Evan’s Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike: Full Documentary

it's a hiker crossing and I think those tiny backpacks a representative of the real thing so the problem bear didn't dissapoint last night there are about 40 people and the shelter camped all around down the trail [Music] here it is the 24-hour New York Deli / Shell station [Applause] [Applause] I've made it this far really doesn't make sense to give in to the stresses now that's for sure and it's dinner time near cloud pond lean to yours Yelp we're all camped in different spaces oh it's a good time I think to pull out the map started down here in Georgia and Here I am up here in New Hampshire but boy that's a long way to go but there's still a lot of the trail left of New Hampshire I love Maine it's going to be a hard one [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so my number is two thousand three hundred and seventy-three that many people are headed me going northbound on the 18 less it quit already so though I think that April April 21st 22nd I think that's a pretty traditional start date Earl Shafer the first through hacker didn't start until April grandma Gatewood Emma Gatewood she didn't start her thru-hike until May the 2nd thru-hikers gene SP he started his thru-hike on the last day of May [Applause] it's a heater working the heater working there's no heater in here this is the oldest shelter on the 18 built in 1934 but there are a lot of people that stay here because it would bear canister this time of year in order to use Blood Mountain shelter and Haiti through Hecker's don't carry bare canisters they just carry food bags the Blood Mountain is the highest point in Georgia on the 80 I could proudly rattle off the elevation I'm not going to because probably wouldn't mean a lot to anybody unless you climb a lot of mountains and if you did climb a lot of mountains and you would hear the elevation and you would say that's no mountain nonetheless it's the highest point in gorge on 80 Yale gap I'm gonna go into mountain crossing and do some resupplied it was closing up last night when I got here so I stuck around frog town gap this place used to be called until mr. Neal built the highway he was the chief engineer that built the - highway through this gap that was in the 1920s ever since it's been Neil gap or Neil's gap both are correct somebody here had an unfortunate washout I guess it was so bad that they had to leave their tent it's another ghost camp this one's worse because there's a whole bag of food here why would somebody leave this here for the Bears this is my set up for the evening the wind's coming from this direction it's actually starting to rain again but I don't think it's gonna last very long and I'm pretty close to the shelter which is over there some tent sites and so forth on the other side of the trail I couldn't pawn the food off on anybody some of them were already aware of it and had gone through it and decided it was too wet but whatever Indian grave gap at 10:25 and down below somebody's cooking now this is true trail magic I'm getting rid of this food bag in this trash bag and I'm happy to be rid of it what do you call it pretty sure it's an eel gab Neil's got see there you go music these are locals thank y'all [Music] well I'm headed down to Dick's Creek Gap I'm gonna resupply at the top of Georgia hostel and I'm eating breakfast on the trail which is something that you can do when you don't use trekking poles and there's another purpose today I have to get rid of all my food before I resupply [Music] so this is my resupply to last me about four so days to NOC where I'll resupply again I'm emphasizing fat over sugar I also have the olive oil I have a big container of olive oil because it's hard to find anywhere it's a very condensed form of calories you don't have any water added to it like you probably do with some of these other products so it's all nutrients and I have a little bit of sugar I'll eat these Clif bars during the day slowly yes I hike made in North Carolina that's the sign that indicates that and up here under the rock is my friend buckles [Music] another point of interest that's why about Simon Sylar ball looking over at Wyatt ball here's a view from the top of the fire tower looking off north right in the center of the picture is Lake Montana and then to the right of that is the big peak the biggest peak to the right of that is Clingmans Dome so why through hiked more two point maybe why Mike you're hiking well I'm a backpacker and the ATAC long and difficult trail so there's that simple I went a little bit further than I intended today I'm about 10 miles from Fontana Dam I'm just beyond hog back gap and I got a view on one side of the ridge and the view towards Fontana Dam on the other side of the ridge I climbed up on a hill I just passed hog back gap the trail is way down there somewhere so this is Fontana Lake and I'm crossing the dam which was built in the early 1940s as part of the World War 2 war effort under the lake somewhere is one of five concentration camps set up in the 1830s by General Winfield Scott to contain Cherokee Indians North Carolina is part of the Trail of Tears some of the Cherokee hid out in the hills and cabins and blended in with their neighbors who we now sometimes call the southern Highlanders they eventually became the Eastern Band of Cherokees who are still here in the area in the town of Cherokee and the surrounding region just down the mountain from Newfound Gap there's a great Museum in Cherokee if you're interested you should visit [Music] it out some of these old forest trees can stand for decades dead before they fall over and then take decades to the K [Music] [Music] people are setting up tents and i mean ii camp outside so show you my setup in a second shelters over there where i'm pointing through the trees i set up in this little i don't know little forest a small trees down on the ground this is the bug vivvy the bug bitty with both sides tied up at both ends and if we're gonna rain i'd put a tarp on top of that this trail up to clemens dome has got to be the best ever this is a spruce fir forest they only occur at very high elevations mostly in Smokies I think unfortunately the fir