The Appalachian Trail - A Journey of the Soul

[Music] it was at this very point this very overlook that I decided that I wanted to hide dat to have an adventure to be lost on my own thoughts figure stuff out and accept myself the spot looks just as freaking awesome this kid a couple years ago in fact it looks pretty darn similar it's around the same exact time same hazy fog just not really beautiful there's no reason for waiting to follow your dreams you never know if you're gonna be able to later in life [Music] my uncle had an accident left him paralyzed and let's just say it sped up my timeline that's why I'm telling people it's wait all your dreams now Here I am taking the [Music] making the decision to hike 2192 miles was just not something that I came up with on a whim I had been with the same company for 14 years I was on track to retire at 65 I'm not a big risk taker and this was honestly something crazy for me but I had to make the decision to change something about my life for five years prior to the trail I was extremely depressed to the point where I was disconnected from life itself I was in a relationship but I was just numb to all feelings and I didn't know how to fix myself I felt like I was just standing still in time while life passed me by and I wanted to make it change and I believe that I find didn't hike the trail I would be in a very very dark place right now so on February 23rd I went down to Georgia and begin my thru-hike at Springer Mountain first white blaze on top Springer Mountain you ready start all right my first day on the trail just felt like any other backpacking trip I had been a backpacker and a youtuber for about four years at this point and I had developed a little bit of a following everybody I had met through the channel has just been amazing and this day was no different a subscriber named Wayne who was now a really good friend of mine had come down to cook me dinner and cook me breakfast and sent me on my merry way and Chrissie also had decided to hike a little bit of the first and second days with me before we finally said goodbye [Music] alright that was a little hard I'll be honest just uh say bye to the girly there alright I am on my own whatever happens happens I'm gonna take it as it comes see where the trail takes me [Music] that is pretty surreal tell you what I don't know why anyone would quit there through high care it's been beautiful just leaving Neel gap right there his mountain crossings just got my resupply and had some lunch with fellow through hikers and walked her right through the building pretty much dat goes right through the building I'm the kind of person that's introverted but likes to be included in conversations just now I had a great experience it really did a few days into the trail I kind of just started to accept my situation that I was gonna be out here for a long time and started to really tell myself that no matter what happened this was something I needed to do morning everybody that was a wonderful night's sleep say the least trying to do the shelter area thing we'll see how it goes my introvert miss to do stealth camp every night all the way to Katahdin but I don't know yesterday kind of piqued my interest maybe uh I mean I could have some friends along the way my gosh the 80 does not mess around definitely I know I've only been on here for five days but this makes any other trail I've ever done look it's so freakin easy don't underestimate the HP we'll kick your butt [Music] by day six I was out of food and needed to go into town for a resupply the talk of Georgia hostel was just a quarter mile down the road so I figured I'd stop in grab a shower rest and mingle with the other hikers [Music] all right top of Georgia hostel missed out on the rain today it looks like it's pretty cool here I'll be honest I'm having a lot of fun here talking to all the three hikers so the current weather situation is interesting we got four days until the knock right where I'm probably gonna take in the euro and Monday Tuesday Wednesday is supposed to be like in the low teens Tuesday's supposed to be like twelve degrees for the low now I've tested that bag down there like 15 18 somewhere around there but I don't know about 12 so I'm probably have to wear everything but that's all part of the experience right duh my resupply and Hiawassee pick up extra canister when I started the psych I was really worried about going into town for whatever reason but it was pretty easy I think I actually over bought food so we'll see the the food for four and a half days came in at eleven and a half pounds that's not too bad stopping here for a little break George has been amazing way more amazing than I could have ever imagined whoo there was a calm in a while back saying this dude will never make it out of Georgia some guy commented actually he not only commented once he commented at 150 odd times kind of blew it off you can't listen to trolls when you're vlogging so any future 80 bloggers out there home off man it doesn't matter they're a bunch