I was asked by my boss to chat about my time on the Appalachian Trail when we had a team get together. It went down pretty well so I thought I should add it here, with a few more details. Enjoy.

What is the AT?

• The Appalachian Trail (A.T.) is the longest hiking-only footpath in the world and goes 2190 miles through 14 states, from Georgia to Maine across the Appalachian mountain range.
• The elevation gain/loss of hiking the entire Appalachian Trail is the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest 16 times.
• Basically, it’s 2190 odd miles of pain and suffering

What Did I take with me?

Not as much as you think. I’ll add a more detailed list later but all up, with food and water, my pack weighed around 12-13kg.

What Did I Eat?

Spam of course.

Ok, I tried a few other things, but didn’t really get to something that worked as I did not eat enough (at least I think I didn’t) whilst on the trail. If I had been there a little longer I think I would have sorted it out eventually. Maybe.

Breakfast – I could never really be bothered with cooking at breakfast, I just wanted to get moving, so I usually went with a breakfast bar type deal. Muesli bar, granola bar, that type of thing. I did take some instant coffee but did not use it. It tasted gross and as I mentioned above, I did not really want to take the time heating up water etc.

Snacks – Snickers. I got over my dislike of the taste because I couldn’t find anything suitable to replace them. I also snacked on Sour Patch Kids, Clif bars, granola bars etc. I liked the individual packs of Almond or peanut butter. It had to be something I could eat on the go. I was a slow hiker, so I was always loathe to stop to eat.

Lunch – this is where I came undone on the trail. I rarely sat down and had a proper lunch. I tried Bagels, but that didn’t work. I really struggled to eat them all and felt gross when I started walking again. A tortilla with some summer sausage (or other delightful meat product that did not require refrigeration) with some cheese became my standard lunch after a couple of weeks. And maybe one with almond butter and jam.

Dinner – Spam and mash or ramen noodles and tuna were my staples. Sometimes I had a mountain house dehydrated meal, which were delicious but a little on the expensive side. Hot chocolate or tea if I could be bothered.

Drinks – Water. I did get a lot of water flavouring, Gatorade powders, Crystal Light etc just to break up the monotony. I really missed those after the bear stole my food bag in the Smokies.

Where did I stay?

Mostly shelters. Putting up the tent in the cold after a long, hard day of hiking was something I tried to avoid. Finding a flat piece of ground to put the tent up was also a challenge. I did like the fact that I could pack up and go fairly quickly in the shelter. So yeah, mainly shelters.

This was an old one, built around the 1940’s. The newer ones had two levels and could sleep upwards of 12 folks.

Guess how many mountains you climb in 200 miles on the A.T.?

Go on guess. I’ll wait.

28.

28 mountains in 200 miles. That’s hitting a mountain roughly every 7.14 miles.

No wonder folks say the A.T. is tough.

The views were worth it though:

Things I learned on the trail:

• Suffering is much more manageable when you have people to share it with
• Writing/talking about the bad things is way more fun than talking about the good things (I actually had a good time!)
• Unless you have spent at least 3 days hiking up and down mountain, you have no concept of how bad you can smell. (Showers are unicorn tears!)
• No matter how big the mountain, one step at a time will get you to the top
• Nothing can prepare you for putting on frozen socks and shoes in the morning. Nothing.
• Spam is food of the gods!
• Bears are smart, determined, greedy bastards
• Do the thing!