Appalachian Trail Journal 2025

  • “Unspeakable Excitement”

    -12 hours to trail.

    (Suches, GA)

    I haven’t felt excitement like this in so long that I barely even remembered that such a feeling existed! For the last month it’s all been so busy preparing for the trail that I haven’t been able to let myself become excited for the trail.

    That’s different now though. I’m so excited that I can’t even contain myself.

    —

    I arrived in Atlanta late last night, got my checked bag, caught my ride out of town, and it was two hours to Above the Clouds, the hostel I’m staying at tonight.

    My ride was a guy named Ron, who had been running an AT shuttle for the last 19 years. He was a character. Almost twenty years of stories from shuttling hikers along with stories from his own hikes on the AT and elsewhere. He was a wealth of knowledge, and I can imagine that he’d be even more useful to someone new to thru hiking. Most of my curiosity along our drive was specific to the AT, and less about thru hiking.

    The hostel was closed well before we arrived, but they’d arranged for me to stay in a cabin on the property and left the porch light on.

    It already feels different out here than anything I’ve felt before, and it’s not only the excitement. Something feels like it exists in this part of the world than I’ve found before this. Like the air is thicker. No not the humidity. Something you feel more in your chest. I find it hard to explain.

    It was hard to sleep through the excitement, but woke this morning around sunrise.

    The owner of the hostel made breakfast and showed me around after pointing out the full coffee pot. It brings me right back to trail, being here. There were only a few people here when I arrived, but by now, in the evening, there are nearly a dozen of us. I’m the only one who has yet to start the hike. Everyone else here has done 20-30 miles to get here. I’ll start tomorrow.

    The owner of the hostel, a guy named Lucky, mentioned that he had a home gym around back, and I asked if he’d let me use it. He said he’s always trying to get people to use the weight equipment in there, but evidently nobody ever does. Go figure–hikers are tired, even after just 20-30 miles. They don’t want to lift weights after coming off trail.

    So I was able to get in one more workout before going to trail tomorrow. Much of the equipment was dusty and ruddy, but it still felt good.

    The hikers here are mostly new to thru hiking, and it’s been fun going through their gear and helping to reduce weight. It reminds me of being on my first long trails, and how much different hiking is to me now.

    On my first thru hike my base weight (the weight of all my gear, minus my worn weight, food weight, and water weight) was around 24lbs. That was way too heavy. That was 10 years ago. My base weight this time is 17.49lbs. I weighted it all out this morning, and I’m really pleased with this.

    The fun goes up when the weight goes down. I’ve met people who have had “sub-10” base weights, but to me that just sacrifices too much gear. I like my comforts, but I’m also pleased to have dropped my base weight this much.

    My worn weight is 5lbs, and food will be around 2lbs per day. I could start out with just a day of food for as much resupply opportunity as there is on this trail. But I’m stocked for 4 days, and plan to carry that full weight from the trailhead.

    Tomorrow I’ll start at the approach trail at around 8 or 9am. I want to start earlier, but I need to get a ride to trail, and that’s about an hour south of here. I also will register with the Appalachian Trail Association before starting the approach trail. That’s 9 miles, to the start of the official AT, and from there it’s north.

    I don’t need to make big miles tomorrow, but I like to on my first day of a thru trail. If there weren’t the limitation of starting late in the morning, I’d like to get 30 miles tomorrow, but we’ll see.

    The forecast is calling for a bit of rain tomorrow, then pretty good weather for the foreseeable future past there.

    —

    After working out I mostly hung out with the other hikers for the rest of the day. Did a couple of pack shake downs, shipped my “normal” clothes and shoes back that I wore on the plane yesterday.

    My food resupply box was here when I arrived for breakfast this morning. So I packed food, weighed all my gear, and a few of us ordered food from a near by grocery store. Made a dinner of pasta and beef. Had a salad. Frank another beer.

    —

    Wow… that was cool. Between the last paragraph and this one some of the hikers were asking me about injuries and what not. We started going over stretches and preventative exercise, and it led to my getting to do about an hour of bodywork. That’s something that I’ve really wanted to do on trail, but I know that I’m not able to practice like I would at my office, because I don’t have a table or lotions or anything like that. But I can practice this massage, and that’s basically what I did for the hour in a couple different hikers. Their feedback was really validating. One guy said after the session that he’s going to start getting massage monthly when he gets back home.

    —

    Tomorrow I’ll have breakfast and coffee with the other hikers and take a ride to the approach trail.

    I’m so excited that I can barely even see straight. No idea how I’m going to get sleep tonight. Shit… I might be able to even make a little income or pay my stay at hostels in trail if I’m able to do bodywork like I did today.

    Life is good.

    I haven’t felt that way in a long long time. I forgot it was possible to feel good again.

    Wormwood.

  • “Waiting”

    -2 days to trail

    (Palm Springs, CA)

    I arrived in Palm Springs 5 days ago. It was my grandmother’s 84th birthday, and I wanted to see her before I leave for the Appalachian Trail. My mom flew down from WA for the week as well, so it was an opportunity to see both of them before starting the hike.

    I was pleased to see that grandmother is doing a lot better than the last time I saw her, in the fall of last year. She was diagnosed with cancer several years back, and the whole family worries about her sometimes. But again, it was good to see her well and to have the opportunity to fatten up on big dinners before the trail.

    The three weeks leading up to this trip to CA were overwhelming. Of course I was trying to train for the trail, but I was also moving out of my apartment, putting things in storage, renting out my work office, putting in notice in my other jobs, parking my car for the summer, saying goodbyes… there was a lot.