of freaking idiots and most importantly they're probably not backpackers because backpackers are just freakin amazing and I've been on this troffer this will be thing this is day seven and the backpacker community the hiking community has just been absolutely amazing out here and it just tells me every day how wonderful these people are so just wanted to tell that dude I'm in North Carolina and I have no plans on stopping anytime soon [Music] I will never forget seeing that 100 mile marker three days prior to leaving for Georgia on my hike I was limping around my house and that was due to my knee just being totally screwed up from pushing too hard while I was conditioning and preparing for my thru-hike you know you prepare so long for this epic adventure and then you're not even sure if you can get 30 miles in it's a terrible feeling so seeing that 100 mile marker was definitely a huge boost of confidence for me I had been hiking around a dude named Mike and I was supposed to kind of meet him at camp but I couldn't find him when I got to the area that we were supposed to meet at he was actually in the shelter behind a tarp meanwhile it was raining outside that same day and the temperature just fell out I woke up the following day to a frozen winter wonderland it had to been maybe 15 20 degrees at the warmest fahrenheit and it was cold I decided that morning that you know the best decision here not to be stupid with it being negative 8 degrees the following day would be to hike into the NFC and take my first 0 and I'm glad I did because I ended up meeting a couple friends I met up with a girl named hogs and the dude named farmer who would later become a very important part of my thru-hike I'm gonna get packed up this is the last night here and tomorrow it's gonna be 24 degrees it's gonna be in the single digits when we wake up though and it's only a day and a half into Fontana when we start the Smokies the Smokies are the first major hurdle for an eighteen northbound thru-hike the weather can change on a dime especially in the beginning of March it's just a place that you don't want to get stuck in sometimes the roads closed the park had been evacuated in the past couple years it can be a dangerous place with the right weather conditions on top of that I was having a ton of foot problems due to my shoes not having enough cushion for me it was a mess I had sent myself a new pair of shoes that I would reach after the Smokies but I couldn't set it up in time enough to get the mail dropped before I entered also I was in a hammock up to this point and in the Smokies are required to sleep in the shelters that they have set up along the way for safety concerns obviously but I really don't get a good night's sleep on the ground so I was already dreading it add that with bad weather but no sleep it makes for a very very hard situation luckily I had some awesome friends that were with me the whole way all right at the top of shuk stack down there you see the Fontana Dam so we came from this morning these crazy guys they got me out there oh man you can feel the tower kind of shaking that's kind of well we got Hale made it to the Spence filled shelter I was a wet one geez oh man anyway I'm chill tonight Joe the company hikers see more [Music] good morning everybody he's frozen here day 15 you know what that means those of you who've been with the channel for a while I just reached the hiker milestone today marks the longest number of days I have been out consecutively so when we did the superior hiking trail that was 14 now we're on day 15 we're going strong [Music] yep crap all right I'm turning this off gonna be careful [Music] isn't it been uphill all day beep I don't know the hills are hard or a combination of that and just like a sleep man I knew it coming in here probably one of the hardest days I've ever done hiking mainly the reason is the mud the amount of water this place got over the past couple days it's insane all right made it to double spring gap and soon as we pulled in the winds really kicked up started raining a little bit fog is just blowing around unless that's actually rain off the trees but it's gonna get pretty crazy here pretty soon the past two days were terribly hard and I already felt like I was out of energy I woke up with something to prove to myself that I would make it ticket taught him and what better way to reinforce that motivation than a sunrise on Klingon stone [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] okay man it's been a great day so far other than a wet soggy trail still okay what the rain I can understand Smokies are absolutely gorgeous now that we can see them but they are definitely kicking my body I didn't really sleep that well last night in fact I don't know if I slept at all last night there was a dude snoring so fierce this insane man there was two people on the shelter I'm assuming they were a couple that for like an hour they were talking about how bad it's been how miserable the time they've had I don't know I'm having the time of my life