trees I'm mostly dead this one due to a beetle infestation the kills fir-trees [Music] the different claimants down y'all she passed a little bit hazy highest point on the trail so surely it's all downhill from here right I bet somebody else has already said that here at Nippon gap this is the place right here where Franklin Delano Roosevelt FDR dedicated the park back in 1940 for the permanent enjoyment of the people here's the famous sign at Newfound Gap it has a mileage to Katahdin 80 hikers are advised not to look at this sign too closely and now after eating lunch some of my friends I'm making my way up to Charlie's bunion which is the next major milestone on the 80 in the Smokies 245 and I'm close to Charlie's bunion it's right over my shoulder headed that way the views aren't extraordinary today X is so hazy [Applause] it's my LeConte right there there's a trail called the bull of our trail that goes over to the top of mountain look on where there's a shelter and also a lodge I got on the highway right here 40 West I'd be home in Nashville in just four hours home sweet home I'll be home eventually a few days oh I'll be around hot springs and after hot springs it's all new to me as far as hiking goes and getting off the trail now to go to Standing Bear farm and hostel where I'm going to resupply and spend the night on the trail early when I set off it was raining just a couple of minutes ago but it stopped I guess temporarily got to put my umbrella away today's interesting destination is big bald [Music] we're looking at the bald mountains and the tallest one is big bald from a distance of 4.5 miles that's where I'm headed I've reached the edge of big bald I can't believe I'm here it looks so far away not too long ago but one thing I've learned on this trip is mountains always look appear a lot further away than they actually are five thousand five hundred and sixteen feet it's the highest point on the Appalachian Trail between the Great Smoky Mountains and their own Highlands they're coming up so the highest point for 148 miles and yes it's a little stormy but no rain right now it's windy with my life Mike man it's really windy all right I made it Derwin I resupply to Dunkel Johnny's for about a day and a half I ate some food there looked at my guidebook and set out again now I have a lot of climbing for probably the next day and a half or so a significant milestone here I'm a dowel flats significant because at this point I leave finally the Tennessee North Carolina border and venture into Tennessee proper for a couple days until I get to Virginia it's probably a good time to bring out the map so I started down there at Springer Mountain I've been through Hot Springs now I'm almost to Damascus but they're past Irwin there's a little spot where I leave the border and I go into Tennessee that's where I am now and I'll be at Damascus and there's a few more days on Friday here's the whole trail haven't gone very far yet have I [Music] just a little while ago and that Liz her true name is handstand she was hiking with diabetes and talked to her about her latest video where she's taking a break from YouTube because of some mistreatment that she's been getting in the comments and we talked about that but she plans I think to keep doing videos Trail days party starts early before you get to Damascus or trail magic competing trail magic I told you the party starts early here's hi Connor and loner I think I'm now the bearded grandpa the bearded groundhog alright I am the bearded groundhog formerly hike hunter and that's handstand [Music] the child days have been a hit so far I replace the hip belt on my backpack sent it home bought a new backpack I got my feet washed and best of all and went to the Food City and I got strawberries cantaloupe an apple and a whole thing of cherry tomatoes I ate all those so I am feeling very healthy right about now [Music] [Music] I'm cruising the creeper trail man this is an 80 hacker we busted them or something you know I had a day off and I figured I need to be on a trail and this trail requires no walking no paddling only breaking and highly recommended so I'm done hiking for the day I'm camping near the place where the Virginia Creeper Trail in the 80 run contiguously together for a little ways and near a railroad trestle and some water with some other hikers it's a cool place [Music] coming up into a cloud here first phone service in about two days everybody's congregating [Applause] hi Boni he wants to be on YouTube turns out that bear got six bags to earth sacks and for regular food sex that's from the hikers coming up behind us and that's incredible these ponies every year are rounded up by a volunteer Cowboys they have their health checked and if their hurts too big the access is sold at auction [Music] here's my resupply for three and a half days it's probably 3300 calories a day if I can eat this much in the parking lot of the Travel Inn I think this whole thing is filled with hikers new hat I got this at Walmart I don't like it they didn't have a big choice but Tennessee hats going home it's way too dirty I'm gonna get a new hat as soon as I get a chance we got a pickup coming at about nine o'clock something we worked out yesterday it was some local guy a little late for me to get started but when I'm finding out is when you hike with a group you got to make compromises so I'm doing my best I really am and this morning for breakfast and really over last night for dinner I had some fresh stuff some apples some tomatoes I'd be cat over there photobombing my my video back on the trail this is tool time who is a time of snap shelter the other day and he is the owner of a white bear resistant air sac that got swiped and here it is people are demanding proof and now we have it the air sac ripped open by the bear and time of snap shelter [Music] five 47.5 one-fourth of the 80 down and I want to get some reaction here from the gang reaction but I don't want to be over that's handstand also known as listen Luke wonderful feeling good okay great thanks I got a couple more sketches that I posted on Instagram there's my tarp and then over here that's a through hacker named winder set up at Mile 544 trash can on the trail which is cool