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Fontana Dam to somewhere in the mountains
General Update: I love my life. I'm on vacation. My name is Amy Stardust but you can call me Stardust. My feet hurt really really really bad toward the end...
A Chance Encounter
A path driven by chance, is a path worth taking Setting out from Boulder, Colorado on a weeklong road trip, the crew was ready for anything. With the destination set...
Appalachian Trials at Trail Days 2014
This post comes from a coffee shop in Abingdon, VA after two days of sweating in the woods n' mountains. The only "hygiene" I've practiced since has been a baby...
Water Treatments for Backpacking and Hiking
Water is plentiful on the trail from springs, streams, rivers, and ponds… but not every clear water source should be trusted. Some hikers have survived without treating water, but that...
How to Prepare Your Knees for Long-Distance Backpacking
Knee care from someone with crappy knees After a psychotic mileage increase during my college running days, I blew out both my knees and ended up in physical therapy, sobbing...
Eight Ways to Reconnect After Your Thru-hike
A couple weeks from now, I will be exactly one year older than the day I started walking north from Springer Mountain. This means that about 1.7% of my life...
Brief Update From TN
After a planned off-trail trip to play in a golf tourney in Philly, and waiting out tornado warnings in Asheville, NC, Carsoni and I jumped back on the trail at...
Eat Me! A Hiker’s Caloric Consumption On and Off the Trail
As we all know, long-distance hiking requires an absurd amount of calories; most Appalachian Trail thru-hikers claim they attempt to ingest between four and five thousand of them each day. For...
Loved Ones of Thru Hikers: 5 Things To Know
For all those who have a loved one planning to walk for a long time on the Appalachian Trail, the below is based on my own experience and will hopefully...
Appalachian Trail FAQ: Aren’t You Afraid to Hike Alone?
In the second edition of my vlog I help answer one of the commonly asked questions when embarking on a thru-hike: Aren't You Afraid to Hike Alone?! If you like...