MORE THAN A WALK

The Journal of a 16-year-old hiker on the Appalachian Trail

Introduction

More Than A Hike is a journal written during my time on the Appalachian Trail. Within its pages lay my thoughts, feelings, struggles, and...

Pre-Hike Thoughts

My room seems smaller than normal, the walls feel like they are closing around me. I’ve never been claustrophobic, but today I understand...

Day 0 - "Gear Choices and Criticisms"

I don’t think dad believes I am going to make it very far on the trail. We are at the Cabin (our family has a rustic log cabin on 20...

Day 1 - "Two Tomatoes and a Green Bean"

1st Day of the AT!!! It’s somehow even more beautiful than I imagined it would be! The woods of Vermont are awesome like that. We started...

Day 2 - "Ass Chafes"

We just stopped hiking, hopefully for the day. I’m VERY happy about that. Around noon I started to get some really bad chafing in the ass...

Day 3 - "Up and Down and Up and Down"

Okay, so maybe 16 miles doesn’t seem like much to you, but you are probably used to driving to a restaurant some evenings, or maybe...

Day 4 - "Trail Magic"

People are amazing out here. So happy and gracious, I haven’t met a mean one yet! It’s really refreshing and really helps to “restore...

Day 5 - "Trail Names"

Today started off very poorly. I was tired, and I ended up forgetting my Paracord (simple cordage which was originally created for use in...

Day 6 - "A Pulled Tendon"

Today we were planning to go 21 miles, our longest day yet, but on the way down from an especially annoying climb (Mount Cube) the tendon...

Day 7 - "Moosilauke"

Wow, it’s the one-week mark for me on the trail! One full week in the woods without technology, showers, or flushing toilets! I am...