ABOUT ME
In 2011, I had my first experience with the Appalachian Trail during a college course - Kines 001: Backpacking in the Whites. Part of the course was a week-long backpacking trip on some of the most rugged, brutally beautiful terrain I'd ever seen. I fell in love with the challenge of the trail, and the idea to thru hike the trail began to rattle around in my brain.
I set out to thru hike the Appalachian Trail in March 2020, turning to nature and to the trail as I sought out healing, growth, and self-forgiveness in the wake of tragedy. As I'm sure you remember, 2020 threw all of us curveballs aplenty. If you've ever wondered what it was like to thru hike during these unprecedented times, you're in the right place!
The journey sticks with you, and the trail changes you. More than a year after completing my thru hike, I still find myself trying to wrap my head around the experience. I kept a daily journal during the pilgrimage and was diligent about writing on all but a handful of rest days. The entries you see on this blog are directly from my journal, and the post trail reflections are the additional thoughts and memories that I put together typing up each of the entries and pulling together the pictures for each particular day.
In addition to typing up my journal and reflecting on each entry, one of my other favorite post-trail reflections on the experience was marking out the journey, day by day, on both a map and elevation profile. I still remember the sense of awe I felt seeing the full three story tall AT map at Amicalola Lodge, and my amazement at the sheer scale of the trail each time I'd see "You are here" pictured on a map at a hostel or outfitter. The map I chose to purchase for this exercise (and there's not a bigger, better, more detailed map out there!) is the Red Eft hypsometric trail map, and the daily map fragments and elevation profiles pictured along with each daily blog entry come directly from that. Not only is it an incredible keepsake I can proudly display, the map was produced by a fellow AT thru hiker! Red Eft Maps can be found here.
Thanks for reading, and happy trails!
Adam "LG" Stevenson, 2020 Appalachian Trail Northbound Thru Hiker