out here if you don't like it out here go home you can easily just call up someone and go home you don't need to spread that negativity around to the hikers that are having the time of our frickin lives out here it doesn't matter if you're on the trail or you're already at home if something's making you miserable stop and change it don't just let it get you down we're up the hill and now it's snowing what is it like 40 degrees right now here we go okay so we thought we were gonna stay at Davenport gap I started thinking that you know outstanding bears looking pretty promising looking pretty good right now started raining right after that make me in hogs are gonna go to uh Standing Bear ladies and gentlemen we are out of the Smokies all right so this is coming to you from standing bear farm call this bounces the ball is hiked from all these rigs down the perfect big list by a bunch of things you get some pop those in the sky there sure are some pretty things with your money you can't buy like the tallest mountain stood upon its peak but I don't know where I'll be at this time next week I come all these ridges down that poor gap still I found the way to came across a bunkhouse tonight it is our home heard the call is standing there but it won't steal my food sitting around this puts me in the mood hike the tallest mountain upon its peak but I don't I was relieved to be out of the Smokies and looking forward to sleeping once again in my hammock I had made it past a section that I was utterly terrified of and I knew in a couple days I'd be seeing my parents and hot springs for a well-deserved zero all right everybody we're in the town of hot springs are actually on the Appalachian Trail right now my parents set me up for the night literally paid for everything thank you mom and dad appreciate it this is like kind of like a B&B and it's only a couple bucks more than laughing Hart so saw co-op his birthday so we're gonna go up and give a little happy birthday [Music] nother one bites the dust you know walking on the beach early this morning pretty cool little section right here this is the river that runs or stream or whatever runs through Hot Springs that's hogs up ahead say good morning cheese chipper she's got new shoes on hopefully they work this time yeah still full from the 20 ounce burger yeah made at the camp obviously hogs is here shoes were freaking phenomenal did 19 miles today and really really had a great time so we're thinking Kathmandu and lucky are gonna show up tonight [Music] I know [Music] you think it's too late but I can see past a brain won't you Oh turn the plane and burning let's me a bonfire on the beach since our line and throw our problems in the field sitting around the campfire the night was something special I would say goodbye the togs the following day because she had family coming to visit her I continued to hike with lucky and Kathmandu for the next several days though all the while I felt like I should be hiking alone to resolve my issues I had set out the fix but something was telling me to stay trail magic it's something that is found that is unexpected along the trail it could be something as simple as a canna soda or fresh fruit just laying in the weeds there ready to be picked up or something as extravagant as someone waiting for a hiker to provide them a ride or a hitch into town or even set up with a full-blown cookout serving hikers with hot food I was lucky to have experienced at a couple times up to this point just people set up on the side of the road just trying to be nice and there was really one trail angel that I really really wanted to meet you I really really want to meet fresh grounds like I've seen him in so many people's videos and he seems like such an amazing person I just want to you know just say that I had his breakfast or whatever he's serving [Music] now I'm gonna be completely honest with you all today's uh sure it's partly due to the lack of sleep and how cold it is but today's a hard day for me my mind is kind of wandering thinking you know back to home and man it would be so nice to sleep in my nice warm quiet bed with no one snoring next to me you know real mattress real sheets real pillow etc etc but uh I think these are the times that make you stronger as a hiker cuz obviously I know some of you may not like it but I'm not going anywhere I'm um in this until I finish I don't care what happens to me unless something takes me off the trail that seriously seriously injures me I'm not getting off for any reason I'm going to katate mitts that's all there is to it I am going to touch that side but these are the days that you just got to look at and you got to remember that there's people back home rooting for you and they want you to succeed as much as you want to succeed so don't quit don't ever freaking quit because not only you're going to disappoint yourself that you're going to disappoint the people rooting for you [Music] [Music] [Music] yep we were at the top of that today huh my god I have just sensory overload I can't believe