I hiked the entire APPALACHIAN TRAIL || Liz “Handstand” Kidder

life is busy as adults it's so easy to get caught up in our daily routine we go to work every morning just trying to get through the day just to make a paycheck at the end of the week to pay our bills and we get caught up in the cycle trying to make some headway trying to be successful and for what one day you wake up and realize that half your life is behind you and what do you even have to show for it there's a whole world out there to explore endless experiences to have and there's never going to be the perfect time to go and do it sometimes you just need to do something big to show yourself that you're alive and that you can do anything you want with this life last year I said [ __ ] it I put my life on hold and went down to Georgia to attempt a thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail this is my story [Music] at the very beginning of the Appalachian Trail on Springer Mountain here is the first white blaze so I did the 8 point 8 mile approach trail today and now we are going to camp on top of Springer Mountain here is my tent I would like to say I set up in one shot but it took two so day one was a success and a nice sunset to finish it off and I'll see you guys tomorrow too I survived last night my first night in attendance it took me a couple of days to hike the next 35 miles or so until I reached my first pit stop at meal gap we just stopped for a couple hours made a shitload of pizza that's more food for the next day or two and charging our devices right now so I think we're gonna do another six or seven miles so the pizza was a terrible idea so far the hiking's been all uphill good morning it is cold wet and muddy I've stuffed my hair into my rain jacket because my number one priority today is to keep my hair dry so that I don't die [ __ ] hypothermia today weather especially rain was gonna prove to be a challenge for my entire hike it is 5 o'clock and I'm in my sleeping bag ready because it's [ __ ] cold out so last night was rough it was really cold pretty sure mouse ran across my tent got up this morning and my food bag was frozen so it took a little bit to just like get the knot off of the stick and then when I wasted the bag up all the way to do that the bag got stuck in the tree anyway it's [ __ ] cold but it is beautiful out here this morning after my first six days in the woods I headed into Hiawassee Georgia for my first overnight at a hostile trail adventure I already went over a couple of big mountains today trying to do about 13 miles to get shelter tonight goes camping [Music] day 8 the Sun decided to come out today and we're hoping to cross state lines today all right we officially crossed the border into North Carolina [Music] get a nice campfire going had a bunch of marshmallows again did the 13 I think miles today and and it just passed the border crossing and I have an early night wake up in the morning and do it all over again [Music] so after what feels like 10 [ __ ] miles of switchbacks we made it to the top of standing Union Mountain [Music] there's hair wash of the trip it took me 10 days to hike the first 100 miles and I felt pretty good about that [Music] the official 100 mile marker [Music] it is day 11 or 12 I think taking a zero day a zero day is a day off from hiking all together I'd been having an issue with one of my feet already and decided that I had to check out outdoor 76 an outfitter in Franklin North Carolina that came highly recommended for troubleshooting foot problems they got me set up with a new pair of shoes two sizes bigger in the next morning I hit the trail again day 13 as you can tell is raining and tonight according to a tee weather org it will be very windy very cold and possibly snowing so far my feet are doing fantastic so I'm loving them so far other than the ridiculous colors but the arch of my foot is feeling really good actually hi so in between spurts of downpours and thunderstorms we managed to get our tents up so now I'm just gonna hunker down in here for the night I would like to thank my l.l.bean 15 degree sleeping bag keeping me warm last night can't tell but snow everywhere a little low on water so I was trying to melt some snow let my sleeping bag but it's not really working ok update we went and got some water my shoelaces were frozen so I had to put on my wet socks from yesterday and my Teva sandals and water was probably like a football field away so my toes froze in my hands froze but I went and got water now I'm back in my bag warming up okay new plan supposed to just keep getting colder so we are gonna move all our [ __ ] into the shelter and hunker down in the shelter tonight for my first time and then just do an extra long day tomorrow [Music] good morning let's make a long story short we got rained on the day before and then all our [ __ ] froze overnight so we woke up yesterday morning to a few inches of snow we decided it would be best just take a zero where we were move our [ __ ] into the shelter and stay warm last night it definitely got and then twenties if not colder so we ended up with I think ten of us on the platform of a six person shelter and then a big tent on the floor with two more girls and their two dogs so as entertaining as hell and that was my first night in a shelter and everyone was just pig piled on top of each other so honey's got packed