How am I going to hike 2000 miles by myself?

How I plan to solo Thru-Hike the Appalachian Trail.

So I’ve decided I’m going to walk 2,200 miles on a ‘pilgrimage’ of sorts from Georgia to Maine but how on earth am I actually going to do it?

Here are my 5 main considerations in planning for my 2018 Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike:

1. COST

I’m going to be leaving the conventional routine of working and earning money to go and walk in the wilderness for 6 months and, obviously, no job means no money. So, before I leave the UK I’m going to need to save a hell of a lot of cash to cover travel, gear, food and general living for when I’m hiking. It seems that the further you look into this trail the more money you realise you are going to have to spend! This means that for now I am living frugally and am constantly looking for new and clever ways to earn and save money on top of a full time job. At the moment this is consisting of selling lots of old clothes and books on sites like Depop and Amazon, becoming a mystery shopper, filling up a jar with collected spare change, and, of course, posting on Steem for you guys! If anyone has any other suggestions then please do let me know – every little helps!

1. GEAR

Carrying your life on your back for 6 months means that you are going to have to be pretty clever about what you take. You’re going to need to be prepared for every eventuality on the trail without weighing yourself down so much that you can’t go anywhere at all. The most important things you take with you are what hiker’s call the ‘big three’: a shelter, sleeping gear, and a backpack. It is important for these three items to be as light and effective as possible as these are going to be the things that keep you warm, safe, happy and ALIVE during your thru-hike. Other important pieces of equipment to have are; cooking equipment, trekking poles, a water treatment system, a head torch, and maps/navigation. Everything on top of this isn’t necessarily essential for survival but may provide comfort so each hiker has to create a good balance between carrying a light pack and being comfortable on the trail. I’m going to make a whole post dedicated to gear selection and let you all know what I am considering/planning on purchasing and bringing with me.

1. SAFETY

The main question friends and family have asked me when I tell them I’m planning on hiking the AT is about safety; ‘you’re going alone?’ ‘is that safe?’ ‘will you not be scared?’ etc. The answer is tricky – hiking through wilderness comes with risk, there is no question about it, but most of these risks are very unlikely to harm you or force you to stop your hike if they are properly managed. For instance some of the biggest hazards on the AT are; severe weather – getting caught in a snow or rain storm could cause hypothermia and death but keeping up to date with local weather and planning your day’s hike accordingly should ensure you stay safe. Another risk is wildlife; black bears are common on the AT but hanging food in bear bags at night and making lots of noise as you walk will help deter them. Again I plan to write a full post on safety on the AT with info about what I plan to do to stay as safe as possible while I’m out there.

1. FOOD

Obviously people have to eat to survive and especially those people who are hiking for 8/9 hours every single day like I will be doing. The good news is that I don’t need to carry the entire 6 months worth of food with me, in fact I only have to carry around 5/6 days worth of food with me at any one point as the trail passes through or very close to many small towns along the way which means I will be able to resupply often. I can do this by either purchasing my food (mainly dried food such as rice and ramen noodles) in the shops that I find or by sending myself mail drops with food and perhaps other items such as replacement gear to the towns I plan to pass through. I plan to do a combination of both as I want to be as flexible as possible with how I eat – who knows what I will start to crave once I am out there!

1. CLOTHING

The number one rule when it comes to hiking is that its definitely not a fashion show! And with a trail this long its not going to be – hikers are famous for looking very dishevelled and smelling pretty awful too. My main consideration for clothes is that I will have enough to be warm and dry in bad weather but nothing extra to weigh me down. All the clothes I will pack will be made of lightweight, quick drying material so that I can stay as dry as possible. A famous saying in the hiker community is ‘cotton kills’ – it sounds dramatic but in reality, cotton clothing will get wet and stay wet for a long time which, if you are in the middle of nowhere in a rain storm will mean that you stay cold and vulnerable for longer, increasing the risk of hypothermia. As well as a gear list I will let you guys know exactly what I plan to wear on this adventure in a later post!

Reach out with any questions you have about any of these topics (or anything else you fancy asking me!) I look forward to hearing from you all!