but please no deer carcasses I have my new hat about yesterday it says Virginia forever which you should read as Virginia takes forever on the 80 by the way Virginia isn't flat and it has a lot of rocks [Music] there's a real sense of we're all in this together and everybody's made it this far and it's sort of in it for keeps there aren't really any pretenders anymore left on the trail it's evening now I stopped along a pretty Creek and set up my tarp this being Virginia after I had the tarp setup it rained for an hour I'm nervous setting out today and it's almost like I'm waking up in the morning to do a marathon I'm not nervous and I can't explain that except that thinking about the miles coming up all the my house is not a good thing to do I don't recommend it you kind of gotta take it day-by-day that right there is the sign that says spy rock and it's point one off the trail and it's an excellent 360 great view in all directions poured into got hooks but it's raining the foggy and so not worth the time today unfortunately I'm going to have to hike the 80 again next year I guess exodia happen today even though it's still Virginia because as you know Virginia goes on forever it's right it's Shenandoah National Park kind of looks like the rest of my genius so far Black Rock shelter or Hut is a column here in Shenandoah and it was 21 miles to get here something like that and another six miles to find more camping you have to camp in designated camping area it hasn't been any water for glass 12 miles so it was pretty much stopping here was the best option this is my through hiker friend Oscar Trail named Oscar hey and he's got the setup that's more minimal to - that I saw a few weeks ago and I wanted to film it so [Music] go away go away bear go [Music] and the corridor of the park itself is generally usually just a mile or two wide which might be why you tend to see a lot of bears or some people do anyway in Shenandoah National Park there are also some restaurants along the way called way sides and I'm about to hit the first one after 28 miles the loft mountain way side and hopefully I can get a shake and a burger [Music] again III also as a long-distance runner oh yeah yeah iin 10 marathons my best marathon was main course three hours and two minutes when I was four more sixty they're coming up in mile 900 and I know because I came all the way up here yesterday to call Andrea and Sam and I saw the mile marker so I've already been here and it is 900 miles the bugs are bad at this campsite its worst it's ever been and the bug bites on my feet from the last week or so just terrible scratched and scratched [Music] nice place surprised they let hikers in here hey guys how you doing good job y'all and now it's time to breakfast it's pine needles today much preferable to the rocks yesterday I spoke too soon these big down hills with sharp rocks are hurting everybody's feet so there's a film crew here at the wayside walking around with a giant camera where are you from I'm from st why are you I had never been backpacking before and I started getting into hiking a little bit and like a challenge what has been the most difficult thing all the rain if it's rained a lot it was cold rain in the beginning especially through the Smokies here's the map I'm almost out of Virginia so that means I've done all this part of the trail and here's what's coming up all these states up here stay tuned so I heard that the 8c changes a lot as you've had North a lot more traffic a lot less solitude and that you just have to deal with it and learn to accept it or you'll have a miserable time there's some traffic over there headed into Front Royal very close to Front Royal Virginia head north on the trail during a 22 mile day to day at an 18 tomorrow kind of big days in order to reach bears then hostel where we're gonna meet my daughter Lydia and she's going to hike with us for four or five days and how are you guys you're hiking naked today big crowd in the shelter anybody hiking naked today miss Lydia hi Lydia hi dad this mom look and Liz [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] the eighties tiniest shelter I love you but you're going forever on the 80 it's the big dramatic cat turn West Virginia here I come I'm not turning the hat back until I get a new one morning I haven't had a chance to wear my sunglasses lately so wearing them a protest another brain you know why does anybody hike hip flexion trail it's just a crazy thing to do starting with the fact that it rained all day yesterday it rained all night and everything is wet again and smells bad now I like it personally but I can't understand why there's anybody else out here on the trail with me it's just crazy the rains holding off it's just dripping from the leaves so maybe I'll change the soundtrack [Music] [Applause] [Applause] we're coming down to the trail here in the Harpers Ferry and there's this giant river over there it's raging and brown and it's the Shenandoah River like in the John Denver's song I guess can go a river that's it so here it is the ATC the Appalachian Trail Conservancy they called this place which is just a little bit off the trail the spiritual halfway point used to be located in Washington DC it moved here in 1972 all right what's the cost the cost for you is going to be alright I get the ATC members discount and I got a new hat go ahead I'm going outside and my picture taken [Music] it's a hiker lounge these are books a hiker pictures down here 1979-1981 let's pull out one of these awesome [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] this is town sent over here this is where we're staying tonight yeah Luke and lizard down here I'm sure already here ahead of us I got the camera in your face again you making a big bonfire good job you have list this is where the pick ups gonna happen up here at a parking lot just off the 80 all right so you're Lydia let's fist bump and then on the video and then hug in real life coming up on the shelter that's famous for having flowers [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] we don't so we're coming up on the Pine Grove general store which is a place where the half-gallon challenge takes place that's where you can eat a half gallon of