Date: 2016-12-16
To: Common Questions
Miles today: 0.0

Ever since I started letting people know of my plans to take on the Appalachian Trail in 2017 I have been asked a lot of questions, many of which are the same from different people. I thought it would be a good idea to write about the questions I have received and what my typical answers are to the people who ask them. Question 1) When are you leaving and how long will it take?Answer 1) I plan to leave in March of 2017. The trail covers 2,190.3 miles across 14 states from Georgia to Maine. I will be starting at Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia and hiking towards Mt. Katahdin in Maine. I expect my trip to take anywhere from 5-6 months. Question 2) Who is going to be hiking with you?Answer 2) No one is going with me. I plan to start my hike alone. Many people who hike the AT start alone but ultimately end up with a group of people who hike at the same pace and have similar goals to reach for each day. Over 2,000 people attempt to hike the AT each year so it is often crowded at the start and it is rare to not see other people on the trail. Question 3) How are you going to get food on the trail?Answer 3) Hikers have two options to get supplies on the trail. Many hikers do "mail drops" where someone from back home ships a box of supplies that you put together before you begin your hike to a town along the trail. Other hikers plan to stop into town every 4-6 days to buy food and any other needed supplies from grocery and convenient stores which is what I will be doing. Question 4) Are you going to carry a gun for protection against bears and other people?Answer 4) No... The people who hike the AT are some of the most wonderful, caring, and kind people you'll ever have the pleasure of meeting. As far as bears go, any gun that I would be able to carry with me along the trail probably wouldn't be able to stop a bear anyway. It would just end up being extra weight I'd have to carry in my already heavy pack. Question 5) Why do you want to hike the AT? (This is by far the hardest question to answer. This is not what I have been telling people because it is difficult for me to explain without putting it in writing so I figured this would be a good place to write it.)Answer 5) There are a lot of reasons why I want to hike the AT. My biggest reason is that for the first time in my life I am free to do what I want. For the past 18 years of my life I have been going to school. In the last 4 years I have been going to college and working 20-28 hours a week. I have never done something extraordinary, for myself. Sure, I graduated college which is something a lot of people don't have the chance to do, but I did it because it was somewhat expected of me and I knew it would help me down the road. I have never really traveled, I have never left the country, I have never completed an amazing feat. Now that my education is finally completed, I am free. Free to experience what life has to offer. Free to do what I enjoy. Free to travel. Free to escape from what society expects young people my age to do which is finish school, jump into a career and get stuck in the same routine for the next 30-40 years. "The trail isn't going anywhere," they say. That may be true, but you never know what is going to happen in the future. You don't know what your health will be like in the future. You don't know that you'll be capable of completing over 2,000 miles in the wilderness after you retire. In this gap between graduating from college and jumping into a career, I plan to do as much as possible to live a fulfilling life and to create memories that will last a lifetime. The AT is the start to that life.