The Appalachian Trail by the Numbers

Number of cats thru-hiking with their owners: 1

Number of dogs: 12 (rough estimate)

Number of lost dogs named “Castro” rescued by day hikers: 1

Number of shelters slept in: 1

Number of snoring parties we shared the shelter with that night: 2

Number of dudes who gave us a creepy stare down to, we assume, intimidate us away from a near-capacity shelter: 1

Number of civil servants who have given us a ride while hitchhiking: 2

Percent of aforementioned civil servants who were delivering mail: 50

Percent of aforementioned civil servants who held rank of chief in the local police department: 50

Number of zero days taken: 1

Number of beers drank on a zero day: 3 (though the data is still out on that one)

Estimated average age of hikers we like to hang out with: 52*

*That’s a wild guess. But we tend to hang with the older crowd.

Number of vestibule zippers broken after an early-morning freeze and a swifter-than-was-wise tug: 1

Number of super-kind Big Agnes reps named Alan (or Allen) who said he’d take a look at it: 1

Number of days on the trail: 14

Number of miles hiked: 145.5

Number of those miles hiked on the approach trail: 8.8

Number of those miles on the official Appalachian Trail: 136.7

Number of miles to go: 2,054.2

Percent of people we stopped to talk to who brightened our day: 100