up this morning and on our way trying to do at least 10 to 15 miles today make up some time for zero yesterday [Music] [Music] rope [Music] so this morning I was struggling to put on frozen socks and cheese now I'm in a t-shirt on top of blesser ball [Music] good morning North Carolina [Music] good day today we did nine miles we are gonna try to do 12 miles I think tomorrow and get into Fontana Dam and then take a zero day on Saturday because Luke is flying in Saturday and meeting up with us sooo that is a wrap on tonight it is freaking cold out so I'm gonna jump in my tent and I'll see you tomorrow day 18 I think this is my best setup so far of the echo - thanks and tight [Music] [Music] day 19 I think I am at the Fontana Lodge compound area I am staying here so I'm waiting for Luke to come right now I think his plane might have learned it already but he has to find his way here I'm not sure so he'll probably be a couple hours so we're in the lobby at the Fontana lodge this is what happens when they don't let you check into your hotel room early you organize your [ __ ] in the lobby you're charging over here got all my stuff I'm still in the lobby finished my resupply and look who joined me this is Luke everybody all right we are still waiting for him to be ready and the room is ready and he's caring oh [ __ ] he's an 80 training mode right now I didn't have access to a washing machine but I needed to wash my clothes they were dirty I officially wash my hair for the first time so it's been yeah almost three weeks to wash my hair it was not as dirty though as my clothes water it was a little dirty but not bad yeah okay so can I just finish up tonight we are entering the Smokies tomorrow should be interesting I think we have a few days of rain to look forward to the Smoky Mountains was a section I had been looking forward to since I started researching the trail I had told Luke my better half that if you were gonna visit me on the trail that would be the best place to do it the Appalachian Trail is roughly 70 miles through the park on our first day it was beautiful and then the weather really took a turn it is about 9:45 on day 21 for me this is soaking wet outside with rain and friggin mud I'm soaking wet inside merengue freakin swag condensation we hiked 12 miles never had lunch how Sam I do look up in boo the first time on the trail so that means a picture of my frickin attitude for you there you go [Music] wake up Flanagan the bottom is coming he says is someone here who needs to sue us our son the alarm is a man with the skeleton we're coming to you live from the Appalachian Trail from now this is initiation on to the ATA in the pouring rain so it was rough but we've already done 7.4 miles got going early this morning after we put on our wet clothes from yesterday pouring again today we've got another couple miles till we get to Clingmans Dome which is the highest point on the AE which I'm excited about but unfortunately you probably won't have much of a view today take it this is our view so I'll give you the view we're supposed to have there's our Western view here's our northern view here's you sir oh my god it's so pretty I love the Smoky Mountains we are at 200 point zero mile marker right now so even though it's a shitty cold rainy day we hit a couple of [ __ ] landmark today at Newfound Gap halfway through the Smokies we got the hell out of the rain and spent two nights it was a really weird town of Gatlinburg Tennessee getting dry before jumping back on the trail we made our way through the rest of the Smokies the weather finally cleared and the highlight was mount camera which was a slight detour off of the 80 [Music] peace-out Smokies we are at standing there hostile they have hostels here and tent sites and treehouse so they almost took but we opted for this little Creekside room instead which has an outlet so we're gonna spend the night here and then we're gonna bust out like a thirteen and a half mile day tomorrow and make it to the top of max patch and camp up there a spa [Music] max patch ended up being one of my favorite spots on the 80 but then of course it was followed with another bump in the road there was a forest fire up ahead in the 6.6 miles before Hot Springs was closed we made it to Garen flow gap and there is a Forest Service guy here that will not let you go any further so we're going to start walking and hopefully hitch or maybe just walk to town because it doesn't sound like this section is going to reopen while I'm still in the area because he said a couple of weeks so it sucks so we spend a couple days in hot springs eating food free supply checking out the natural mineral water Hut tugs and hey following our friends all good smokestack and triple zero down the whitewater river was a great way to finish off weeks two week visit the next morning he would head to the Asheville Airport to go home and work while I continued on Luke left today so this is really the first time on the show by myself I've already done a few miles so far so good so I think I'm doing 8 to 10 miles enough we'll see it's kind of cool just doing whatever the hell I want now [Music] so I just hit mile 300 so I'm psyched about that and at the same time the Sun came out for the first time it's a good thing I started to really enjoy going at my own pace in the bigger mild days were just coming naturally end up doing 16 