    So landing here was a needed break. I was mostly able to rest and be with family over the last 4 days. I needed it more than I realized. Granted, my Garmin thinks I’m dead, based on my recent lack of exercise. But I know that will be resolved soon, once I’m on trail.

    I’m in the airport at Palm Springs now–flying to Atlanta in about 20 minutes.

    I won’t start the hike until Friday (two days from today), but I’ll land in Georgia tonight after a four-hour flight. I had planned to sleep in the airport in Atlanta, but changed plans yesterday. Now I’ll be getting picked up tonight at 9pm, then it’s a 2-hour drive to the Above the Clouds Hostel in Suches, Georgia. I’ll stay at the hostel tonight and tomorrow, then I’ll start the hike on Friday morning, or whenever I can get a ride to the approach trail.

    The hike itself doesn’t actually start at the AT trailhead; rather, it’s 9 miles into a state park, if I’m not mistaken. But I’m planning that approach trail and to start the official AT on Friday, April 11.

    I was going to start on April 1st, but 8 months ago I had a psychedelic vision that it was important to start just a bit later–on the 11th. So here we are.

    I board my flight in just a few minutes. I’ll likely journal again tomorrow while I’m at the hostel and waiting for Friday.

    Wormwood.

  • “It’s Close”

    -20 days to trail 

    16.47 miles

    The first day is just a technicality, on a multi-day trip. I’ve felt that way for a long time.

    The first day you’re waking up in civilization and in all the comforts that comes with it. Only on the second day do you get to wake up in the wilderness and then go to sleep in it that night as well. There’s a completely different feeling being out here for the entire day, waking up and going to sleep in my tent. It’s something magical and it’s reminiscent. It’s been too long, and I’m looking forward to much more of this very soon, once I get to the AT.

    I’ll be starting the AT three weeks from today. 

    And after today, I think that I feel ready. I’m more comfortable with my gear after these two multi day trips these last three weeks. I feel ready. 

    —

    I woke up after sunrise. It was loud and windy last night, camped up on that outcropping. It made for a beautiful start to the day, but it was so loud last night that my sleep was heavily affected. Tonight I’ll take a melatonin. I’m considering getting a new sleeping pad for the AT too. I’ve used this one for a long time, but I feel like it’s worth going heavier for more comfort and better sleep once I’m out there.

    It took around 45 minutres to break camp and get to trail this morning. Could have been faster, but mostly I was checking my system and organization. I feel good with setting and breaking camp. One thing that I did note is that I need to have things set the night before so that I can break and get back to trail more quickly in the morning. I’ve attempted to do that tonight. 

    I took a small amount of mushrooms this morning, and again at noon. It was nothing dramatic, but it was enough to affect the first part of the day for the better. For that matter, the after-glow affected the rest of the day too, and left me especially contemplative, which is what I wanted from this trip. 

    This being my third time hiking the Escalente route, I should have had sense to be completely sober for the morning portion, as there is a rock slide section and a cliff that you have to descend when approaching from the west. I remembered both of them, but failed to appreciate just how remarkable those two features on the trail are. I found assurance in knowing that the AT will most certainly contain nothing so intense. 

    The weather was hot today, but the trail was amazing. I absolutely love the Escalente Route. I’ve never done it from the west, going east, so this was new for me today. I’ve also never done this as a multi-day trip, so that’s been cool to see the trip from a different direction and to spend so much more time down here below the rim. It’s been good for me to feel the difference in my legs after two days compared to carrying weight for only one full day. 

    I met two or three groups of hikers today. Talked with one group for five minutes and a couple for maybe fifteen. It’s made me feel more comfortable going to the AT. I feel more equipped and experienced in this than I think I give myself credit for. At my core, I am still quite an insecure mess in most aspects of life. Maybe that’s why I hike–because it’s simple and I know I can do it. 

    I arrived at Tanner Beach, where I’m permitted to camp at around 4pm. It was still three hours to dark, and I really don’t know what to do with myself when there’s that much time left in the day. It made me long for the thru trail, where I don’t have to set camp until the day is over. With the extra time I bathed in the Colorado River, which was cold as hell, and did laundry. I didn’t need to wash my clothes, but like much about this trip, it had more to do with testing my system and seeing how things feel before going to the AT. 

    Tomorrow I have the choice of just hiking from here, out the Tanner Trail, or I can do a yo-yo of the Beamer Trail. The first option would be 7.5 miles; the later will be closer to 28. I’ve never been on the Beamer, so that will be cool, but I’ve also been told that it’s an aggressive trail, so I’m likely to approach it sober tomorrow morning, and see if I can get all the way to the Little Colorado River before coming back and heading out. Either way I need to exit tomorrow and I need to be out early enough to hitch back to my car. There have been times where that has not gone well for me in the past, and other times where it has gone well. So I want to allow some extra time before sunset tomorrow to making sure I can get a ride back to my car at the Grandview trailhead.

    Either way, what’s important here is that I feel confident in my trail setup and training. I may switch out a thing or two, but for the most part I’m really pleased with where things are and I feel ready for the AT. I’m going to miss the Grand Canyon, having been here probably a dozen times since January alone, but I also suspect that I’ll be back after the summer’s done. I’ll do one more hike here with some friends next week, but that will just be a day trip. Otherwise, the AT is about to be underfoot. 

    It’s close. 

    Wormwood.