What’s up

Chances are if you’re reading this that you’re one of my friends or family, but if not; my name’s Jonah. I never in a thousand years thought I’d be writing a blog, especially not during the toughest task I have ever set out for myself. But, due to some gentle pushing from some of the great humans in my life, I am here.

My hiking experience is limited when compared to many, but as a kid, my dad and grandad took my brother and I on many section hikes of the AT around Georgia and North Carolina. It was on these hikes that I contracted some sort of contagious disease that makes you want to climb miles of jagged uphill scrambles, sh*t in the woods, and eat ramen and slim jims for six months. Between then and now, I went to college for coastal ecology, surveyed recreational fisheries for state natural resource management, worked as a farmer for a commercial clam and oyster harvesting outfit, and was a research technician on an isolated island with a rich culture and community. All things pretty far from anything having to do with mountains, unless you consider oyster reefs little mountains.

Why Hike?

Without getting too personal, I’m hiking for adventure, some quality self-reflection time, and to tell those that inspired me to do this what it’s like. I have always been an outside person (shocking, yes, I know, a thru-hiker is an outside person), and after spending many years following my heart through a career path and ending up with more questions than answers, I think this time in the woods is what I need to recalibrate as I grow further into adulthood. Also, I just really want to see the beauty of this trail. It has some sort of primeval draw, and every burl, boulder, and bald seems to hold ancient secrets. Feeling the weight of history in a structure built in the 1870’s or even the 1700’s is incredible, but feeling the weight of over a billion years of geologic history is another thing entirely. Thinking about what wild things the moss-covered rocks have seen sends chills down my spine. And beyond the raw beauty of the mountains, there’s something romantic about the prospect of seeing something new around every corner and over every ridgeline.

A Note On Preparations

I have attempted to prepare myself physically, but always end up with overuse injury. I’m hoping this trend doesn’t continue as I start out. The plan is to do 10–12-mile days until I am either two weeks into the hike or until I get to the NOC.

A rule I have made for myself when preparing for the trail has been that I don’t want to spoil any of the major surprises the trail has for me. This is normally advised against by experienced thru-hikers, but I’d rather be presented with some unique challenges than know 100% what lies ahead. I want the adventure of hearing about the notorious climb out of so and so gap from other exhausted, smelly thru-hikers while sitting around a campfire. This may reduce my chances of successfully making it, but I’m happy to take that chance. However, with that said, there are several areas where it seems like knowledge of what lies ahead may be the difference between getting off the trail or getting to Maine. The lucky locations that have stolen many nights of sleep from me are the Smokies (and more generally the entire southern AT until the end of NC), Virginia, the Whites, and Maine. But mostly the Smokies. We’ll see how it pans out.

Most of my preparation came in the form of being frugal and training myself to be comfortable with less. This mindset will help on the trail, but I will need to be more willing to buy nice food items on trail to increase morale on those rainy stretches. The strategies laid out in Appalachian trials have also helped curb the pre-trail anxiety. I highly recommend reading it if you are thinking of thru-hiking. Another thing that has helped me prepare mentally is listening/reading/watching thru-hiking content. Just hearing other people talk about the dirtbag lifestyle of thru-hiking has eased my nerves when I’ve worried that I have no idea what I’m getting myself into.