miles yesterday and I think I'm gonna do even more today if the weather stays like this after more than a month on the trail I've gotten into a routine and was feeling more and more confidence today is day 36 currently I am on top of big Bald Mountain it was quite a hike up here but a well [ __ ] worth it [Music] so today I would head to Uncle Johnny's hostel in Irwin Tennessee for an overnight hello I ran into some hikers that I knew the Haiku crew and drop there so it's fun to catch up to them right okay so this is drop bear does make you guys watch and we're giving him a dread beard or a beautiful dress so that we can put this little stubby Don up okay thank you Bree I'm doing oh yeah it doesn't really look like a dread but it's holding the bead on we need a mirror to show him I'm a [ __ ] pirate an Australian pirate I finally hit a nice spell of weather just in time to go through the Rouen Highlands it was breathtaking although I was still hiking on my own I was going out of my comfort zone by meeting new people every day and enjoying the eighties social culture at night all right I had basically been hiking on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee since the Smokies six weeks after the start of my hike I left North Carolina for good and officially had two states behind me first of all good morning second of all I just saw my first bear I kind of thought it was a dog at first to be honest it like was down in like a valley it heard me and just took off like a freakin shot it was kind of far away so it didn't look that big I'm stuck him into like really process but there's no one else around it's definitely bad so my heart's racing and it's exciting because I've been kind of stressed about seeing one I think but that was a good way to see one I would be stressed if it were sniffing around my tent when I was asleep but did you see one and mole of the day it was pretty cool I continued on doing my thing until one day I ran into a fellow through hiker and youtuber Evan or evil and that's fancy I really enjoyed talking with him and I didn't really have a plan for the day so I just sort of kept walking with him time flew by and next thing I knew we'd walked into Virginia - Virginia how can you do so I just made it to camp and looked at my GPS app and I did 26.7 miles today which not only is my longest day but is also more than a freaking marathon so it's only 9:00 a.m. but we made it to trail days and all the tents are starting to get set up people are starting to show up so it's pretty exciting so look who showed up luke drove his motorcycle from haverhill massachusetts all the way down to Damascus Virginia 15 hours [ __ ] so neat need for trail days for a couple weeks and take his butt off with me back in my bike trail days is a big festival that happens in Damascus every year to celebrate past and present eighty hikers there's gear vendors food music a parade and all kinds of chaos I [Applause] had no idea how many people were watching my YouTube videos and it was so much fun feeling like a celebrity for the weekend [Music] myself just walked in that's no fair [ __ ] sandals [Music] whoever said Virginia was flat it's day fifty we camped out last night and there was a Hungry Bear running around ripping through people's ear sack bags and everything so believe it or not I actually did get some sleep anyways sunny this morning and hopefully it holds out so you can see some ponies and the Grayson Highlands today [Music] [Music] [Music] with over 500 miles down and another 500 miles just to get through Virginia my days and weeks became a little repetitive hiking making our way into town resupplying eating a ton of food getting back on the trail hiking camping waking up at sunrise hiking rain camping rain washing clothes and streams camping packing up camp hiking filtering water resupplying organizing camping jamming [Music] mile markers mud hiking rain making our way into town resupplying messy hotel rooms eating a ton of food hiking recreating an episode of the office heart hiking eating waking up at sunrise packing up camp loot going home again wildlife climbing trees hiking then I made it to the Triple Crown of Virginia the first of the three iconic spots was dragon's teeth this is hard to do while filming [Music] I actually really like Heights but this is kinda freaky up here I'm super excited today it is beautiful out and I am on my way up to McAfee knob which I bring pronouncing McAfee knob for I don't know how long but I was corrected today by the people of Virginia anyways I'm super excited I have been dreaming about my handstand picture on McAfee knob since I first learned of the 80 [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he's not happy right now so this is my view from Tinker Cliffs right now and I downloaded the peek finder app so I could double-check is Mike a phenom and we walk this whole ridge line pretty happy with the way things are going right now I'm averaging I just did my average which is eleven point five miles per day since the start it's been much higher the last couple of weeks I'm doing much bigger days on that but it just when you take a zero day or an E or a day it brings down the average so eleven point five is pretty good I'm definitely on track to make it to Katahdin back to the grind hiking making our way into town new shoes logistics Mexican food back to the trail hiking