It’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog. Thanks for following along after all this time! May 8th, 10 days from the writing of this post, marks the one year anniversary of when I stepped off on the Appalachian Trail. I’ve been getting my life back in order. I’m working out at MKT CrossFit and I’m going to coach some …
Post Trail Depression and a Revelation
I’ve been struggling with post-trail depression. It’s a fairly well-known phenomenon that is experienced by a majority of thru-hikers after. I think it’s brought on by many factors, as depression generally is. There’s the physical side of your body being wrecked. There’s the aspect of leaving the trail community. You’ve left the structure and simplicity of following a set path. …
How thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail Changed Me
Nine weeks off-trail and I’m feeling much more like myself. My energy has come back and I’m excited to do things again. My feet have stopped hurting. I’ve cut down sleep from averaging eleven hours a night to nine. The trail continues to impart lessons. Nature can’t be rushed. When you throw a system off of its homeostatic set-point it …
Adjusting back to “real life.”
I’ve been off-trail for 20 days now. 20 days already!! Time is really strange. I remember stepping through the arches in Amicalola in May. I remember feeling a queer surreal feeling. It didn’t seem real at the time that I was embarking on a 2,189 mile hike. Even now after completing the thru-hike the idea of having hiked all the …
Day 205 – SUCCESS!!
I’m writing from Harper’s Ferry, WV. I’ve passed through four states since my last blog and we have a lot to catch up on! First, I finished my thru hike last night! I hiked into Harper’s Ferry at 9:45pm after a long 31.2 mile day(which ended up being closer to 34 miles because I hiked out to get beer and …
Day 181 – Hiking All Night
I’m writing from the Tuxedo motel in Southfield, NY while I do laundry. There’s no laundromat so I’m washing the clothes in the sink and rinsing them off in the shower. I’ll be entering New Jersey in two days and then there’s only Pennsylvania and a small portion of Maryland left to hike. I’m ready to be done. I’m ready …
Day 162 – What do you really need on the Appalachian Trail?
I’m writing to you from Manchester Center, VT. I hitched into town early this morning and will head back to the trail this afternoon. I plan to go in and out of towns like this frequently on my way back to Harper’s Ferry. It will save both time and money and help keep my pack light by allowing me to …
Day 154 – Five Months On The Trail!
I’m writing to you from Hanover, NH. It’s a very nice little town on the NH/VT border and the home of Dartmouth College. Today marks five months on the trail. Five months!! I’m going to keep this update short as I still have a lot I need to do(and a lot of beer to drink) before I hike out this …
Day 143 – Climbed Mt. Washington, Ate Pizza, Didn’t Die, Good Day.
I’m writing to you from a 12 tribes operated hostel in Lancaster, NH. The 12 tribes is a somewhat eccentric community that some describe as a “cult.” They have communities across the nation and are famous for their Yellow Delis. They’ve been very nice and super hospitable. They drove us 35 minutes from the trailhead and will return us in …
Day 100… something. Another state completed, on to the White mountains!
I’m writing from the White Mountains Hostel outside of Gorham, NH. It has a reputation as one of the best hostels on the trail. The reputation is well earned. It’s clean, organized, and very comfortable. Today makes a double zero. Southern Maine The last hundred miles through southern Maine have been the roughest terrain I’ve encountered yet. The mountains are …