FIRST TIME BACKPACKER // Appalachian Trail // MY EXPERIENCE

hey my name is Elsa I just got back from a four-day three-night backpacking trip on the Smoky Mountain section of the Appalachian Trail with my friend Allie and her mom Stacey this was my first overnight backpacking trip ever I live full-time in this 13 foot scamper trailer so I'm experienced with camping the backcountry cooking outside hiking and I wear a backpack all the time but I've never put it all together let alone for 42 miles straight that's right we hiked 42 miles in four days here's the plan I begin up thus camp on the coast of Oregon drive to Portland and stay with my sister who then takes me to the Portland Airport where I fly to Kansas City to meet up with Allie and Stacey at 5 a.m. the next morning we drive 13 hours to the eastern edge of Tennessee to an air B&B we then get up at 5 a.m. again to drive the car to the last point of our hike and take a shuttle to the start of the hike we hike and we hike and we hike and we hike and we keep on hiking then we stayed in Airbnb Allie and Stacey dropped me off at the airport to fly back to Portland and they drive back to Kansas City a lot of mileage packed into not a lot of days Erik picked us up he was 30 minutes early so he rushed to get ready and left in his shuttle he told us all about how not to get injured why not to get injured and shared his knowledge on plants fungi and wildlife apparently there are blue mushrooms on the trail that bleed purple pink mushrooms you can pop like zits and that mycelium and keep dead tree stumps alive as well as a season 2 Appalachian Trail guide Eric's most interesting bit of info was his hiking warm-up regimen hike 15 minutes hideously slow if you're not dying to push the person in front of you out of the way you're going too fast take 15 minutes very slow your original slow pace should only have increased slightly as your body and muscles become warmer so 50 minutes it is less no 50 mins very very slow you've been on the trail now 30 minutes it's right at 30 minutes stop and take a buck break for no less than 5 minutes Eric said there were science behind this I don't remember what it was but none of us got hurt the entire hike after your butt break begin dynamic bouncing stretches helping to warm up the muscles preparing them for the strain of the day of backpacking focus especially on hip flexor stretches this will help prevent knee injuries rolling out the ankles is also very important rolling for the rest of the hike take a 5 minute break every hour no matter what the trail was almost entirely uphill stare after stare after stare but I felt great I thought I might have been experiencing hikers high which I've never heard of but maybe is similar to runner's high I just couldn't stop at times I even wanted to run I had anticipated so much struggle but being out in nature with everything I needed to survive right there on my back and my only prerogative being to walk was an extremely freeing and enjoyable experience taking of the woods we won't be eating this one [Music] for lunch I had a homemade almond butter squeeze pouch and an epic bar the epic bar is a meat bar it's definitely different than jerky but a great way to get some protein on the trail to make the squeeze pouches I mixed almond butter too much maple syrup not enough cinnamon and some salt and filled some kids squeeze patches I found on Amazon I wanted to try these homemade squeeze pouches inspired by those single-use nut butter packets in an effort to produce as little waste on the trail as possible [Music] these never leaked for me with something thick and gel like inside aliens Stacy filled a couple with tequila and sadly they leaked so be warned [Laughter] it was interesting noticing my thoughts when I was tired I'd start thinking negatively and stressed I'd catch myself stop put my hands on my heart and remind myself of why I'm so grateful months of prep went into this and here it is happening right now enjoy it probably have like 0.2 miles left the left side of my knee hurts and my right ankle hurts started hurting after going downhill and the impact being so hard my knees and ankles I found this really cute feather and I'm just holding out in front of me trying to hold my hands up so they don't swell I carried around nuts for over five miles an acorn and a Buckeye I kept them in the crease between my index and middle fingers on both hands it felt like they were giving me energy I tossed them just before the shelter but kept the three feathers I found we made it oh good so this shelter the first shelter on our trip had been closed all summer long due to dangerous bear activity because of this closure we had been planning on tent camping somewhere off the trail and walking in at a later point meaning we'd miss a few miles of the Appalachian Trail but as we were driving out to Tennessee the Smoky Mountain website said the shelter had been opened we were the very first people to stay there upon its opening cool I had no idea what this would be like these are to hang your packs and then you hang your food down there on bear bags Sawyer mini water filter instead of my Grail because the Grail is so heavy and I touched this and I'm gonna fill it into my Camelback it's pretty slow but for just one person that's really not a big deal to do this if it were barren and I I think I'd probably take something different for dinner