camping food hanging bear bags hiking camping the occasional view back in the green tunnel hiking trail magic handstands hiking wildlife mile markers rain hiking making our way into town Mexican food hiking climbing I'm on my way up a 2004 climb first thing this morning sweat my ass off rain will rain rain Maureen muddy trails me bitching about the rain and Maureen mud camping town resupplying back to the trail hiking then I reach Shenandoah National Park this alright so I am in the Shenandoah National Park right now which is not too exciting so far I'm only a couple of miles in it's kind of funny it reminds me of going into the Smokies just because it's a national park and they're specific like borders for it and your mind you just think it's gonna be like something different and it's exactly the same as the shirt I've been hiking in for a while the penis tree alright this is my first time attempting to use a bear Pole well I guess we're calling it [Music] that must be a terrible video that was way harder than I thought it was gonna be good morning from Black Rock already just saw my first bear in Shenandoah park 2nd bear on the 80 it was a little scary cuz he was on the trail just kind of walking right towards us but I was banging my trekking poles over my head and he ran off so I'm excited [Music] all right I just made it to a little tents I did about 15 miles today and get a surprise Oh Luke showed us today so it's good to have him back [Music] we started to make our way through Shanon della and since the trail stays right near the infamous Skyline Drive Road there's lots of opportunities to go to stores restaurants campgrounds and all kinds of luxuries so we've spoiled ourselves tonight we are at the lowest mountain campground so this is right I mean to you they like it's like an actual campground and it's like RVs and stuff here we had to pay $16 to camp which is what we do every night which is kind of ridiculous however there are bathrooms here in a little store and like fire pits we might actually buy firewood the most shameful walk of my life these woods I pick through have a nice fire now so yeah survival and glamping the [ __ ] out of time we continued hiking through the park until we eventually made our way to Big Meadows Lodge Luke actually drove his motorcycle here and then got shuttled to where we were on the trail a couple days ago so his bike is here and we have decided to go for a bike ride and check out the shin into a national park area from the road [Music] all right so it was an awesome bike ride earlier it really helped me see why people love [ __ ] into a park so much I hate to say it but the bike ride was almost better than hiking it was really beautiful I didn't mention earlier but today is actually Father's Day so um I don't like to get too personal but even though I share this these videos with you guys they are for me and so today it was kind of a tough day I lost my dad right before this trip a few months ago and today was one of the tougher days thinking about it but luckily I have Luke and every time he's come out he's brought me some new pictures so he always brings me a picture of my dad and then on this trip a little extra special because the Father's Day he brought me this locket so it's got my initials on the front a picture of me my dad when I was little inside it and then on the back it says take a suck Bell butch my dad's name was butch or his nickname and that was something he always used to say so kind of made me laugh kind of made me cry I wish I was home with my brothers right now um today but I'm here so it's all good and I'm gonna keep going and I did keep going no matter what all right we are we are leaving the Shenandoah National Park we're at the North permit station right now stop you're gonna make me all right we're leaving Shenandoah National Park we're at the North permit station right now 103 miles I think we did here and we're [ __ ] out we were in the shelter eating dinner everything I'd like to point out the aftermath of all that rain yeah a little bit wet in the tent [ __ ] drying top then drying over here [Music] everyone is conversing at the shelter because it was crazy torrential downpours last night a lot of people got what we got the roller-coaster coming up today which is just a series of quick up and downs I think and then we'll hit the thousand mile marker today and it is June 21st which is hike make a day so no one is naked that I've seen at this point but I am on the lookout this is what your feet look like after hiking for three days in wet socks and shoes [Music] I'm super excited we're not even or I'm not even quite halfway yet but a thousand feels really really good West Virginia we made it to West Virginia finally out of the state of Virginia which took [ __ ] forever we are heading into Harpers Ferry today which is like the unofficial halfway point for the Appalachian Trail half way is actually a little bit past it but in Harpers Ferry they have the AGC headquarters or something where they take your picture they've made it halfway and give you a new number for the number of through hikers but has passed through there [Music] [Music] actually hey you need a handstand [Music] we're still trying to figure it out because it's not very clear but I think we've already crossed the border into Maryland so West Virginia was quick and easy and on to the next