Appalachian Trail thru-hiking

The Appalachian Trail (AT) is a 2,175 mile trail down the Appalachain Mountain chain running from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Katahdin in Maine. It's within a day's drive of over half the population of the United States, and about 6 million folks a year step foot on the AT.

In 2000, spent six months hiking the AT from Maine to Georgia. In many ways that time out on the trail changed everything for me.

I had spent 1o years thinking about hiking it, and finally after a divorce and all sorts of other personal drama I decided to get off my butt and make a go of it.

That first step was the sweetest of them all-just getting everything together and taking a risk to do something that had been festering around for a decade. It was the hardest six months of my life, but I wouldn't trade that experience for the world.

As I was finishing, I made a deal with myself to do something cool every five years. I don't want to look back and regret not doing something when I'm old and grey. Besides, it gives me better stories to lie to the grandkids about.

Here's a few links to some of the better Appalachian Trail and backpacking resources. Feel free to give me a holler if you have any questions about the AT or long-distance hiking.

Take care,

-John

www.appalachiantrail.org/
www.nps.gov/appa/
www.whiteblaze.net/
www.thru-hiker.com
www.trailjournals.com/