Thru-Hiking Culture
The 2020 AT Section Hiker Survey: Companions and Demographics
Long overlooked in our annual surveys, Appalachian Trail (AT) section hikers were the focus of this year’s survey. We surveyed 448 people, 43 of whom had completed the entire AT...
WayZada is the Company Making 3D Prints of Your Thru-Hikes
The package was lighter than I thought it would be, the contents hidden under layers of bubble wrap. When I finally dug through the protective packaging, I had a 3D-printed...
Great Strides: Edward Payson Weston Was ‘World’s Greatest Pedestrian’
Great Strides is an occasional feature of The Trek exploring some of the greatest walks and walkers in history, literature, and film. On Sunday, March 28, 1909, The New York...
The 2020 AT Section Hiker Survey: Motives and Logistics
Long overlooked in our annual surveys, Appalachian Trail (AT) section hikers were the focus of this year's survey. We surveyed 448 people, 34 of whom had completed the entire AT...
Top Backpacker Radio Episodes of 2020
This has been one insane and difficult year. Everyone's lives have been turned upside down, and normalcy has flown out the window without so much as a cursory "so long."...
Year in Review: 19 of The Trek’s Top Posts from 2020
2020: Well, that happened. The pandemic has turned our lives upside down and come to define our lives in many ways. But amazingly, there was more to 2020 than the...
Prepping the Pup
Now that you know all about Tate, aka Baked Potato, it’s time to fill you in on the tips of prepping this eight-month-old for his thru-hike. Training The original thought...
Punchbowl Mountain Dreamin’
I have been trying to get back to the Appalachian Trail for years. The last time I camped overnight on the trail was in August 2000, when I did a...
Who are Scooch and Tate?
The post you have been waiting so eagerly for! The post about who we are, where our trail names came from, and just random information on our thru hike!...
[Book Review] 2000 Miles Together — The Raw, Unexpurgated Story of the Crawford Family
On March 1, 2018, Ben Crawford ushered his wife and six children, ages two to 16, onto the then-2,189-mile Appalachian Trail. He then filmed the good, the bad, and the...