states at this point it felt like we were just flying through the checkpoints all right we're at the state line of Pennsylvania which means we just pulled off 18 miles in like seven hours first of all and got through another state so West Virginia and Maryland we're pretty uneventful on to the next one look we gave a bond anon [Applause] [Music] okay we are at Mile 1095 point four which is significant because it is exactly halfway done in the AC which this kind of feels like a week-long affair because we had the thousand mile marker which kind of felt halfway and then Harpers Ferry which they called the unofficial halfway point the other day and then today we hit the actual halfway point and then tomorrow we also will hit the half gallon challenge at the Pine Grove general store where they kind of celebrate the halfway point so it's a week-long celebration feels good halfway done [Music] and we are almost to the half gallon challenge which I mentioned yesterday but I forgot to elaborate about what that was so around the halfway point on the trail there's a general store where they sell half gallons of ice cream and it's supposed to be a fun contest to see if you can eat a full half gallon of ice cream mainly just for the novelty of saying that you did it otherwise you just win a little wooden spoon so we are almost there I intend to participate I haven't decided how competitive I'm going to be about it as it is 9:00 in the morning and I will have about another 15 miles to hike after that [Music] we're on camera we finished our half gallon challenge I feel like [ __ ] how do you feel [ __ ] I feel regret I'm going to find a bathroom okay Dave gunpoint three and decided I needed to lay down for you okay update again I just took another break I think I'm averaging a break every two miles so therefore my recommendation would be not to do the half gallon challenge at all while hiking matey and my second recommendation would be if you are gonna do it to do it at the very end of the day when you don't have to continue hiking all day I am trying to do a big day today hopefully 20 to 25 miles and it's supposed to be a high of 96 degrees today so that should be interesting I'm in a section in Pennsylvania where there's fewer water sources and a lot of the water sources run dry in the summer yeah like it's this water source mm-hmm all right I've been hiking through these Meadows for a little while and just check the weather hits 85 degrees and sunny and hot and you can feel the steam and the heat just coming off the ground it's measurable good morning Pennsylvania and happy fourth of July I hope you all are enjoying your barbecues and your fireworks while I'm out here busting my ass and the most [ __ ] boring say ever no offense intended to the people of Pennsylvania and as some of you guys are watching this but your state is boring it's really [ __ ] flat there are no views I pretty much never get over a thousand feet elevation everybody likes to [ __ ] about the rocks but to be honest it's actually the most entertaining thing about this trail [Music] so change of plans change of scenery I'm still in Pennsylvania and whatever town this is and I'm actually at Urgent Care right now I haven't been feeling great the last week I mean normal stuff tired achy headache so I didn't think too much of it but I was paying attention to it and then last night I started getting like feverish symptoms and chills and then I was just like cold sweats all night I didn't sleep at all and I just was frozen and sweating and disgusting so I don't feel very well so I came to Urgent Care i mean i don't think i have lyme disease but better safe than sorry I guess so I just got testing done blood tests and stuff it's gonna take like days for the results to come back but they did put me on medication for it so now I gotta try to figure out a shuttle situation to try to go get a prescription and I think I'm gonna spend one more night here in this town whatever this town is so that puts me a day behind of where I was trying to be but whatever it's gonna have to work itself out one way or another alright so cut to the next morning I am in another crappy motel in Charles Ville Pennsylvania yesterday was really rough I was battling a fever all day 101 degrees and all last night and just nauseous and you know what happene and headache and the whole nine so it was kind of scary I I don't know that I've ever felt this bad so I started my medication but it's 21 days of antibiotics so I don't think it's really kicked in yet I was taking an ibuprofen yesterday trying to keep my temperature down and then last night I took a PM one trying to get some sleep so I managed to get a couple hours of sleep I think but I was still like insane serious cold sweats all night it was terrible so I took a few showers in the middle of the night didn't get much sleep but I did get a little bit so anyways I feel a tiny bit better this morning but honestly I just can't stay and just sit in this motel room all day so I have decided to try to hike on hopefully that's not a bad idea so welcome to through hiking where you kind of have to hike even when you really don't [ __ ] want to the next couple of days were absolutely horrible I was too nauseous to eat so I was hiking 20-mile days with almost zero calories or energy I hated Pennsylvania it was hot rocky monotonous and miserable I did get