we made coconut curry I started by soaking my dehydrated veggies in hot water than adding dehydrated shiitake mushrooms wrong don't even use dehydrated mushrooms they take forever to rehydrate I added some coconut oil to the water for a little fat and flavor and once the veggies seemed hydrated enough I added the couscous and took it off the heat to soak this is my packet of homemade curry sauce I mixed two teaspoons of curry paste wrong I should have used double not enough ginger powder and 2 tablespoons of dehydrated coconut milk I mixed all of it together and put it in this little bag then used half of that to stir into my mush it's a solid 5 out of 10 I would wait until I I'd wait until I mastered this recipe before you try it [Music] this meal was very sorely missing a boolean cube or salt of any kind a lien Stacy made the same meal but using curry powder instead of curry paste the meals were okay but after a day like that it didn't matter what we were eating [Music] we put the rest of our food and our cookware into our bear bags and then hung them up bears can still smell this food but if they can't reach it and aren't rewarded with food they leave and search elsewhere it's important to never leave food in the shelter if bears do get into human food they will always come back causing forest service to have to trap and relocate the animal or sometimes kill it we then got into bed and tried to get some sleep [Music] I was in a lot of pain and soreness and couldn't get comfortable my sleeping pad may have been too hard and any move you make crinkly and squeaky wakes up the whole damn forest I may have gotten a couple hours of sleep we were all very attentive of potential bear intruders through the night this morning I need to stretch my knee hurts something fierce like over and over sometimes back and forth as though there were some mice like fighting [Music] got in around 7:00 p.m. been a year at sea level lungs still catching up suffer the heat injury stopping as a thunderstorm was rolling in sorry Ranger Greg I'll take my chances on the top bunk with these stones in the tomahawk please forgive me I prayed his home cruise no bears come well worst night so far vomiting and cramps all through the night no sleep must keep moving must get out of aggressive bear country and lay up for a day or two bear came into the shelter but ran off after a lot of yelling and banging good luck to those who come after you too Greg also successfully camped here with no bear visits little sleep on account of reading previous entries but alas I am alive and still have all my food privies a luxury bear bag hangers are great my first time on the 80 will I make it out alive stay tuned day 2 of 4 we said goodbye to our shelter and began day 2 with our slow warm-up routine it was a shorter hiking day only seven point six miles so we took it slow with long breaks we even had service on parts of the trail you have actually tasted mm-hmm these are chicken yeah and they've got this fun G but oops sorry mother he said that this is just the reproductive organ and then my ceiling in this underground I want to break it you really Segway much more than I could ever do on the time great so that makes you feel a little less fancy so you broke off the three productive what do you think that's make you feel yeah but it will grow back and I'll grow it feel more guilty [Music] this hike was not nearly as strenuous as yesterday half the day was nicely cloudy perfect temperature some stairs nice inclines and declines but very rocky [Music] starting missed often covered our packs with rain covers and put on our rain jacket the second half of the day was epic moss covered everything we were in a thick cloud walking in the rain through dense forests tons of mushrooms I couldn't identify [Music] [Applause] [Music] my feet were a little wet but thankfully not cold so no need for socks I'm very used to wearing my chocos and didn't have any problems slipping or sliding on wet rocks [Music] we made it seven point six miles to try corner knob shelter around 5:15 p.m. there are about 12 people in this shelter a stark contrast to our solo shelter last night the people in the shelter are interesting there's ego in the air people love to boast and spill their experience levels I started filtering my water and a guy asked if I liked my water filter I said yes it's new to me he informed me that my water filter is not a great water filter and told me all the benefits of his water filter in every sport there are extremely confident people like this sport they're competitive I was feeling especially insecure as a first-time backpacker despite my true competence in the forest it's all been very interesting to observe I'm eager to go to sleep get out of here and get on with our hike slept better I was cold and I woke up every two hours something about sleeping in a room full of people that makes you less afraid of bears we got on the trail at 9:00 a.m. with all our warm gear on and rain jackets socks and chocolates have worked well I have tape on my toes lots of people have commented and surprised about my Chacos so I've stuff appointed my own trail name Chaco the hike was wet and directly through a cloud all day long we kept shutting and adding and shedding and adding layers if we stopped for more than a minute or two we'd get cold from how damp our clothes and bodies were from the air this third