ice cream since you've made it halfway regret this is my half gallon challenge this is suicide this is a better year you want a bike and to do the half gallon challenge they also have to eat an additional pint is anybody gonna eat the additional pint what kind of ice cream would you like [Laughter] million bucks I went swimming in that Lake is the only hiker that I saw and went all the way over the very deepest part came back and now it's time to hike some more I feel like I'm on this show to eat race now [Music] [Music] morning [Music] by the way there's a heat wave in the Northeast going on right now hi today supposed to be 96 degrees and a lot of the days like this so yeah it's hot even though I'm carrying my shade with me so are these two vicious rocks Pennsylvania well I don't know maybe it's to start but I'm still able to walk and I'm like nothing and we've had these everywhere rocks like these ok this looks like it's something but still it's just a bunch of fun let me just walk on him even though it looks intimidating it's not and it's looking a little worse up here [Music] I'm approaching something called knife's edge which I don't know what it is exactly it's not the knife's edge it Mike retirement I have at least a different one and I'm still about a mile away so this is a preliminary so I guess and this is it you walk along the edge here on boulders [Music] now there's a view up to the right it's the climb out of Lehigh Gap 36 miles to the Jersey I'm headed up that way Andrea asked me if the hike so far it's been more physically demanding than I thought it would be and I'd say day to day no day today I feel often like I could go further or I should be going further each day but I think that it would be impossible because you know if I do a string of long days I really feel beat up I'll get a New Jersey view over my shoulder I'm headed up there because there's a guy in the fire tower and he works there so what we do is from the to map the to tower you run it out to the other leg of the triangle the triangulation that's the first one I've ever had two dogs at once in the town I've had luck yeah on the weekends wonderful so that was Bob to keep her the fire tower there is a Ridge Runner named outlaw it was up there road crossing actually I'm going to turn left there's supposedly a tavern Oh point two miles this way and they sell stuff like hamburgers and the traffic noise is too bad but sometimes you can just imagine it away [Music] back in the woods I'm looking forward to these zero days not only because I get to see Andrea and Sam and that's going to be great but because it started to feel lately like I'm on a treadmill get up every day walk walk walk [Music] you [Music] it's so much fun that we're all finally back together again for a couple of days we went to four states New Jersey in New York and Connecticut and Rhode Island Rhode Island was kind of unplanned we went to the beach stayed right there on the beach in a motel and got to do a little walking on the beach and relaxing in the hotel with a lot of sand on the floor we got to eat a couple meals with Luke and lives even though they were taking zeroes on the different itinerary here we are just before setting off again into the woods back to New York and all the hugs we all got to know each other really well it was really a very good time although sad when I had to turn around and wave goodbye to Andrea and Sam there's a little ladder up here goes up that was fun except I dropped my camera on the way up still seems to be working New York the big one too overlooking the Hudson River and right here although it won't show up and the camera is Manhattan skyline I can see really clearly from here a late start this morning because the zoo doesn't open till 10:00 and you know of course what the 8080 goes through a zoo the only rattlesnake I've seen on the trail so far bridge over the Hudson River I think I said around Front Royal Virginia that it gets very noisy and the trail changes as you come further north and it actually has been really bad in Pennsylvania New York New Jersey as long as you're aware of that it's fine but it's not a wilderness experience necessarily mountain outside New York City now we've had a great time coming through some beautiful beautiful country down here now you guys have a lot to look forward to you're gonna go into Connecticut and it is stunning how my say that South bounders are very different from North bounders we're in a cab with I can tell and we're going to wing Dale they're going to Pauline [Music] so here's the Mattel it's a Dutchess Motor Lodge let me show you around that's it this is around [Applause] outside it's raining [Music] [Applause] you know about my nervousness at hotels and feeling like I can't go on you know I just think at wente miles today and then I'll worry about the next day the next day and I'm gonna be positive Coolio's taxi service coming up to the big tree y'all ready to head into Connecticut so this is why they call her Poppins when I get my umbrella - supposedly thousands of people walk on an 80 every year but it doesn't keep the plant life he's taken over the trail this is how they hiked the 80 and 1800's getting it it's a whole body pump right there welcome to Connecticut gateway to New England walking along the Housatonic River again just like yesterday [Music] [Applause] okay forget what I said about the summative air baton about a hundred feet down the trail there's this I think this might be the summit don't worry I'm coming up to [Applause] beautiful I gotta say the sages ravine section is really cool even in the rain and no road crossings no houses we entered Massachusetts we're in the clouds little scary right there [Applause] approaching the road that's going to take us into Lee Massachusetts and we're gonna stay at the super 8 so it was super 8 last night y'all familiar with Jason Isabel and his song super 8 don't want to die in a super 8 motel just because somebody's evening didn't go so well good song well we went to dinner with a guy who is going to help us out named Brian and thanks Brian that was fun having dinner with you trailblazer from Wisconsin a flip-flopper started in Virginia went north to Pennsylvania and then you went to