Trail Days 2024 Hiker’s Stories – “Story”

“Story” and I were sitting in folding metal chairs at the same round table enjoying snacks and live music Friday evening at the One Way Ministries Coffee House across the street from Tent City when we started talking. A 2018 thru-hiker, 2024 was her first time back to Damascus and Trail Days in six years.

Like many of the thru-hikers I met at Trail Days, “Story” quickly recalled the exact days she began and ended her hike.  She had begun her thru-hike on March 25 and ended six months later on September 25, 2018. She got her trail name “Story” because she was and is a writer, having studied writing at Edinburgh, Scotland.

She had driven up from her childhood home state of Florida earlier that day. When I asked her how a Florida flatlander could get interested in hiking the AT, she explained that she and her family used to summer vacation near Boone, North Carolina when she was younger and that they would often hike on and around Grandfather Mountain. According to her, that is when and where she fell in love with the outdoors, mountains, and day hiking. She admitted that though she was an experienced day hiker, she had never backpacked overnight before her first day and night of her AT thru-hike.

One of the things that surprised her during her 2018 thru-hike was that she met more Europeans along the AT than west coasters. I thought maybe that was because west coasters tend to gravitate to the PCT or JMT rather than the AT. Her favorite part of the AT was in Vermont and her least favorite was in New York.

“Story” admitted that she experienced a little culture shock soon after finishing her thru-hike as she missed the trail, the outdoors, and the people she met along the AT. In fact, while at Trail Days she was hoping to reconnect with “Parachute” from Seattle and “Spruce” from Asheville, two of her closest hiking friends from her 2018 thru-hike.

“Story” said she was a Trek Blogger or Trek Writer, having written about her 2018 thru-hike and offering gear reviews, but I have not been able to find any of her posts here. Perhaps she posted using her real name, which I never asked for and she never volunteered. Maybe she will read this post and correct my oversight. Nevertheless, “Story” was not the last Trek contributor I would interview at Trail Days 2024, but I have two more posts to make before I arrive at that Hiker’s Story.