Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike 2011
start : April 2 - Springer Mountain, Georgia
Finish: august 7 - Mount Katahdin, Maine
2,181.5 miles
14 states in 4 months & 5 days
My first backpacking trip and the trail that made me a thru-hiker.
Hi, my trail name is tide walker
[I didn’t have a blog back when I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2011 so this page is just going to be some pictures from my hike with a brief summary]
Georgia
Rather than acquiring my trail name on the trail I gave it to myself prior to starting. Tide Walker comes from the fact that I am from Alabama and an alumna of The University of Alabama, which is called the Crimson Tide. Along the trail my name got shortened to just Tide. And my hiking partner Kiddo calls me Sara-Tide to this day. I also buzzed my head before starting the trail for several reasons including hygiene and to look for ticks easier, but you can read a fuller article about that on TheTrek.co- To Buzz or Not to Buzz: Benefits to Cutting It All Off (Female Edition
North Carolina
Walked into my 2nd state on my 24th birthday, April 8th.
land acknowledgement
The Appalachian Trail runs through S’atsoyaha (Yuchi); Cherokee, East; Moneton; Tutelo; Manahoac; Massawomeck; Susquehannock; Lenni-Lenape; Munsee Lenape; Mohican; Wabanaki Confederacy; Abenaki; Arosaguntacook; Nanrantsouak; Penobscot ancestral lands. Apologies if I may have missed any Indigenous tribes.
Source: native-land.ca
Gear List
Big 3
Arc'teryx Axios 48L Pack
L.L. Bean Microlight 2 person tent
Mountain Hardwear Ultra Lamina 32 degree synthetic sleeping bag
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Jetboil Stove
Platypus 2L Water Bladder
Katadyn Water Filter
Thermarest Z Lite Sol
Keen Men's Targhee II boots w/custom insoles
Gabel Ultralight Hiking Poles
Outdoor Research Gaiters
Mountain Hardwear Pack Cover
Princeton Tec Headlamp
Panasonic Lumix camera
2 Outdoor Research dry bags for clothes and food
Sea to Summit silk sleeping bag liner
Clothes : Goretex rainpants, Marmot Rainjacket, JL Long Spandex, Nike shorts, Nike sports bra, Victoria Secret underwear, Nike short sleeve top, Patagonia Capilene sleep top, Black Diamond fleece jacket, 2 Midweight Smartwool socks, Darn Tough sock I used as a liner sock, Mountain Hardwear fleece beanie, Nike gloves, Nike baseball cap
Misc. : bandana, phone & charger, camera charger, id, debit card, some cash, lighter, stove fuel, flip flops camp shoes, toiletries (wet wipes, toothbrush, toothpaste, nail file, Dr Bronners, chapstick), toilet paper, swiss army knife, duct tape, rope, spork, pack towel, journal & pen, AT Companion and Data Book pages.
Food & Water
[back before there were apps to follow the trail & before I even had a smart phone]
Tennessee
The trail goes in and out of Tennessee and North Carolina as it follows the border and the Smoky Mountains. The highest point on the Appalachian Trail is Clingman’s Dome (6,643ft) in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
virginia
I had been hiking with a woman, Kiddo, for a few days and then starting in Damascus we started hiking with Stephen. We called our little hiking group Dumbledore’s Army because we all loved Harry Potter. My parents came up and took us to a hotel where we had a zero day (a rest day, doing 0 miles) near Richmond, Virginia. [The section from the end of Shenandoah National Park to Harpers Ferry is the section that I worked as a ridgerunner on the trail 5 years later in 2016. And then in 2021 I worked as a ridgerunner again, this time in Shenandoah National Park.]
west virginia
Stephen and I arrived at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s headquarters in Harpers Ferry on June 2nd (Kiddo was with her boyfriend). We took a zero day the next day.
Maryland
Pennsylvania
Half gallon challenge at Pine Grove Furnace State Park. Half gallon of ice cream near the halfway mark on the AT. It took me 75 minutes to eat it all.
new jersey
NJ was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting it to be pretty urban but the trail was still in the wilderness. I also loved the easy hiking on boardwalks.
new york
My parents came up one last time and took us to a hotel in Greenwood Lake where we had another zero.
At one point on the trail we were just 34 miles from New York City.
Connecticut
Massachusetts
We summitted MA’s highest peak, Mount Greylock, on the 4th of July.
Vermont
One of my hiking partners, Stephen, got off the trail in Vermont. Later Kiddo and I took a zero day with him at his grandparents’s home in Norwich, Vermont.
100 miles of the Appalachian Trail follow The Long Trail, which I ended up hiking in 2016.
ben & Jerry’s Ice cream flavors consumed on trail
Half Baked
Triple Carmel Chunk
Phish Food
Clusterfluff
Everything but the…
Karmel Sutra
Chubby Hubby
Chocolate Macadamia
Chunky Monkey
Peanut Butter Cup
Boston Cream Pie
Mint Chocolate Cookie
Smores
Cake Batter
Fudge Brownie
Milk & Cookies
NY Super Fudge Chunk
Red Velvet Cake
Peanut Brittle
new Hampshire
The terrain gets a bit more difficult in NH when you hit the White Mountains. The White Mountains have a hut system where sometimes if there’s availability thru-hikers can stay and have a meal in exchange for helping with meals for the paying guests. Kiddo and I stayed at Lake of the Clouds hut the night before summitting Mount Washington.
Maine
The last and final state, home to Mahoosuc Notch, known for being the hardest mile of the trail. I ended up skipping a 10 mile section of trail in Maine. Kiddo’s mom came to visit and supported us, but eventually Kiddo and I parted ways near Rangeley because she needed to finish and I couldn’t keep up. We ended up seeing each other again in Monson, the last town before the 100 mile wilderness. My last day summitting Katahdin was difficult and it was cloudy so I didn’t get any views. I started crying as soon as I saw the sign.
The AT was one of the hardest physical and mental challenges I’ve endured to date. It has changed my life and ever since completing the trail I have become addicted to the thru-hiking/backpacker lifestyle. I have hiked several trails since and there are many on the to-hike list. I am proud to be in the elite category of hiker trash.
Just a few days after the trail when I was back home in Alabama I was admitted to a hospital with profound anemia and a hemoglobin level around 6 (when it should be around 14). I ended up getting 3 pints of blood transfused and 2 injections of iron. I tell about that experience in an article I wrote for TheTrek.co: Post-Trail Life…. Hospital Edition
In 2017 I gave some advice about thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail in a National Public Radio (NPR) All Things Considered interview: What You Learn Hiking The Whole Appalachian Trail
More TheTrek.co articles I’ve written about my AT thru-hiking experience:
To Buzz or Not to Buzz: Benefits to Cutting It All Off (Female Edition)
The following is a letter I wrote and mailed to friends and family prior to my thru-hike. Looking back at it now it’s a little embarrassing and funny. ..I wasn’t out there for six months. My dad only hiked with me the first day. I did have phone access. And no friends and family came out to hike with me.
