Appalachian Trail, USA
The Appalachian Trail is a 3,524 km long hiking trail that traverses the scenic, wooded, pastoral, wild, and culturally resonant lands of the Appalachian Mountains in the Eastern United States. Thru-hikers walking the whole trail typically take 5 to 7 months.
I have always been fascinated by these long-distance thru-hikes and wanted to experience what it feels like to walk on the trail for many weeks. My previous hikes had been a maximum of 2 weeks, and I wanted to walk a significantly longer section on the Appalachian Trail to know if I liked it enough to attempt a complete thru-hike in the future.
I started the Appalachian Trail at its Southern terminus (Springer Mountain in Georgia) and walked NoBo (North Bound) for 24 days, traversing the states Geogia, North Caronlina and Tennessee. My start was in early April, a very popular time for thru-hikers to begin, so I met a lot of people with the same passion and interests. Although the trail was often very similar (it is called the green tunnel because of all the walking in dense forests), it was the thru-hiking community that made this hike so special. Having so many people who share the same experiences, goals and mindset made starting solo a most enriching experience contrary to a solitary adventure. As I enjoyed my section hike a lot, I now know that in the future I will try to complete thru-hike.
I made a small tracking website for people to follow my progress on the trail. This website was a hobby project and I liked creating it as I learned some new technologies and it combined my passions for software development and hiking. You can find the website at its specific URL or embedded down below: