By the end of my last hike on the AT, I was hooked! I realized there was more than one way to hike the Appalachian Trail in its entirety besides a thru-hike — remember the item I took OFF my bucket list? I could Section Hike the whole thing instead! And the plan (well as best as there was one!) was set into motion.
Looking at the AT maps I decided to pick up where Jim and I left off back in 2009 – Hot Springs, NC and hike north over two days. This would be my first trip that I had planned all on my own, and would be going by myself. That being the case, I decided it was time to jump into this commitment full force and buy my own gear — gear that I had been borrowing up to this point. In particular a tent and a sleeping bag. In addition to these 2 items, there are two other basic pieces of gear one needs if they are going to do this for the long haul — boots and a backpack. All of these items, tent, sleeping bag, backpack & boots are probably going to be your most expensive pieces of gear. And for me, I bought each of them several times over!
Details of this hike can be found in my upcoming AT Memoir, but for the sake of this post, I will leave you with this one moment that I will always associate with this hike, and that is: My closest aunt, Aunt Mary Ann, passed away while I was on the Trail. I did not know this until I got back into cell range post-hike.
This hike too is one that is absent pictures — after this post, you will be entertained with complete Photo Journaling of my entire 11 year, 2,196 mile trek across the mighty Appalachian Trail! For now, these are some pics of an overnight trip I did with my brother Mike in the Laurel Highlands of PA before the AT was ever a glimmer in my adventurous eye!