a call from the doctor today so I did get my test results back already so I did test positive for Lyme but on a positive note it sounds like you know we caught it early and that hopefully after this round of medication I'll be in the clear I'll have to get tested again once I'm done in three weeks with the medication [Music] today is day four or five I think on the medication so today I'm feeling worse than yesterday actually my stomach hurts and headache and tired but I'm not even really sure if those are the symptoms from Lyme or if those are just side effects from the medication to be honest but either way I know I'm on the mend so looking forward to getting better despite the Lyme disease and the medication in Rocky Pennsylvania I pushed on to Lehigh gap where I would head into Palmerton Pennsylvania to spend the night in the hostel no it's a video all right so I just walked into where I was supposed to say the hostel today and they drove I was address no cool yeah I guess I don't know what state I'm in okay so I might friend alright so I am at the Country Inn and Suites change of plans since my mom and Mike came I didn't video much tonight I really just enjoyed some time with them so instead of staying at the hostel I came to the hotel with them it was so awesome that they came it was such a surprise I had no idea they planned it weeks ago but it came at the perfect time where I was having all these you know issues with the Lyme disease and everything and so it was a nice boost of morale it was a quick visit the next morning they dropped me off back at the trail where I climbed out of Lehigh Gap I had a renewed sense of motivation as I continue to push fun all right feeling pretty good this morning feeling better and better every day so that's good Pennsylvania had proven to be my biggest challenge so far on the 80 but all good things must come to an end all right I'm heading down into Delaware Water Gap right now which is exciting because that signifies the end of Pennsylvania the worst date ever [Music] [Music] [Music] alright I'm up on Sunrise mountain and it's like stone pavillion thing and this is one of New Jersey's highest peaks and a whopping 1,600 feet lots of bored walking today it's nice on the feet after all those rocks in Pennsylvania good morning so today the countdown is on I have nine miles to hike until I get to the New Jersey New York border and then a one mile side trail to get down to where I will meet Luke and then we're gonna take off two days one day to kind of rest and relax and another day to hopefully check out New York City and then I'll be getting back on the trail Tuesday morning so I found Luke he was back for another two weeks stretch we had all decided a while back to take two zeros in a row when we got here a major luxury by this point I was really needing an attitude adjustment and some rest Luke wanted to check out New York City for his first time and Evan went off to meet up with his family for a visit Luke and I stayed in a gorgeous bed-and-breakfast in Warwick New York and then headed into New York City for a day trip the next morning [Music] Times Square all the people lights concrete and noise it was kind of a shock to the system ever again my ride is here to pick us up this morning what's up Evan [Music] graceful doesn't look like much but I just fell down that and landed on this on my face okay alright we're about to head through the lemon squeeze which is kind of like Fatman squeeze it is actually luke what is it it's the Lee Mon crevice a he is reading me the description this morning and said it is a crevice a here we go we continued making our way over the relatively small but steep mountains in New York we camped on top of Bear Mountain and it was beautiful get that on video after 1400 miles it didn't take much to entertain us [Music] the trail just kept on going I felt like I had done so much but there was still so much in front of me that's a huge tree I'd be traipsing through the woods and then pop out into civilization back into the woods then out to a lake Jesus every corner I turned there was something I'd seen before but it was still new and different and then guess where we are headed right now New England New England felt like home territory so we started the day with a nice 500 foot climb which doesn't sound like big deal but there's like a hundred percent humidity and the mosquitoes have been eating us alive luke and I went through the last of our bug spray so we are looking forward to getting to a store later today where hopefully we can buy gallons of jug spray the bugs from the gallons of bug spray and [ __ ] dump it all over ourselves [Music] you [Music] [Music] got that on camera penis remember - good morning Massachusetts I thought I should mention although I live in Massachusetts I don't live anywhere near here and probably like I don't know three hours away on the other side so I've never even hiked in this area before all of my hiking experience has been in the White Mountains in New Hampshire so that will actually feel more like home to me when I get there in the middle of the woods this morning [Music] doing about 19 miles to Dalton Massachusetts today I'm sad that Luke is no longer with me but I'm starting to get really excited and looking forward to finishing this hike it finally feels like I've taken a turn and the light is there at the end of the