the day. For the majority of the trail, I’ve been awake around 3-4 am, decidedly unable to sleep beyond…
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Sparks of hope
I know it shouldn’t hurt to get out of bedThe buttons on my shirt come undone, weigh me down like they’re made out of leadI think I’m getting worse, I don’t remember happyAnd all I wanna do is sleep until I forget “Anything Can Happen” – The Tors I had a panic attack before we…
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Hiking under smokey skies
“Health officials recommend that everyone stay inside with windows and doors shut, avoid doing strenuous activity and taking the dog for long walks.” I read this aloud to Stealth and Winter Boots (his friend visiting for a couple weeks) on top of a viewpoint on a New Jersey mountain. The sun was a small dot…
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Rocksylvania: Hiking Pennsylvania’s rocks
The hype about Rocksylvania began for me before we even set foot on trail. Somehow, the notorious rocky trails permeated the minds and thoughts of even those who’d never hiked the Appalachian Trail. The rocks, the rocks, people cried. The rocks will bruise your feet and turn your ankles and steal your resolve to live.…
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Flatsylvania: The calm before the rocks
“The Flute Song” has been playing in my head on repeat lately (thanks, Stealth). Go listen to it, and then come back and read the rest of this blog post… Or listen to it while you read. It’ll put you in the same light, joyful mood I’ve been feeling as we’ve hiked through Maryland and…
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Updates from the exhausted and vibrant: Reaching Harper’s Ferry
It’s been hard to update this past week, as we’ve hiked through the Shenandoahs (aka, the Shennies, as us hikers have been calling them). We’ve had back-to-back 20-24 mile days in a bit of a heatwave that’ve left us worn and battered by the time we’ve made it to the shelter each night. The past…
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Snapshots of April: Two months of thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail
My thoughts aren’t linear anymore. There isn’t a straight line they follow, leading from one point to another. There isn’t a structure or a outline. They are just thoughts, bouncing from one memory to another, each brushing against each other. Similar scenery leading to old memories, new memories made in the shadows of old ones.…