something this beautiful exists out here this is this is crazy 400 miles down man that is awesome feels good every time you hit one of those 100 mile markers just rejuvenates your spirit pushes you forward cemetery's I passed by a lot of them along the way every time I saw one I feel a wave of sadness sweep over me I was embarrassed to talk about it on the hike but it made me tear up I had cried for as long as I could remember I just assumed it was because I felt very alone having a hard time handling the mental side of the truck [Music] such a beautiful day today it doesn't get any better than this I kind of have gear explosion this morning a bit disorganized because I'm kind of in a rush woke up a bit early after getting a great night's sleep so everything's kind of just all over the place right now uh but yeah pretty good sleep not sure where we're going today we're gonna try to get as close to Damascus as I feel comfortable with well welcome to Virginia [Music] woodchuck hostel pretty decent showers warm hot - like care about doing laundry right now I'm gonna go eat I got a little grocery list going of stuff that I absolutely need cheesy bacon macaroni take that I think that's good I'm gonna grab an extra fettuccine alfredo because these are delicious [Music] that's a big accomplishment it's big freakin accomplishment man [Music] just stood there looking at the number looking at the number for a couple minutes and it's just a number but it feels really freaking good knowing that I've already come 500 miles into this journey and I have grown as a person tenfold it's insane how much I've learned about myself out here it's a really good feeling anyway we got many more miles to go and again just getting started [Music] [Music] [Music] so what did I think about the Grayson Highlands Wow mount Rogers no way no way I don't know if it was just the trail magic coke but man I'm having a great freaking day looks like I'm hitching really nervous about it it was my first time ever but uh I want to get to Marion today and resupply and do all my stuff so here we go hitchhike success all right travel in we got a Bojangles across the street I'm gonna destroy some boat angles just when the physical side of things started to really calm down the mental side of the trail really stepped up at the game and smacked me as hard as it could in the face there were days that I hadn't seen anyone on the trail no one at camp and really the only people I was talking to was people that were hundreds of miles away from me or the people that were ringing up my groceries when I went into town to resupply I was left to my own thoughts I was trying to get out of my head and I wanted desperately to hike around people again so you know I've been kind of hiking solo for a few weeks now and kind of left to my own thoughts there have been things that my mind has I guess subconsciously brought up people that I haven't thought of since high school I'm 35 and just events that have occurred 10 15 maybe even 20 years ago that I just completely forgot about I don't know it's really strange I guess when you're out here for this long you kind of run out of stuff to worry or think about you start trying to reconcile stuff that happened in the past so advice to future through hikers out there if you come out here on a thru-hike better be ready to face your demons do you have anything locked inside you know that you've got to just push the way it will resurface look I found some journal magic cherry coke nice perfect I made it alright let's do this how money to me nuts everybody this is Chrissy the girlfriend doing laundry I've got to get this done first so we can relax cuz tomorrow's a zero day I'm so excited about it buffet it's a nice shirt you got this is plate number one hey thank you so much for this weekend appreciate it all right back at the trailhead or at mile six eighty eight point six don't cry it's fine you're all right you're all right we're all good I'll see you in a couple months if not sooner all right here we are the caffeine knob it is official freaking amazing does look like rain now wow that was close I'm going to get to lower elevation because we're on top of a bridge yep that is the heavy rain from North Mountain oh so wrapping up some lunch and here comes lucky and then togs and you count mandu all right made it to the Bryant Ridge shelter yeah I found some sunglasses here so I'm gonna wear a couple episodes ago I was talking about you know facing the demons your brain bringing stuff up that you have a thought or cared about for like in my case 15 years a long time ago and I figured out a couple things since that episode about myself that have just come out of left field kind of work through them willing to share them now for one thing I'm not as strong as I thought I was I thought I had really thick skin and you know don't let stuff bother me it turns out I was just kind of put stuff down and just hiding it away didn't really care to talk about it and just be like you know whatever so it's done in the past stuff