tunnel we only have a few states left I am walking through your Dalton Massachusetts right now which the trail goes right through this town not entirely sure what the plan is for today I'm trying to get up to the top of Mount Greylock which is I think 18 miles but a tough 18 miles it's the highest point in Massachusetts I think around 3500 feet [Music] all right on the top of Mount Greylock right now and a long time is such a great hike today this is the first time I've been above 3,000 feet and I don't even know how long so I feel like I'm back in the mountains again and the air is like cooler and less humid it's a beautiful view I am totally and a fantastic mood [Music] so I've just crossed over the border and into Vermont and onto the long trail 16 only 590 left [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Vermont was known to be muddy and it lived up to its reputation it was ankle deep and sometimes really hard to get around it but today we saw we had been hiking around Ricci or Yelp since about West Virginia and at this point had pretty much joined our group permanently it's been down boring all night and all morning it's finally slowing down a tiny bit but I'm trying to get packed up inside my tents happy birthday its Evans birthday today happy birthday Evan good morning we are having quite a funny how was your night last day lots of water oh you said it with an American accent Walter yeah and then we got up in the rain these creative structures here yelping someone took a lot of LSD [Music] Oh Oh my god go Evan hasn't been feeling good lately his symptoms were a lot like mine so he went and got tested the other night for Lyme and then last minute at the end of the night we decided that we would take a zero yesterday rather than push it he isn't really been able to eat or anything so as much as it sucks for him it was nice for me to have a random day off and even better I'm so close to home that I ended up having some visitors yesterday so Luke came and our dog Miss Piggy I haven't seen her since the start of the hike so it was so nice they just drove up for the day it was about a two and a half hour ride each way so they left last night who said just say goodbye but Luke will be coming out on Friday anyways to hike with us so I'll see him soon anyway it's back on the trail today still in Vermont I'll be hiking up Killington today evan was still feeling sick and struggling but we kept pushing I was so freaking happy to be getting closer and closer to the White Mountains mountains I hiked before real mountains and it's starting to rain again I'm only a couple miles away from New Hampshire right now which is the second to last state so that's freaking awesome we did it we're gonna Hampshire by this point Evan had started to fall behind I wanted to wait for him but he assured me that he wanted to just hike alone and not have to feel like he was holding us back we taiked well over a thousand miles together and I felt awful moving on without him but he assured me that once he was feeling better he would catch back up so I kept going yeah morning good morning birthday girl I'm [ __ ] 30 my mom and Mike's surprise me once again by catching me on the trail to sing me happy birthday we stayed in Lincoln New Hampshire that night and celebrated my big three-o the next morning we officially entered the White Mountains and headed up Mount Lucilla busunako busunako [Music] the tyrrhene in New Hampshire was brutal and although I wasn't a stranger to it it didn't make it any easier just went over South and now North kinsman although there's nothing to see up here it is raining and just a whiteout Oh [Music] [Applause] little haystack it's a whiteout walking along Franconia Ridge right now we have not been getting very lucky in New Hampshire so far with weather so I'm kind of bummed I feel like I've been looking forward to this for like 1,200 miles but I have done this hike a few times before and I look close enough that I can do it again just went over Lafayette no views no reason to stop I'm gonna keep going okay now we've made it up to Garfield and it's a whiteout it's all the other [ __ ] we've seen today after a few days the weather cleared good [ __ ] morning it happened just in time I had a couple of friends meeting up with me from home for the day and we were all heading up into the presidential range the presidential range is about a 20 mile stretch with over 9000 feet in elevation gain and it's all above treeline it's rugged and difficult but beautiful and so worth it [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] we split the Traverse into two days so our destination on day one was two lakes of the clouds hut hey turn around good morning we're getting packed up ready to go and we get a surprise 30 miles to get here overnight yeah I did I didn't have for a few hours and the scruff trees but he's back we're all together so we're gonna go hike Washington Evan catching back up just in time for the four of us to hike Mount Washington was the most epic day we ever had on the trail we were all healthy we were together if we were going to [ __ ] mean [Music] [Music] [Music] [ __ ] you to mean [Music] [Music] [Music] then we made it through music notch they say it's the hardest mile on the 80 or the most fun depending on how you look at it it's a mile-long notch between mountain is filled with car-sized boulders