I’ve been thinking for a while on what I want to do with the time between when I graduate and I start work. For those keeping track, I graduate in late May, which is now (checks watch) less than two months away.
First, I thought about what this transition means to me. I leave behind my seventeen years of education and begin my Software Engineering career. With luck (and significant savings and investments) my career might not even last seventeen years, and I’ll be able to retire by then (or AI takes everyone’s jobs, and we’re all out of work). I’ll also be moving out west, leaving my lifelong home back east for good. While I’m incredibly excited to be able to be moving somewhere new, it’s bittersweet, as I leave behind an entire childhood of memories. How can I properly close one chapter of my life, and begin the next one wholeheartedly?
Next, I thought about my undying love for travel and the outdoors. I thought back to my numerous past summer road trips while traveling to and from my internships, and all the places I’ve visited during breaks in the school year. I thought about my family and the trips we’ve taken together, along with all the stories they’ve shared from their own travels. I thought about the friends I’ve made over the past few summers, and the adventures we’ve gone on together. From my experience, I’ve found international travel to be much more enjoyable when there’s others there to share the experience with, and I have a trip with some friends tentatively planned over thanksgiving. How can I top these past adventures, while also building on these past experiences?
Finally, I thought about what a unique opportunity this gap meant to me: For the first time ever, I’m free from any and all responsibilities. While I technically have a designated start date, my new manager is pretty flexible on when I actually start, so I have plenty of time as well. With this newfound freedom, what can I do that I can’t do later?
With all these thoughts swirling through my head, A crazy idea kept coming back to me: “What if I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail?” While it’s definitely a lofty goal, I don’t think it’s wholly unrealistic or impossible. Physically, I feel pretty well prepared, am reasonably fit, have hiked in a wide variety of environments and with heavier gear, and have the wilderness experience of an Eagle Scout who still spends way too much time outside. Being brutally honest though, statistically, there’s a relatively high chance I quit before I complete it.
Oh, yeah, Mom and Dad (and the rest of my family eventually reading this as well), I love you all, this wouldn’t be possible without all of your love and support, both now and in the past. I know this seems like a weird way to initially tell you I want to go walk in the woods for several months instead of starting work like we’d discussed, but I wanted to get it written out all at once. And yes, I promise to wear sunscreen. Anyway, thanks, I love y’all.
So, why this and why now? For as long as I’ve been alive, the Appalachian Mountains have been my home. What is a better sendoff for me than hiking them from end to end? Further, since I was young, I’ve admired my family’s passion for the outdoors, and specifically my late uncle’s ceaseless passion for the outdoors, who hiked the AT when I was much younger. And since then, the AT has felt like a part of our collective family history. Not to sound cliché, but it’s inspiring to be able to cover the same miles he did all those years ago. And finally in my mind, the coincidence of all these factors, combined with the rate opportunity to take as much time off work as I desire, passing up this opportunity would be foolish. Honestly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also say I love a good, hard goal to push me to be a bigger, better person.
So, let’s talk logistics. I finish school and graduate at the end of may, so that would put my start date around, say, June 1st. At a roughly 15 mile per day pace, I would expect to finish mid to late October. This lines up almost perfectly with the SOBO (aka Southbound) AT season. For me, one of the perks of going south is the decreased crowds of the NOBO “bubble,” as northbound is generally significantly more popular. The biggest drawback to me of heading southbound is the relatively more remote and difficult terrain of the White Mountains near the northern terminus. While I should be off the trail by the beginning of November, I’m considering waiting to start work until December 4, since (1) I’d like to have a little breathing room in case I go slower, (2), some friends and I are planning a Europe trip over thanksgiving, and I won’t have accrued enough vacation days to take the week off if I just started, and (3) I’d like some time to transition back to non-trail life and move out west.
Next, gear. After carrying 45 pounds through the desert (an Outer Mountain Loop post is coming soon, I promise), I’ve fallen into the deep end of ultralight backpacking. At this point, I’ve picked almost a complete set of gear and started trying it out (here’s the lighterpack for the nerds; please critique it). The only major gear that’s left is my backpack (I’m leaning towards the ULA Ohm at the moment). Though I’m also deciding whether to carry my camera with me, or whether I can mange with just my phone and an add on macro lens.
One fun thing to think about is what I’ll miss most while I’m on the trail. I think it’s a tossup between cooking, playing video games out with friends, and, strange as it may seem, driving.
In summary, I’m going to be thru hiking the AT this summer. Stay tuned here and on Instagram for updates along the way.
I’ll leave you with one last thing to think about. There’s a few variations of this saying in the backpacking world: “you’re not a true thru hiker till you’ve s**t in the woods.” Well, courtesy of my recent trip around the Outer Mountain Loop in Big Bend, I’ve had the pleasure of not only pooping in the wilderness (twice), but also having to carry it over 20 miles back to the trailhead as well (in a Wag bag thankfully). So I guess I’m a real thru hiker now.
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