does bother me calm down oh there's me you thought more than I thought it did so I'm gonna work on that I'm gonna work on you know somebody's bothered me go up times like yo top kind of stuff you're pissing me off or whatever that kind of stuff I'm not gonna keep shoving it down because I think it just it just builds up over time that's not good second thing figured out was that I started to at some point care what people think of me and that is a huge thing that I really did not care about in my high school and college days I didn't give a crap that people thought of me back there I didn't need to be accepted and I think I have this way in my head that I always want to be accepted by the people around me and that's not good either that really isn't good you shouldn't have to for one prove yourself or change who you are to be accepted by the people that you are around you know the lyrics Congrats van that's awesome nine hundred miles down I think about my family about home I'm glad that I have such a supportive family and girlfriend that you know they know I needed this hike really badly I needed this hike and they're just been awesome with the support that they shouting it would definitely be a lot harder if it was flipped around and they weren't supportive they didn't want me to do it they thought I was wasting my time good to have a support group back at home [Music] not only that I have my support group back at home but a lot of people who were following me on my journey reached out and offered support as well like sunny who drove me around Daleville and invited me over for dinner with his family Greg who even offered to feed set me up in his own house for the night and drive me back to the trail in the morning turns out they're good people out there willing to take time out of their busy day for a complete stranger and that's just something I'll never forget I think at this point of the trail it's safe to say that I've gained my faith in humanity back it was one of the reasons why I was hiking the 80 is just had lost faith in people then everybody seems to be more into social media than taking the time to say good morning to someone hi or you know like at a bus stop no one wants to converse I just noticed something check this out the leaves are out the spring is here this is so freaking cold this was not like this yesterday [Music] made it to Harpers Ferry how cool this this oh that is neat just walking right down the middle of town here there we go okay found a scale at the ATC I see this worse no oh yeah I'm doing good I'm still about the same weight right alongside the road or at Jack's [Music] Cheers thank you so much this is really really cool thank you oh it's so fun meeting people along my journey is awesome [Music] going home I'm in Pennsylvania home state Micah friendly and they got the best burger and fries this is definitely where I want to be got about thirty minutes away from my parents or so let's get something to eat you're later yeah I kind of get it out of my pack what no I'm not not till May 8th all right so nice to meet you guys appreciate you coming out this made our day awesome well in five miles there's a place called Pine Grove furnace I think that's what it's called at least and traditionally what 80 thru-hikers do that get to the halfway point as they undertake a challenge called the half gallon challenge where try to eat a half gallon of ice cream so it's like a bin of ice cream plus a pint and that makes it out to be a half gallon so I am going to attempt it I am NOT promising that I am going to finish it because I am NOT a huge ice cream person but I will attempt it just for you all [Music] halfway [Music] now I reach the halfway point a little bit ago but that's the sign I'm waiting for okay so I got here I'm gonna do the half gallon challenge you know I have to eat this I just want to have courts and then I have to get a pint on top of this so let's see how it goes also somehow it was already paid for I don't know who did it but thank you whoever it was let's do this so far I get alright so I have all these witnesses here you know so there's not there's not any cheating going on but we're doing pretty good I think I had to put it in the microwave to get into it but we're doing good wow this was an awful idea half gallon challenge done congratulations banking appreciate it let my Bolin say my name Thomas my marker [Music] the people that I was hiking around for the past couple weeks were amazing hey everybody was just so fun and down-to-earth and there was no drama or anything like that which I was used to having around my so-called friends back home these people were worried free carefree having the times of their lives and they were exactly who I needed to hike around they were my Trail family or tram Lee as we call it and little did I know it but over the next couple weeks I was gonna get really really close with all of them what is this [Music] oh geez I thought you're doing no I should mention that most thru-hikers by this point refer to Pennsylvania