Katahdin no I'm southbound so I'm almost 1,200 miles I'm more than halfway finished and New Hampshire is as beautiful as people say New Hampshire was very pretty it wasn't as hard as other Maine I almost quit in southern Maine it was really hard these random lakes that pop out out of nowhere really cool there it is not great luck that's gonna be tomorrow the next day zooming out to where I am even more and it disappears you show you how it doesn't matter little roadside trail magic here and I got it through hiker beer isn't that awesome [Music] this is a big deal welcome differ a lot so for about a hundred miles by the way I'm hiking on both the 80 and Vermont's long trail the Vermont's long trail the long trail is the nation's oldest hiking trail it opened for business in 1921 before the 80 February 25th and what's your trail name stumbles just finished and she brought us some donuts this is Yelp everybody's favorite through hacker what are you drinking he's saying mocha and he's from England is that right yeah whereabouts Southwest and I have trouble understanding him I hope that's not offensive he he sounds like one of the Beatles to me he taught me how to say water water water is that is that pretty good sitting out today from Bennington Vermont with a group that stayed last night at the knotty pine motel no glass up here we're in the clouds the floors wet but it's a lunch spot nonetheless 12 miles to get into Rutland that's ramen to go to the urgent care and get tested for Lyme disease I've had a fever for two days I haven't been able to eat really tired everything's sore sweating night man it's no fun hiking with a beer I play that it's about the worst thing that I can think of throw us out Vermont has been very wet very muddy after rain so day 106 for me was a zero I'm not feeling that much better still have the night sweats still don't have an appetite and haven't eaten much for four days but I don't have a fever that's good first big climb today it's going to be up to Killington peak it'll be up over 4,000 feet Hey hope you didn't miss a 500-mile sign it's a spur trail to Killington peak 0.2 miles it's real steep I heard but I think I'm gonna do it yeah this trail is steep I came from somewhere down there we got a view now I'm going up there I think there's a lotta down here this direction it's called the peak Lodge Hey look who's here here it is I'm leaving the long trail long trail goes north Canada and the 80 goes right north the main goodbye long trail I apologize for dissing you and you were raining on me and I was sick a couple days to reach New Hampshire which is exciting and then mount moosilauke will be within the week the first mountain and the whites it's a ladder on the trail here it is a lookout and there's actually a perch on the top of the roof no storms in that direction glad I made it to the lookout when I did so the line test came back negative so I have some other problem I've been hiking through all this and I'm on schedule my schedule but I think I should probably slow down at some point and regain my strength I'm gonna be at Hanover in a couple days that might be a good place to take a break for a while until I get my habits right my strength back here's the bridge over the Connecticut River when I race the other side of the in Hampshire [Music] I did it I'm in New Hampshire I have to say I'm quite overjoyed and hey if you're one of those people they've been telling me for months just wait until you get to New Hampshire well I'm here last week the wheels almost fell off the bus and they still might so keep watching see what happens first set up in New Hampshire a chance to rain tonight a little chance I'm just using the bug baby I got a stream down there nice little housekeeping taste 113 and 114 or zero days I took them in Plymouth New Hampshire I did the responsible thing and I went to the hospital and I got some good medical advice and I was there most of the day they did a bunch of tests anyway at the time I spent in the hospital I think I was on the up trend Here I am on the summit of Mount moose a lot and I'm glad to be here even on a blah day and even in catch-up mode I'm two days behind my group that I've been hiking with so long but I think I'll catch him this is lonesome Lake hut hut sur places in the woods where you can buy a bunk for a hundred or $150 they're usually already reserved by the time you get there sometimes three hikers are allowed to stay there for free if they agree to do some work it's called work first day maybe wash dishes maybe give a little lecture to the other guests about your thru-hike sort of ironically I'm in the whites alone ironically because before this hike started I told the Andrea although I don't know if I'll hike with others I do think that in the whites I don't want to do that part alone so now here ironically I'm in the whites alone and really it hasn't been too bad I feel really confident about it I think that the two long solo backpacking trips that I did in the past two years have prepared me well for this it would have been nice though to be with Liz here in this part she and Luke are two days ahead of me Lissa's hiked a whole lot in the whites and very enthusiastic about being here she knows a lot of side trails and places to camp and she's been through the presidentials and that would have been helpful in kind of planning my way through and I don't have that but as I said my confidence is high it's working out I'm gonna catch up with them eventually and I'm looking forward to that but that's probably not gonna be until after the lights had a little breakfast the galehead hut it was free leftovers I got there just about 8:30 and now I'm headed up south wind Mountain the very steep south wind Mountain and after that I don't know I'm gonna go as far as I can today most of the trails and the whites are like this with lots of rocks and roots and I always thought people were saying you'd slow down in the whites because of the elevation but it's as much because the trails are hard to get any rhythm on you can't go real fast that's the trail I can't give you an idea really how steep it is and then this is in front of me it goes up like that well 17 miles today I made it to Crawford notch I