Q: How long had you been thinking about the hike?
I was always interested in it; my older brother George and I did an Outward Bound trip in North Carolina when I was 14. He did another trip to Wyoming when he was 15, so I was inspired by him. I hadn’t hiked in a long time, but it was on my mind for two or three years – on my bucket list. I didn’t plan that long though; I started about two months before I left.
Q: Why did you do it when you did?
I was working on a seasonal basis for the Food Network, in a behind-the-scenes position, and we were told the job would end in March [2016]. I started thinking about what I wanted to do when the work was over. I started reading people’s hiking stories online, especially a guy who had hiked the whole trail in 100 days.
Q: Did you set a goal like that for yourself?
The average time is five to six months, so his time was impressive, but I realized this was a one-time thing for me, so I wanted to take my time and enjoy it. My plan was to have no plan. I learned to seize the moment; I didn’t overthink it. I decided to hike hard, to push and challenge myself, but I didn’t stress.
Q: And what did you enjoy?
Nature. The scenery is just breathtakingly beautiful. Some people like to travel abroad, but we have such beauty here. I also had a lot of time for self-reflection, which was nice, but you can have too much of that [laughs], so I listened to a lot of podcasts too. Another very cool aspect was meeting people on the trail, and everyone was eager to talk and get to know one another.
Q: So planning the journey didn’t take long?
Not for me. I bought a backpack about a month before I left. I didn’t even tell my parents I was going until the week before. I had done research, bought the things I needed. Then I flew to Atlanta and took a shuttle – they have them for AT hikers – to the trail head at Spring Mountain. That drop-off is a reality check; the shuttle drives away and you understand that this is happening [laughs].
Q: Now that the journey is over, what sticks with you and makes you smile?
Well, cookies. My friends know me as a Cookie Monster, and on the hike I was eating as much as I could and still lost 25 pounds. Cookies are easy to carry, so I ate a lot of them. A lot. I had a count going on my social media accounts and I ate 1,300 cookies during the hike [laughs]. But the absolute best was the last 60 miles. George, my brother and initial inspiration, met me in Maine and we finished it together. I learned I prefer to share an experience. It is the best memory.
Photo by John A. Secoges, Secoges Photographics
