“It’s This Year Now:” How I’m Preparing for the A.T.

Up until very recently, I’ve still been saying “I’m hiking the Appalachian Trail next year.” But it’s mid March now, and my start date is rapidly approaching. It’s this obscure date in hypothetical time that I’ve talked about for so long, but could it actually be here?

Very soon it will be, and I’m getting used to my new reality: I am hiking the Appalachian Trail this year.

Here’s some things I’ve been doing to prepare:

Setting My Body Up For Success

I don’t like to say I’ve got “bad knees,” because I’m trying to treat my body with a little more kindness and gratitude these days. My knees are part of this body that lets me do the things I love, like backpacking! But boy or boy, are they a feisty pair of hinge joints that only a mother could love. There’s two main ways I’ve helped them get ready for the Trail:

• Acupuncture: I first tried it a few years back after a snowboarding injury. Since then I’ve sought it for everything ranging from stress injuries to chronic pain to a little R&R boost.
• Physical Therapy: This is something I began when I committed to the A.T. Our sessions target my knees by focusing on what’s around them. For my regiment, I approach physical therapy as a preventative measure, and use acupuncture to treat what’s already there. There’s a life lesson in there somewhere.

This combination has been helpful for keeping me in shape, and holding me accountable through the cold midwest winters where training hikes and shakedown trips are not as easily accessible. I don’t have mountains in my backyard, but I’ve got two things twice a week I know will make me feel physically empowered and ready to take on this hike.

What can I say, you take opportunities for your PT homework where you can get ‘em– even if both your form and that of your “weights” is questionable.

Setting My Gear Up for Success

This regards the more technical aspects of planning a backpacking trip, often the things people want to know the most about when they ask how my prep is going. What am I bringing? How much food will I carry at once? These are all the things I want to have confident answers to before I leave! Some specific ways I’ve been doing this are:

• Wearing my Cold Weather Gear in Accurate Conditions: It’s been a bitter cold winter in the Southern Appalachians. Getting to test out my jackets, gloves, etc. in Chicago has helped me acclimate and get an idea of whether what I have will actually be enough. I told myself I would sleep outside one night in my new sleeping bag to make sure the temperature rating was accurate for me, but I only made it half a night. Not because I was cold, but because I missed cuddling with my cat too much.
• Testing my Gear Now Rather Than Later: I’ve set up my tent ahead of time, checked that my stove still works, filled my pack and repacked it and repacked it to get a system down. Being able to do these things with confidence from day one can be a lifesaver. When it’s cold and rainy, the last thing you want to do is scramble for a YouTube tutorial only to find out you have no service.
• Writing Down Recipes: Even for a camp chef who enjoys cooking their own meals most of the time, I face serious analysis paralysis when it comes to shopping for backpacking food during resupplies. Admittedly, this is a skill I will have to improve since I’m not sending many resupply boxes to myself. That’s why I took the time to write out some favorites ahead of time– when indecision hits, I can pull out a list to get the ball rolling, and the peanut butter flowing.

My boss inspecting Hilltop Packs’ handiwork. He approves.

Setting My Mind Up For Success

Backpacking is where my mind feels most at ease; where I’m most confident of my place on this earth and how I am meant to move through it. But that doesn’t mean my depression and anxiety magically disappear whenever I’m on trail. While I can’t get rid of my inner saboteur in a pack shakedown at Mountain Crossings, here’s some ways I’m mitigating the vibe-killers instead:

• Read and Watch Everything I Can About the A.T.: This also goes with the first principle of Leave No Trace: plan ahead and prepare! Being informed about the Trail itself has helped me stave off bouts of imposter syndrome. I know the towns, the states, the big milestones. There will always be an element of the unknown in a thru-hike. Isn’t that kind of the point? YouTube, memoirs, movies, podcasts (including a little fledgling startup called Backpacker Radio) are all fair game.
• Stop Reading and Watching things about the A.T.: I gave myself until New Year’s Day to follow the above bullet point and consume this kind of A.T. content, but then I hit a hard cutoff. I read, watched, and listened to so much about other people’s hikes, and I wanted to make space for my own to be a blank slate. I’m not saying I won’t ever compare myself to others, but I’m hoping this step makes it a little less daunting in my mind.
• Review Wilderness First Aid Training: Last summer, I received my Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification and I immediately gained a newfound source of empowerment in the backcountry. It’s nice to know that I can patch up my own blisters effectively, sure. But knowing that I’ll be able to help the people around me is what I value most, so I want to make sure I can do that efficiently. Getting my first aid kit ready is kind of a similar routine to getting all my gear in check: don’t bring it if you don’t know how to use it. I know some people opt for super minimalist setups in this area, but I’ve given out more bandages and ibuprofen than I can count to those same people. No shame to them, though. I’m just happy I could help.

Reading the best series about backpacking (cause that’s what it is, right?) while packing up your own hobbit hole for six months will certainly fill you with many emotions.

But the last and most important aspect of getting ready for my thru-hike has been…

Spending Time with My Community

For my astrology girlies, I’m a Pisces Moon in my 11th house. For everyone else, that means my community and chosen family means a lot to me. Spending time away from them breaks my heart. So in the midst of all the prep, spending quality time with them is just aa essential as testing my tent or packing my food. I didn’t get to see everyone I would have liked to, and packing my schedule full of catch ups did burn me out when I probably should have been writing, or taking things to my storage unit, or doing who knows what else. Still, I wouldn’t trade the time I got with them for the world.

True friends let you combine your final pre-trail hangout with a post office resupply run.

Talking to them about my plans not only lets them know my general whereabouts so they can keep tabs on me for safety; it also gets me more excited every time I talk about it! It helps me realize that yes, I am hiking the Appalachian Trail. I am doing it this year. And every step of the way, I’ll be carrying them with me.