still have 3 hours of daylight it's only 5 o'clock I'd like to keep going I'm 11 miles from leg at the clouds' hut which is right before Mount Washington it would be great to be there tomorrow morning somehow or other because I really want to go over to Mount Washington tomorrow and if I wait until tomorrow afternoon the conditions might make it impassable so I kind of need to be there somehow in the morning and as I said I'm 11 miles away well I'm gonna keep going see how far I get [Music] so I'm gonna Webster the first peek in the presidentials look over here I can see my way to Mount Washington which is right there in the center the biggest one that's where I'll be tomorrow I'm up Jackson peak number two in the presidential maybe I'll be stopping soon hey a night hiking and the presidentials it's more fun than you might think and I got great weather for it clear skies it's not too cold it was a little hard climbing down the rocks off of Mount Jackson and dark so think about I have about had it with going about the treeline tonight I got another mile and a half into a hut I could try to get there I could stop anywhere really along the trail I just met a woman come in the other direction he said it wasn't crazy for night hiking and the presidentials on a nice night like this she said I can make it all the way to look at the cloud site without too much climbing just a little bit coming out of Miss Scott hut which wasn't even bad so I don't know maybe I'll keep going a while unbelievably the winds not blowing that hard and it's not very cold 10:15 I went to the Mizpah spring Hut and it was quiet there but there were a couple of guys eating dinner still and I talked to them they'd come from this direction South section hikers they it confirmed what the woman told me earlier that I could do this second night over towards look at the cloud site and they also said that they saw Luke and Liz and Yelp at that hut so after hiking I don't know 26 miles so far today I've almost caught up with him and that the summit appears which is the third peak and the presidentials in the direction that I'm headed it's as far as I'm going for now until the morning I've hit the tree line so it's all above the tree line between here and Lake of the clouds Hut and if I want to stop there's gonna be no place to stop so this seems like a good idea to stop here I'm just going to take a little nap couple hours of sleep I'm back on the trail [Music] hey turn around [Music] [Laughter] [Music] I guess the Wyss is working out for me it was an idea to get to look at the clouds Hut and so that I would make it over Mount Washington and eventually be able to catch up with everybody and it turned out that's worth it were and boy I couldn't have worked out any better it was really fun I had to go 30 miles yesterday to get to them Lake of the clouds Hut I did take it to our nap in the middle of the night and then 15 miles today so that's going to be 45 miles total with just that in May just that little nap probably not the best way to make it through the whites but fun for me also I don't think I'm sick anymore the trains like this which requires kind of difficult balancing I'm choosing foot placements hopefully their arcs don't shift when you step on them nothing easy about today and that was Madison the last peak in the presidentials low in the direction that I'm going to more miles to Pinkham Notch visitor center I don't think I've ever been more ready to be finished with a pace hiking and today I can't wait to go to sleep tonight Pinkham Notch visitor center made it so Yelp I think the world wants to know why you're hiking the 80 well I'm like an 80 quick answer or medium answer I hoped the Camino de Santiago I realized what it does it changes you for the better and then my dad mentioned about the 80 which I can't have put on a back burner because I thought it was such a big thing I wouldn't do it and then I was gonna go to India do yoga and then nothing was burning you don't know if it was hitting me and then I opened the book and it said the Appalachian Trail and I got a fire in my heart and I thought okay I got to do it glad you did without a doubt without doubt a lot of tough hiking ahead but I've got a new hat it says Baxter State Park which is where I'm headed and recenter Timmy it's break time we've been sitting on this rock for a while then I noticed right there sharing the rock there's a snake [Music] we're right out in nature luckily found a time first the summit now mount moriah this is point one off the trail so these are extra trout miles I'm gonna do this view again with Liz because I screwed it up last time she has on the knowledge so that is Mount Washington and then going over this way the two pointy ones on the end this one in this one Adams Madison Madison Madison these are all the this is the end of the presidential is going northbound then we went down this Ridge here the other day and that's the view from Mount Moriah well this is shieldmaiden she's southbound and she she has something say i am i ran into evil finally just coming up through the whites now sir should be a good rest of the day well have a good time in the whites i guess he came through some of them mount washington and it was a trip i'm glad to be over it but you'll have fun going into it so tonight we're in another one of these campsites what's this one called there's a trident carl campsite and they had these earthen tent pads so yelp luke and liz and back here in the woods with a strange-looking tarp setup that's serious 1,900 miles put any words of wisdom keep walking so we're not success how much more time left today how many more miles seven more miles to Dave and then we camp right at the beginning of them who sick notch which seems like it would be a good thing cuz we can do it in the morning but it's supposed to be raining tomorrow morning and already the clouds starting to look like rain that means some Hoosick not the hardest mile on the ATV plus the mezuzah car which is a very steep section in the rain not good welcome to Maine you're welcoming me to Maine what are you the ambassador my first good viewpoint Maine I'm looking at goose a mountain that's two peaks I go up over those before I get to the place