that you either have to climb up and over or under Andrew and of course it was raining so it was livery but nothing could stop us now miss Janet right on time miss Janet is a trail angel who is known for traveling up and down the trail in her bus and helping through hikers a year after a year she drove us to the town of Bethel Maine where we took a zero to get dry celebrate Luke's birthday and eat a ton of food all right getting ready to get back on the trail you guys ready [Laughter] like a big tummy no fart is it doing [Laughter] [Music] this is what happens at the end of a thru-hike [Music] [Music] then just planned out pretty much the rest of the hike which is so exciting as far as like mileage for each day and where we're gonna stay it was a little confusing to do but I think we've got a pretty solid plan that we can probably stick to so I'm so excited it's finally like here thirteen days until we're supposed to summit Qatada and so I'm excited but anxious best way out I've seen of eet good morning I am hiking I have a bunch of mountains to climb today it's supposed to rain later today I feel like I could just put this clip on replay every day around the edge of the world [Music] good morning I'm all fired up today it is beautiful hell and we have a 23-mile day which is way more miles than anything you've done in a while ever since we hit the White Mountains or New Hampshire really and southern Maine we've only been doing like 13 to 15 miles a day because the Train is so difficult with the elevation gain and you know with the rock climbing but we got through the worst of that yesterday so it gets a lot easier from here on so 23 miles say we're up in the mouths right off the bat all these lakes in Maine I wish I had time to take advantage [Music] good morning it's only 6:20 but today is gonna be the best day because we're going to a pancake breakfast right now then we only have three and a half miles - hey where's dat I got on blue then we only have three and a half miles to hike to the Kennebec River which I've whitewater rafted on before and we're gonna get a canoe ride across the river and then we're gonna go into a town and Luke is meeting us and he's gonna finish the rest of the eighty with us thank you walk across that [ __ ] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] okay it's getting really dark really early now it's like 7:30 yeah I'm talking to my video oh [ __ ] what is this alright everyone talks about how do you need shoes for water crossings on the ATA so like we have cross Yelpers fancy [ __ ] Evan wear sandals anyway but it's kind of funny that we're a week to the finish we're towards the middle end of Maine and this is the first time I'm ever easing my Crocs for a river crossing after making it through most of Maine we had one last challenge to get through before Katahdin [Music] here we go the hundred-mile wilderness is the last section before the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail which is known as the most remote section of the trail without much access to towns or supplies if you or didn't meet them I can't believe that today is Wednesday and we are supposed to be finishing summiting Katahdin on Monday at no point on the trail did it feel like it was going by fast but now that we're almost here in hindsight it feels like it's flown by the last mile marker our 100 mile marker I should say was a lot easier than I had anticipated the northern section was pretty flat and we hiked by lots of lakes you guys are comfy we knew our journey was coming to an end and we were soaking in every moment White House Landing is an off-the-grid hostel in the middle of the hundred mile wilderness like a pro we got picked up by boat and had a memorable night there before our final push then for a sunset can you read there she is that's Katahdin [Music] all right here's the sign warning the southbounders heading into the which means your [ __ ] done with the hundred mile wilderness made it to a ball bridge and look at the view hellooo Katahdin see you tomorrow [ __ ] it's like 6:30 this morning I don't know how cold it is but it is freakin cold I'm wearing all my clothes today is summit day everybody's getting packed up and ready to go we've got five point three miles to the summit time good morning good morning is he moving hey you ready anything are you ready ready ready [Music] [Music] we are almost there less than a mile to the top this book we're looking at live there [Music] [Music] [Music] you did it Evan I did it how do you feel well I'm I'm really really happy to go home and that's what makes me emotional thinking about that you did it yeah how you feel all right yeah indifferent you did it Liz yep how do you feel go home all right I got one more surprise for you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Liz Kidder

Views: 181,542

Keywords: appalachian trail, appalachian trail documentary, documentary, thruhike, backpacking, daily vlogger, evan's backpacking videos, mountain wedding, sobriety, nobo, hyperlite mountain gear, gopro, extreme sports, adventure lifestyle, hiking vlog, smoky mountains, shenandoah national park, white mountains, mount katahdin, baxter state park, lyme disease, homemade wanderlust, dixie on the a.t., raw alignment, minimalism, kelly hays, nahamsha, Kyle hates hiking

Id: FnxYQ921rjU

Length: 91min 33sec (5493 seconds)

Published: Fri May 10 2019