I’ve been fascinated by thru-hiking for years. It started when I was at church camp and saw part of the North Country Trail, with it’s blue blazes through the woods near camp. Someone told me that the NCT was going to be a long trail, like the Appalachian Trail. Much later, I read Carrot Quinn’s book, Thru Hiking will Break Your Heart, I read about Liz Thomas’s record-breaking thru hike of the Appalachian Trail on her blog, and followed Nicole Antoinette’s thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail on Instagram. I started following the Quirin family on Instagram and watching Homemade Wonderlust’s videos about thru-hiking on Youtube.
In learning all about this, the Appalachian Trail comes up again and again, as The Big One, and that made me want to do it so much. I wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail for the same reason I’m running a marathon – it feels like the biggest thing to tackle.
Thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail takes about six months, and I am not in a position right now where it’s a priority to spend six months hiking every day. Instead, I set my goal to be hike part of the Appalachian Trail before I turn 30. When I had a week off for fourth of July, it seemed like a perfect time to make it happen. I looked at the map of the Appalachian Trail and picked the Smoky Mountains, mostly because it was within a day’s drive of Jackson, and there were campgrounds within the park where I could car camp.
On my first day of hiking, I started at Newfound Gap, which had a beautiful lookout – you can see for miles, and it’s gorgeous. From there, I hiked four miles, stopping now and then to take pictures, or drink water. This part of the trail was fairly high-traffic. I took a little turn off of the trail and the views were breathtaking.
I hiked further, telling myself that I could and would hike 16 miles in the same day. I turned around at eight miles, and on the way back, I went to that same little turn off. Except this time, it was completely empty, and I could climb up on this rock and soak it all in, entirely alone in the world.
On the second day of hiking, I got a later start and started at Newfound Gap again, this time hiking southbound on the trail for about a mile before I turned around. This was less scenic, but much quieter – I didn’t see anyone else the whole time I was there. Next, I drove further up the mountain to Clingman’s dome, which is the highest point in the park. I hiked up the path to the lookout point. It’s funny – the path is paved and smooth and doesn’t seem like it would be very hard, but the incline is very steep, and because of the altitute, the air is very thin. I live in Jackson, Mississippi, and we’re less than 300 feet above sea level. Clingman’s dome is 6,643 feet above sea level, and my body is not accostomed to that at all. On the way up, I stopped four or five times in a half mile walk. After I went to the lookout, I hiked some on the AT right by Clingman’s Dome.
I wanted to hike a different part of the AT within the park, so I looked up the southern and northern ends of the trail, within the park. I camped at Cosby Campground, which is by the north side of the park, so it made sense to drive to the northern side of the trail and check out that area. The northern end of the trail had far fewer people on it than Newfound Gap, and I noticed that the plants were pretty different in that area.
Something I had been curious about were the shelters on the AT. I’d read that there are shelters that have been built on the Appalachian Trail, and that it was actually possible to do a thru-hike without bringing a tent, by simply staying in the shelters every night. I saw three of the shelters while I was hiking, and they were each a little different.
Needless to say, this will not be my last time hiking on the Appalachian Trail.
- Host a real adult dinner party.
Hike a portion of the Appalachian trail.- Run a sub 2:15 half marathon.
- Run a marathon.
- Have a signature dish that I am really good at cooking.
- Go on a backpack trip – backpacking through the woods, not backpacking through Europe.
- Create an inviting backyard with outdoor seating.
- Win a trivia night.
Eat alligator.- Take a trip to a new city where I don’t know anyone.
- Learn to poach an egg.
- Have a meal with a stranger.
- Try a new sport.
- Start a supper club.
- Go spelunking.
- Take a cooking class.
- Get season tickets to an arts institution.
- Consistently journaling for three months.
- Learn calligraphy.
- Publish a zine.
- Meet Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
- Join a CSA.
- See Hamilton.
- Finish my Master’s degree.
- Get adventurous nails.
- Custom order temporary tattoos.
- Save $x
- Visit five cities within a day’s drive of Jackson.
- Eat insects.
- KonMari my home.