where I'm sleeping tonight I think I only have four more miles I'm gonna turn around I'm not very high headed towards Matusik notch by myself I set off really earlier this morning because I wanted to get there I have to descend down to the notch but once I'm there I'm gonna wait for the rest of the group to catch up with me and we're going to do that difficult section together here it is the beginning of my Busiek notch and the rains starting to come down a little bit harder it's supposed to pick up as we progress through I'm gonna wait here for the rest of the crew there probably about a half an hour behind me [Music] yep they're Yelp [Music] we made it up Medusa Carm yeah we did supposedly one of the toughest climbs on the 80 and it was tough wasn't it it was here's Luke here's Liz there was no joke we didn't have a ride into Bethel Maine and we found Miss Janet she's gonna give us a ride hi well here we are early morning at Bethel Maine and we're about to get picked up and taken back to Grafton notch yesterday was a zero day here great town we're gonna continue on our way today and have another resupply and Rangeley Maine in four days so it would be four days of hiking a resupply and then continue on from there towards Katahdin climb in another mountain and point three from the summit of West bald pate and then I go down and back up again to get the east bald bank let's climb up the east ball pate pig is a fun one I came from here down this way and I'm headed up here's where I get to see on the way up now I have to climb up up up to the top and here's the east peak with the sign that's turned over probably by the weather it was a nice hike up I thought maybe on the way ticket odd maybe I'll have some wrap-up thoughts start with the gear that I'm using you know I called it unique one time and somebody properly pointed out that I'm not unique at all people have hiked through hiking sandals before Seth or me and probably many others people have hiked through hiked with the tarp before ray Jardine and probably many others and on and on but you know what I wanted to do I guess was to show that you you look at Facebook and you look at YouTube it seems that there's just one way to do a thru-hike one way to do backpacking one way to do solo backpacking and on and on there's just kind of a set list of gear that you're supposed to have and when I started doing long hikes I started largely with that set list of gear although I used to tarp and I began experimenting and it's much more fun I think if you realize that you're not really limited to the things that you hear about most frequently on Facebook and YouTube via this morning the Mount Washington weather station said last week that all this haze was being caused by the forest fires in California so Luke is leaving us for a week if you watch Liz's videos you know that Luke comes out for two weeks out of every month and then he goes back and works a little bit and then comes back out here just set up for the night I might throw up a tarp later this guy looks a little huh no no no it's not supposed to rain but he knows her stood up for that Luke tonight of course Luke has become a very very good friend over this hike and you know one of the I literally like that a video that I did about the whites that turned out well but one of the things that was missing from that video was Luke's reaction when I showed up at Lake the clouds hot and what happened was I went inside with my camera and saw Liz and she jumped up and down and then the the crew there that's in charge of the place came out and told us to shut up because we're making too much noise and the paying customers might have been offended because they could have still been sleeping so we had to be quiet and Luke was in the bathroom so I turned my camera off and Luke came out of the bathroom and I didn't get the reaction shot looks for action shot so Luke was excited too but I didn't get to show it hi anyone how you doing look at this I've never seen this try magic it's a mirror you see how I look wow that doesn't fit quite right but I still like it and Liz people make comments that they think that it's odd that we should be hiking together we've hiked I don't know the majority of the trip together initially we had YouTube in common and that's the big thing if you've ever tried to hike with somebody who does YouTube videos you have to put up with hearing the same thing over and over again as they try to film a section a statement or a couple of sentences I myself honestly or you'd have to say to the person hey could you go in front of me could you go behind me because I want to film something so we had that in common headed towards the road crossing it will take us to Rangeley in a resupply just a five mile day today and we've had Yelp in our group for a month or so and we knew him before he was hiking with some other people when Lydia was out Yelp was around for a little bit so Lydia has met Yelp but for the last month or so he's been hiking with us and he's another very positive member of the group we're all pretty positive which makes hiking together fun I'm probably the least positive because we all want to get done but it seems like I say it more often than anybody else I still can't really believe I'm the main but you know main is no cherry on top of the hike it's a hike in itself it's over 280 miles anyway we're chipping away look where I'm at 2,000 miles that means I only have about a another 190 miles to go going back to work all day so Kennebec River 17.2 miles that'll be tomorrow that's where you take a canoe across we're at the Kennebec now the ATC provides a canoe to ferry people across between nine and two o'clock all right thanks Greg and from here cities to Monson Maine which is the start of the hundred mile wilderness which I'm calling the hundred mile used to be a wilderness because it's not really wilderness anymore here's the somewhat outdated sign that everybody films there are no places to obtain supplies or get help until a ball Burrage 100 miles north do not attempt this section unless you have a minimum of 10 days supplies etc etc they're logging roads all through the hundred mile wilderness and after about the year 2000 even more logging roads and