day was our longest day yet with 13.5 miles and two days of hiking already under our belts you've got a lot of time to think on the trail I thought a lot about food I woke up in the night really hungry assigned my body's been working super hard here's all the food I took on the trip three cups of granola and three tablespoons of dehydrated coconut milk for three breakfasts homemade protein bars banana chips cacao and coconut oil almond butter squeezed pouches for epic bars her for lunches trail mix and enough coconut curry couscous for two nights alli and Stacy made the noodle dinner last night and brought extra for me and Stacy carried the coffee it all fit in these two bags and by the way each of these plastic bags were recycled bags I brought from our collection in the scamp I was a little worried I wouldn't have enough food on the trail seeing myself eat only an epic bar and some almond butter for lunch every day has me thinking I wasn't eating enough but one this is some dense fuelling food and too I'm not usually hungry when my body's in motion just thirsty it's when I've been stopped for a while that my hunger kicks in I didn't feel myself eating any of my snacks because it's not very interesting but I did feel myself making my protein bars there's no science to it I made my own recipe using ingredients I had with no specific measurements there are millions of protein bar recipes on the internet if you work better that way [Music] I was after a sticky consistency so that my bars would hold up on the trail it was still too crumbly so I added some extra maple syrup and almond butter and when that still wasn't sticky enough I added a little water and it was perfect I added a little bit 100% cacao for its mood and energy boosting properties and I stuck all that in the fridge I cut that into bars and stored it in some of this reusable wax paper which by the way got ruined in the heat [Music] it's like rocks awesome and I could whip it off of it [Music] look at the view beautiful all our views were covered by white clouds it was kind of a bummer but really beautiful at the same time at the end of the day we arrived at the shelter to blue skies he's excited and six dudes from Alabama with heavy southern drawers building a fire [Music] well here's about one thing yeah [Music] this is so much better with the cube the cube [Laughter] Cosmo are you going to go then well we're actually going we slept the best the third night I always have to get up and pee from all the water we drink each day or I wake up numb or in pain or cold or have to loudly reposition even without those things occurring sleeping on what feels like a pool floatie it was an inflatable pillow is something that takes a while to get used to [Music] this picture is a picture of Ali taking picture of Elsa three miles into our last day's hike we began to notice more and more and more people day hikers of all ages and skill levels soon may came out of the forest to an abrupt change in scenery a parking lot swarming with people [Music] get us outta here we were approached by a number of people in dismay about our four days on the trail the day prior the hikers at the second shelter made us feel like noobs on the trail fighting to stay alive and the tourists of this viewpoint made us feel like backcountry professionals neither judgment accurate [Music] over the span of these four days we've hiked on big loose rocks small gravel like rocks loose dirt soft fur needles wet boulders huge fallen tree stumps around puddles and under a great dome of trees it's been amazing crazy [Music] [Applause] [Music] I know there's a thing called runner's high I've never experienced it but I am convinced there's a hikers high I can't stop I like full speed ahead up these stairs which are everywhere the last 1.7 miles is a 1000 foot elevation increase and I am having the time of my life each day we hike the miles feel shorter and shorter and my body feels stronger which baffles me as I've never put my body through so much continuous strenuous activity how I don't slow down more and more but rather feel better and better each day is beyond me when I get home I'm gonna sleep for three weeks we've made it [Music] [Music] I was surprisingly emotional today as I got on a plane back to Oregon despite my blisters sore body and tired mind I had some of the most fun I've ever had outdoors during that hike it was the task of carrying all I needed to survive on my back walking through nature from the day's start to its end observing my varying thoughts that accompanied my varying energy levels and having no responsibilities but to convince my body to continue which ended up being simple [Music] if you liked this video of my first ever backpacking experience please give it a thumbs up and please subscribe to my channel it helps me out a lot if you've got any questions about the gear I packed for this hike I cover it all in my first-time backpacker gear video thanks so much for watching [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Elsa Rhae & Barron

Views: 1,082,644

Rating: 4.9502168 out of 5

Keywords: elsa, rhea, elsa rhae, rhae, hiking, backpacking, backpacker, chaco, chacos, travel, appalachian, appalachia, trail, trail guide, smoky, smoky mountain, smoky mountains, national park, doc, documentary

Id: w0X6D_4DUd8

Length: 27min 32sec (1652 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 02 2019