These are some stories and reflections written shortly after I finished my Appalachian Trail (AT) section hike. I finished on 7/26/2025 on Mt. Washington after 18 years and 2,190 miles.

• It all started in Shenandoah: The AT hike began when my son needed a 50-mile backpacking trip for the Boy Scout hiking merit badge. We did the 100 or so miles through Shenandoah National Park, close to our home.

• We’re all newbies once: In terms of gear, we were somewhat clueless at the start. I was using my 1970s external frame pack, bungee cords, and sleeping bags that were not warm enough. We had to buy bag liners at the camp store during our first trip. Our first night was spent under a picnic table due to a failure of our ad hoc attempt at hammock camping. I have sympathy for newbies.

• Platinum Blazing the finish: My last 6 nights were spent in the luxury of the AMC huts in the Whites. On the last night out we climbed over rocky Mt. Madison in brutal 50+ mph winds and rain down to Madison Springs Hut. I was never so glad to see a shelter. I summited Mt. Washington for the finish on a perfectly clear day on 7/26/2025 with my two sons and a friend of 50+ years. We met family and friends at the summit.

• Along the way: In between that “rocky” start and the rocky finish were years of planning, trips, some 20-mile days, injuries, and aborted hikes.

There were something like 43 separate trips (I’m still trying to reconstruct them all). The miles by state and year were approximately:

|  Year | State(s)       | Miles |
|-------+----------------+-------|
|  2008 | VA             |   100 |
|  2009 | VA             |    50 |
|  2010 | VA             |    40 |
|  2011 | PA, VA         |   150 |
|  2012 | MD             |    40 |
|  2013 | VA             |    30 |
|  2014 | VA             |   150 |
|  2015 | VA, MD         |   200 |
|  2016 | VA, PA         |   200 |
|  2017 | PA             |   100 |
|  2018 | ME, NY, VT, MA |   200 |
|  2019 | ME             |   200 |
|  2020 | TN, NC         |   200 |
|  2021 | VT, NH         |   100 |
|  2022 | GA, NH, ME     |   150 |
|  2023 | TN, NC, ME     |   150 |
|  2024 | –              |     0 |
|  2025 | NY, VT, NH     |   100 |
|-------+----------------+-------|
| Total |                |  2160 |

• It’s the people: Increasingly, what kept me going was the people. You meet fantastic and interesting people hiking the AT. Hikers from 18 to 80. Homeschool families NOBO in the 100-mile wilderness and SOBO in Mahoosuc Notch. A Cambodian Buddhist monk in Georgia (I taught him about bears; he told me about wild elephants and tigers where he lived). The fantastic people who run hostels (shout out to Bob Peoples in Tennessee and “Honey” at “The Cabin” in Maine). The shuttle drivers. The people providing “trail magic”. The triple crowners and day hikers. Ridge runners, rangers and trail maintainers. There are hiking friends: people I’ve hiked with for long distances, people I’ve hiked with/around for a week or a few days, hiking friends from work, family, and old friends.

• Beauty: There is endless, indescribable beauty hiking on the AT: Looking down on the clouds from a campsite near Mt. Rogers in the Roan Highlands (where there are wild ponies!); the majestic views in the Whites; a moose staring at me across a beaver pond in the morning; a moose on top of Saddleback; sunrise on Mt. Everett in Massachusetts; crystal-clear lakes; the views from the tops of fire towers; waterfalls; flowers; birds; sunbeams through the trees; the “wow” at the top of so many climbs.

• Wildlife: Of course there are the occasional bears (I never had a problem). There are snakes (including the rattlesnake I almost sat on). Beavers: nature’s amazing engineers who create entire ecosystems. Birds of all shapes and sizes (including the vultures who circled me on a bad day, thinking a worn-out hiker with a bad foot trudging over PUDs looked like future dead meat). Slugs. Porcupines. Bright orange salamanders. The ever-friendly mosquitoes (who, statistically, kill orders of magnitude more people than bears). Thankfully, I missed the black flies.

• Found Food: I enjoy seeing what I can find and eat on the trail. In places, there are old apple orchards and trees. There are blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and grapes. I recently found my first pawpaw. There are spearmint, clover and wild onions. I’ve never been confident enough to identify edible mushrooms.

• Learning from mistakes: There was the time I hiked 15 miles south of Damascus, woke up cold and near hypothermic and hiked 15 miles back to get warmer clothes. There was a twisted ankle in the 100-mile wilderness because I switched out to a heavier pack (10 days of food) at the last minute without switching from trail runners to something with more ankle support. There were three busted ribs on Killington where I learned that a cell phone in the pocket is harder than my ribs (thanks to the people at the “Yellow Deli” in Rutland and “Flipakey” for getting me off trail).

• Weather: There were a couple of nights spent in hotels waiting out hurricanes. There was the weather the first time up Washington: 45 mph sustained wind, gusts to 55, 37 degrees. There was the recent (May 2025) thunderstorm in Connecticut that sent lightning crashing all around me and lit a dead tree on fire (911 operator: “What is your street address?”).

• Gear: My gear has been evolving for 18 years. I started with my 70s gear: an external frame Jansport pack, bungee cords, white gas stove and big pots that had to be cleaned, leather boots that probably weighed 10 pounds each, trash bags for dry sacks, etc. I ended with a 21 lb base weight, more normal modern gear: an Osprey pack, a TarpTent, down sleeping bag and puffy, and Topo trail-runners.

• Further afield each time: Maine took 5 trips to complete. We live near the middle of the AT, near Shenandoah National Park and Harpers Ferry. At first I could do weekend trips. Then three day weekends. As I got further away from home, I needed more time to make each trip worth it. Then it was burning a day or two of vacation. Then a week. Then two weeks. All the trips had tight schedules and miles planned. I was starting “cold” every time I never got “trail legs”.

• Would I do it again?: Hikers have an endless list of stories push the button and out they come. I’m no exception. I have stories about people, experiences, weather, trails, wildlife, food, gear, hostels, shuttles, towns, rivers, etc. I’m glad I did the hike. I think I’m unlikely to do it again. Towards the end, I just got tired of camping and stayed more and more in “real” lodging. I think I’ve seen quite enough “PUDs” (pointless up and downs) and I have no real love of risking my life coming down long, wet slabs of granite where wet mud and a few twigs on the side are your stable footing. I will probably go out and re-hike some of the nicer sections (Virginia) and I might even take a nostalgic spin (climb) through Mahoosuc Notch, but there is probably not a 5-month through-hike in my future.

• What’s next?: Tamer hikes? The Camino? The Kungsleden in Sweden? The PCT or John Muir Trail if I get ambitious? Back to bike riding? My first love in outdoor activities was long bike rides in central Ohio. I’m currently sitting in London, Ohio, which sits on a rails-to-trails path from Columbus to Cleveland.

And as a postscript, by the time I finally got around to posting this (January 2026, iced in by a big winter storm) spring fever has hit and I’m busy updating my gear inventory and planning a few hikes. It’s in the blood now.