Final AT thoughts

It’s been a little over 2.5 months since we finished our thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, so I thought it was about time for that final post that I promised. A lot has happened to us in the two months since we finished. We prepared for, and moved across the country, we started new jobs, and we even got engaged. In the first few weeks after stepping off the trail it didn’t quite feel like it was actually over yet. Since we had taken a few multi-zero-day breaks while we were hiking, I think our brains just felt like we would be heading back out eventually. Also with the activities surrounding the preparations for a cross-country move, we were pretty well distracted from the reality of actually being complete with our hike. It really wasn’t until a little over a month after we finished, after we settled into our new apartment on the west coast and I started my new job, that it really sank in… we hiked the entire Appalachian Trail this year, and there’s no more of it to hike.

Now that we’re back to work and getting into a new routine, I find myself missing the relatively simple life that we led for almost 6 months while hiking. When we finished the trail and re-joined society we suddenly had to buy a vehicle that we could drive across the country. With that came the extra tasks of getting new insurance, setting up payments, and figuring out how to register it in the new state. Once I started work again I had to figure out my health insurance situation again since I could go back onto my employer’s plan. We suddenly had new bills to pay… rent, electricity, internet, insurance. And while we tried to be as flexible as we could be during our drive out west, we still had a certain day that we had to arrive by so I could begin my new job. And of course all of the election news was suddenly in our face everywhere we looked. I know it sounds a little like escapism, and that’s because it is, but we were mostly free of all these things when we were hiking the trail. I know I’ve said this before, but it’s very liberating to live in such a simple way, and I think more people would benefit from a brief period disconnected from the responsibilities and stressors of “normal” society. I know it’s pretty implausible for anyone to do it for an extended period of time, mainly due to the fact that you don’t make much of an income while hiking (unless you’re lucky enough to have a sponsor), but still… you come away from an experience like this with a different view on what society should be like, and I don’t think you’d need longer than 6 months to get that feeling. The bottom line is… we miss being out on the trail, and we’re looking forward to our next long distance hike. Even with the physical and sometimes mental tough times that we experienced, the overall takeaway was that we really, really enjoyed our hike.

We’d like to thank everyone who helped us out along the way this past summer. Whether you sent us packages, gave us a ride, housed us, fed us, or passed along support and encouragement… thank you all. It really meant a lot to us to have so many people rooting for us along the way, and it definitely helped push us forward through some of the tougher stretches (ahem… Pennsylvania). It was also humbling to find out how many people were following us that we’ve never actually met. I hope you all enjoyed following along with our adventure this year, and I hope you pass along the story to someone else who might enjoy it.