as Rock Sylvania I wanna rock n roll all night and party every day we will we will rock you it's a long way to the top if you wanna rock'n'roll one two three o'clock four o'clock rocks and for those hikers behind me that are about to rock I salute you good morning everybody day 71 still doesn't feel that long out here I mean Crissy are headed to right after Lehigh gas I think it is parking lot gonna get a super 8 or something and catch back up with the tram leaf tomorrow have a little birthday celebration interest sure what I'm gonna see her again especially the way we're kind of going the tram Lee decided the other day as a group to sum up your taught them together so we might be moving I know a lot of people are taking time off and we'll be slowing down a little bit for some speeding up for others just to get them where they need to be and a hammer won't be up there hopefully already well I'll see you in a bit okay okay good after relaxing zero with Chrissy I started having these really intense feelings that I hadn't experienced in years it was all I could think about that was over my trust issues just like that it made such an impact I was starting to make plans for a little side trip to visit Boston what's the tram like there was something in particular that I wanted to get while I was there almost in the Delaware Water Gap all right we supplied at Walmart with Garth and now we're on our way to hibachi got it you gotta make it work what's up YouTube this is sue this is Todd's best friend you'll be you'll be hiking with us for what three and a half days or so that's awesome look who showed up chris from light AF man thanks for so much for coming down get some wings yep fantastic can't wait to do this two togs tomorrow thank you all right enough with the birthday song seriously whoever wants the other one like in New Jersey so far same rocky terrain but there's actually views so far we descent we'll see how it goes but yeah doing good [Music] I honestly think this was one of my best birthdays ever I really do family Carol magic Munn Garth my parents a couple weeks ago Chrissy last week just and I got to do exactly what I wanted to do these people out here a freaking phenomenal so anyway good night everybody see you tomorrow [Music] [Applause] [Music] heavenly hill farms got a New Jersey you you got a dozen definites I got six lucky got six large coffee and a coke these are phenomenal definitely worth the stop we can go 26 miles to fingerboard 27 that's the bear shelter shelter 0.22 beach we just do warwick then yeah we could lead us to warwick we give you warwick which would actually help out togs - okay yeah let's get her caught up she would catch up would be better than yeah so this is this is how we plan everybody togs called me took a nasty spill we must tripped on a rock laying straight on her forehead on another rock or hoping she doesn't have a concussion that's the scariest thing out here we've made it you know 1,300 and whatever odd miles were at right now and it's not physical it's not mental anymore it's worried about injury all right finally made it to the top of stairway to heaven heaven stairway and lucky found a little pot so we got a rainy cold windy stretch 40 degrees for the high 39 for the low windy 22 miles an hour winds it's just gonna be one of those days put your head down he'd get to camp try to stay warm definitely pushing the limits of our three season gear it's the wind man the wind is killing us today you know we got to keep making forward progress here we've got three zeros coming up in Boston just a couple days here and we need to hopefully make it to Connecticut by then it's gonna be a cold miserable couple days good weather bad weather all right new plan [Music] holy crap ah better plan yeah okay so we're also we started to get out our phones see how close to where the shelter and we had no dexterity in our fingers so maybe it's lower than 40 degrees right now yeah we're gonna get out of the cold we'll figure it out tomorrow lucky doing all right I'm cold still cold after a hot shower shower so this is probably the right decision to come in here then this one's rain it's been 50/50 on difficulty scale summer just really up hills and some are just kind of like this kind easy walking but uh we're just gonna stealth about 22 miles in all right me Amerika pulled over right by this beautiful lake over here I believe on the opposite side by the beach there is like a tent thing allowed over there I'm just gonna enjoy the night and it'll actually be warmer when we wake up than it is right now so I'm looking forward to that and not rainy all day tomorrow partly cloudy high of 60 very very much looking for that how about you America yeah we're done with this rain even if we spent the days in the hotel three days of walking in the rain sucks anyway everybody good night morning how'd you sleep nice view this morning the lake it was really nice rather than waking up to a privy oh my goodness I'm gonna meet up with lucky momentarily he's actually just gonna chill to