those logging roads are controlled by the paper companies who have the right to them but they have gatekeepers they're like toll roads so they open and close and if you have to come out after the gatekeepers to sleep you have to pay an extra fee and there are people who actually will resupply you in the hundred mile wilderness by meeting you at certain road crossings you can get out of the hundred mile wilderness and go stay in a hotel if you hire somebody to do that and here's a little marker 100 miles sand beach down at Crawford pond trail magic in the wilderness nice purple haze and the Earl Grey Stanley because a car [Music] there it is naka cotton it looks like quite a climb just like they say just a couple more miles of hiking today and then to 20 mild days and then I'll be at the base of Mount Katahdin and the next day summit let's take a look at the map here's the whole Appalachian Trail I started down there in the south of Springer Mountain in Georgia and I've walked all the way north up the trail and now I'm almost to the end there in Maine two thousand one hundred ninety miles something like that and it's been a long way I'm headed towards White House landing which is a traditional Maine sporting camp we're gonna resupply there I'm meeting the others here at 1:30 they're behind me because I left early to make sure I made it there on time here's Yelp he just showed up and Luke and Liz here's the sign for our place White House landing boat pickup blah blah blah blah blah blah blah complimentary cannabis Meister 21 years old because we're in Maine legal [Music] do you think this is very good here's our little cottage no electricity but who cares so after dinner here last night and there were some newlyweds stand here who put on a firework show and we took a canoe out on the lake and saw Mount Katahdin anyway so dinner here last night breakfast here this morning and now we're gonna get back on the boat and go back to the trail and do 19-mile day today that's big day 21 miles which will bring us to the base of Mount Katahdin and then we'll do my Katahdin tomorrow morning there it is I keep getting closer and closer I'm on Golden Road headed towards the entrance to Baxter State Park wearing my Baxter State Park hat that Andrea gave me and that I picked up in pink a notch I want to do something pretty quickly here more for myself than anybody else which is curry site some recite the names of the hikers the trail names are the people who I've hiked around there been many many who I've spent days hiking around and eventually they went ahead of me or I went ahead of them or whatever people besides Liz and Luke and Yelp so I have a list I'm just going to read these and you can now if you're interested in trail names maybe get something out of it but smokey Denny Grizz Big Tuna Miss Roberts frolic stretch P one peach I talked about peach one of my videos already The Godfather I cross the Kennebec River with the Godfather Papa J Papa Smurf brew boil over swag oh and squeak Poppins peanut and Great Dane kaleidoscope Big Tuna number two speedy red stripe cheddar TBD who attached his tarp to my tarp and a downpour and one of the episodes when Lydia was out my friend asked her whose real name is Zac who appeared one of my videos two crows beat Happy Feet and Bob Marley okay star ginger balls a great guy I saw him first in the Smokies and saw him all the way through this trip and he was always surrounded by a great group of people and he was always kind of the leader of his gang and his gang changed from time to time with different guys different gals they say went on to different speeds and metric kool-aid and scrapbook and those are some of the many people I've hiked along with and a look at this market odd and I'm here how do you feel the contest [Music] are you keeping warm you excited but [Music] so that time stood out ready but I think my mouth [Music] [Applause] I almost above the tree line great weather today about three weeks ago we upped our daily average so that we would have the option of summoning on today or tomorrow September 11th tomorrow is going to rain today's beautiful [Music] from here we go up I think train ride on the bridge I'm getting really close time for some thank yous of course to all you who have watched these videos and all you who have commented on them and a special thanks to those of you who have accommodated on my video since my Benton MacKaye thru-hike and my shell totally traced through hiked thanks to my friends and family who supported me on the hike my mom and dad and brothers and sisters my kids Lydia in Austin and Zooey and Sam especially to Andrea and believe it or not I'm gonna be driven to Boston tomorrow by looking Liz that's where yelps going - yelps going back to England and I'm going back to Nashville and I can't wait and also finally thank you to those of you who read the video description and were inspired to contribute to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy or to Bruce Matson's RTK challenge if you don't know about those what I'm talking about please read my video descriptions I'm done all I got to do is get down from here and there goes yup [Music] [Music] and yeah there's a little bit more to the story okay let's the big reveal you gotta watch lose this video if you want to find out more about that the hike is over and evans backpacking videos the YouTube channel is over - I'm not gonna be making any news videos but I will be responding to comments responding to emails I'm gonna keep the videos up and thank you all [Music] you

Channel: Evan's Backpacking Videos

Views: 807,064

Rating: 4.8826656 out of 5

Keywords: Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike 2018, AT Thru-Hike 2018, Appalachian Trail, backpacking, ultralight backpacking, lightweight backpacking, backpacking with a tarp, georgia to Maine, Liz Kidder, bears on appalachian trail, the smoky mountains, the white mountains, shenandoaj national park, appalachian trail thru-hike 2019, appalachian trail thru-hike 2020, appalachian trail documentary youtube, tarp camping setup, completing the appalachian trail, at thru-hike 2020

Id: lgdvgndSHFE

Length: 94min 20sec (5660 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 05 2018