Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the Appalachian Trail?
2. What is this site?
3. Brett's section
4. Shian's section
1. What is the Appalachian Trail?
What is the Appalachian Trail?
The AT is a 2000+ mile foot path that stretches from Maine to Georgia, passing through a total of 14 states on the way. It stretches, winds, climbs, and descends along. It passes through the White Mountains in New Hampshire, Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, the Great Smokies in Tennessee. It crosses streams and rivers.
The trail is maintained almost exclusively by volunteers. 38 hiking clubs help maintain and protect the AT. There are a few private landowners that let the AT grace their property. But the majority of the trail is on public land.
You're hiking the whole thing? How long does that take?
We're hiking the whole thing - this is called a thru-hike. The average thruhiker takes around 5 months to complete the trail. That would be an average of 14 miles a day, and I think we can do better than that. I expect to be done in 4-5 months. Our planned start date is June 4th, 2005. This estimates us finishing in late October / early November.
Why are you going southbound? Isn't that the wrong way?
There are numerous ways to do hike the AT. Some go south to north, others north to south. Some start in Georgia, hike half the trail, fly to Maine, and hike south to the halfway point. Others "flip-flop", Hiking half the trail, then turning around and returning to their start point.
I like the idea of a straight through hike. It has a certain appeal and sense of adventure, hiking point to point for 2000+ miles. Northbounders start early in the year - February or March - so that they can finish in Maine by August, racing against the cold winter months to reach Katahdin. Southbounders start later in the year - June or July - walking into the warmth of the south as winter creeps in behind.
I was still in the army as of April, and so couldn't start a northbound hike with enough time to finish. Southbound was a necessity.
2. What is this site?
Why is this site here?
This site is here to promote the Appalachian Trail and to help friends and family keep track of our journey. Town days are filled with chores, and you can bet we won't be calling everyone we know every time we hit a town. Instead, we have a few people we'll be mailing and calling who will update this site with our whereabouts and stories from the trail.
Why should I sign up?
You should sign up so you can write comments about our posts, as well as make posts of your own. We'd love to see some chatter on here from all of our friends and family interacting. Think of it as a simple forum site. That's why we made it!
Who made all this? Who runs this site?
Brett coded this site from scratch. Shian is our main content editor. Together we maintain the site - which is hosted on 1 and 1 hosting.
How do you guys update this site from the wilderness?
Well, Maggie and Paul update our position on the progress tracker anytime we check in with them. Text updates are usually done via letters, and then transcribed onto the website through the generous efforts of Stacey and Brian.
Can I use this site as MY trail journal?
Of course. We'd love it if you did. This site was made not only as a journal for two people hiking the trail, but as an online journal for anyone on any trip! Of course, the original aim of the site was for our Appalachian Trail journey, but why not use this as a journal for your travels backpacking through Europe? If you are interested in having us host your journal, feel free to email us about how we can help you!
3. Brett's section:
Are you crazy?
I know, I know. Depending on who you are and how you know me, I may not seem like the most outdoorsy person. If you know me from the army, then put aside what you thought about me at work. With my eyes plastered to the little black box on the computer screen at work, leaving at the end of the day only to go home and plaster my eyes to a similar black box at home, alone in my room, I can see what you're thinking. If you know me from college, you may wonder how I'll get by without mp3s, aim, and not going to class. Good news there, as I will still be actively involved in not going to class. I will, however, be without computers, cell phones, running water... and the list goes on. If you know me by the good fortune of being related, then well, you probably don't know what to think. College dropout, Army dude (what the hell did he even do in the army anyway?), Appalachian Trail Thruhiker? Not exactly a logical progression. (Or is it?)
In any case, I think this is going to be such a great experience. Also, since I left my computer with that last sentence half written, I kind of forgot my train of thought. Whoops!
