Appalachian Trail

As we exited Shenandoah National Park, we got on to Blue Ridge Parkway, which is considered as one of the iconic drives in the U.S.

And what ages were more bothered by boredom and bad weather? Looking at ages of 900+ hikers who tried to hike the A.T. — M.J. Eberhart, trail-named Nimblewill Nomad, is believed to be the oldest person to finish a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail (A.T). That means he hiked 2,000+ miles of the A.T. in less than a year. He did it at age 83. When I did two research studies about Appalachian Trail…

Part 1: 30+ reasons that Appalachian Trail thru-hikers quit hiking — Thousands of people have tried to hike the entire 2,000+ miles of the Appalachian Trail (A.T.), but about 75% end up quitting. Why didn’t they achieve their goal? I’m in performance psychology, and this is exactly the kind of thing I like to study. According to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy…

Part 2: 30+ reasons that Appalachian Trail thru-hikers quit hiking — Why do people who try to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) quit? This is one of the questions I tried to answer with a couple of research studies of over 900 hikers who tried to thru-hike the A.T. in less than a year. …

A series about what was learned from studies of 900+ people who tried to backpack the A.T. in less than a year — I’m a professor of performance psychology. Part of what I do is study why some people perform well but some people fail. Why do some people achieve goals but some don’t despite their best efforts? For examples: Why do some football players make it to the NFL but others don’t…

Gerry Largay, also known as Inchworm, was a 66 year old thru-hiker of the Appalachian Trail in 2013: the same year that I completed my thru-hike. She disappeared from the trail in Maine during the month of July. …

The Jetboil stove incident notwithstanding. — I hit the submit order button on the Kit-Lender site as butterflies flitted in my stomach. Our beautiful, high-quality backpacks, tents, sleeping pads, and bags were guaranteed to arrive by 8 p.m. the night before our trip. And, Kit-Lender said the gear might even arrive a day or two early. Departure-day minus five …

Begin Backpacking — Begin Backpacking is a large chunk to chew on for the brand new hiker. There may be gear to purchase, guidelines to be taught, and hundreds of pages of recommendation to kind by means of in your journey into the mountains. Fears of lightning storms, bears, and darkish lonely nights…