My Hiking Itinerary

Obviously, that is a map of the Appalachian Trail. As I mentioned earlier, I do have a day-by-day, mile-by-mile itinerary, but in all reality, I will likely veer from that schedule within the first week. I do still have a general idea of when I would like to be in certain areas:

• NC/TN - I will cross the GA-NC border after a week or so on the trail, after about 80 miles in GA. The trail comes into NC near Franklin. I will be in and out of NC (along the TN border) for the next month or so.
• VA - The trail goes directly through only a few towns along the way. One of them, arguably the most popular, is Damascus, VA. I plan to be there after 5-6 weeks of hiking, sometime in late May. I will be in VA for a whopping 550 miles, over a quarter of the trail, the most for any state on the AT.
• WV - Another important stop on the AT is Harpers Ferry, WV. Similar to Damascus, the trail goes directly through Harpers Ferry, which is considered the unofficial halfway point of the AT. It is also the location of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) Headquarters. The ATC is the not-for-profit corporation that maintains the AT. I will be there sometime in late June. Also, Harpers Ferry is only a short hour and 15 minute drive or an hour and 45 minute train ride to Washington, DC.
• ME - Hopefully, I will be hiking into Maine around mid- or late-August, and finishing atop Mt. Katahdin sometime in early or mid-September.

Those are the main locations that a lot of people were wondering about, but for those of you who might be a tad too lazy to read the above, here is a short breakdown:

• GA - 76 miles - Mid April
• NC/TN - 383 miles - Late April
• VA - 550 miles - Late May
• WV - 4 miles (aww, poor West Virginia) - Late June
• MD - 41 miles - Late June
• PA - 230 miles - Early July
• NJ - 72 miles - Mid July
• NY - 88 miles - Mid July
• CT - 52 miles - Late July
• MA - 90 miles - Late July
• VT - 150 miles - Early August
• NH - 161 miles - Mid August
• ME - 281 miles - Late August

Again, these aren't going to be exactly correct. 

Adam

PS. Sorry for these posts being so long, I'm just really ready to get started and have way too much free time.

General Questions

I have gotten a lot of questions recently, so I will try to answer them here.

• How will you blog while on the AT?
• I plan on writing in a journal every night before I go to sleep and will be able to type and upload posts whenever I go into town. I'll try to go into town every 10 days or so to do laundry, take a shower, and update this blog. That's the plan, at least.
• When will you be at insert location here?
• I do have a day-by-day schedule right now, but I'll probably end up tossing it within the first week. It's just really difficult to predict what my body will be able to handle on any given day. That being said, I do have some general goals of where I would like to be by certain dates.
• Will you be going with someone?
• I will be hiking alone and I will be carrying all of my own stuff, but do not worry about me, there will be plenty of other people around. My starting date, April 15th, is one of the most popular starting dates among thru-hikers. I have heard stories of near 100 hikers starting on that day, so I will not be hiking alone, nor will I be camping alone.
• How far will you hike each day?
• I will start off relatively slow, hiking 8-10 miles a day. After about a week, I hope to push that to 12-15 miles per day. Eventually, I will try and hike 20 miles/day. In the middle of the AT, there are some sections where people have hiked 30 mile days. At that point, it really just depends on how my knees, legs, and feet feel.

If anyone has any more questions, just ask! I love telling people about this stuff. I'm really excited to start hiking.

Adam

The Adventure of a Lifetime

Five million is the number of steps it takes to thru-hike the entire Appalachian Trail. This summer, I plan on taking each and every one of those five million steps.

As many of you may already know, in one month, I will be hiking the entire Appalachian Trail. The AT stretches all the way from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine, a total of 2,185 miles. Every year, thousands of hikers attempt to thru-hike the AT. To thru-hike a trail means to finish it in one trip or one attempt. The average time for hiking the trail is six months, but my goal is to finish in five. I will be starting on the 9-mile approach trail at Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia on April 15th.

Over the next month, I will blog about some of the planning I have done, the gear I will be bringing, and general thoughts I have about hiking the trail. I also plan on answering some questions that a lot of people have had, such as:

• Where will I sleep?
• What will I eat?
• How far will I hike each day?
• Who will I be hiking with?
• How long will I go without a shower?

After I begin hiking, I will try to keep everyone updated once a week or so. All I ask is that you keep me in your thoughts and prayers throughout this wonderful adventure of mine.

Adam