shelter for us how late and then meet up with Nikolas for the trail magic lucky said he saved me a delirium so I'm looking forward to chugging a delirium this morning I actually have to carry whatever I'm hiking I'm on vacation it doesn't matter five o'clock somewhere whatever reference you want to use you'll never guess who we ran into this is Ralph who is the owner of the shelter back there and he does a lot of volunteer work trail maintenance and he just takes care of the trail for us and man you got a pretty cool story about Earl Schafer you want to share it with us I actually walked I I maintain a mile and a half from the Hazzard Mountain Road south of here to route 52 okay and I heard mr. Earle was up on the mountain south of here so I'm coming up and because mr. Earle he looks happy and he just you can see he's thinking the holy [ __ ] there's just another jerk who wants and I said I said mr. Earle you were number one I'm number three one one 300 lemon person ever to walk the trail he knew yeah good morning everybody we are going not as far as we thought originally planned for like 21 miles today and go a little bit further than Kent for the Boston pick up we're only doing 13 miles today got a late start I gotta let people catch up togs who is still kind of has a bum knee she did double 30s past couple days and we just want to make sure that she's not getting hurt first of all she also had to slow up down a little bit for cat man dude let him catch up what I don't lay is the wedding beautiful we've got a lot of ketchup it is really nice today expecting a 22 to 23 mile day yeah lollygaggin Wally guy behind 12 miles yeah we're deadly popping deadly boppin yeah so I think it's kind of interesting we've we've done kind of both sides of the 80 and in the middle we've done your 30 mild days 25 mild days and then we kind of hang out and I'm not sure which one I like more but this is great for today just because it is so beautiful oh I do like news did we are literally not doing anything tonight look how beautiful the scenery is Tong's made it she's here we are heading to Boston we spent a few days in Boston just hanging out as a family and with Lucky's family we did a lot of fun things like visiting the Boston Aquarium walking the Freedom Trail and completing a safe room it brought us very close together and it allowed us to get back to 100% help I also picked up an engagement ring before getting back on the trail just why swoons behind the falls over there well under the falls kind of it that was amazing this is like that the perfect day officially welcome to Massachusetts welcome to Massachusetts Congrats everybody Massachusetts mouth Azusa good Massachusetts been hard but that's pretty freakin phenomenal I now see it all right talks what's the joke oh boy right first one back one says sure does row row row your boat down the stream merrily merrily merrily merrily life is but a dream [Music] Tony man dat is just complete freedom this was free by the way this canoe until some free to stay at the cabin if you would like and then they cook sea free blueberry pancakes because the hiking community is freakin amazing and lucky is gonna tip the boat after weeks of diddly boffin and a side trip to Boston we were ready for go time our friends had finally caught up with us and we welcomed them back into the group with open arms we were so happy that we were all together and we knew we'd summit as a tram Lee welcome back man what's up man been like a big old reunion here being on film got farmer Rd hike with him in the Smokies yeah gonna be a huge tramway now I think oh my goodness well you know evil and suburban so today is Memorial Day and because of that I'd like for you to join me in a brief moment of silence for the victim of the terrible stabbing along the Appalachian Trail y'all named stronghold had just stepped on with several tours in Iraq its hiking the trail to get rid of this PTSD and got brutally stabbed by a coward if you'll all join me in a free foam that sounds strong what I'd appreciate it [Music] thank you [Music] Oh the knobs lay down [Music] I can't believe that I'm in Vermont it's crazy Wow sixteen hundred point three miles into this trip that feels phenomenal it does you know what that means slam 592 - yeah [Music] [Laughter] [Music] so like Rock Sylvania Vermont also has a nickname it's called ver mud starting to notice it just a little bit I haven't synced to my waist yet so hopefully we can get a few days without too much mud oh yeah definitely noticing a little bit already in America or next to powerlines make sure you don't climb them keep off man hanging out with murca and farmer I feel like I'm getting a southern accent because of it I'm saying feller a lot now that's ridiculous well how's that pretty [Music] look at this falling off the edge by the Beaver Dam that's awesome oh no we have to walk over that now because they're home welcome to ver pot I'm losing my shoe oh my god what oh that's my Gator Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] that's unbelievable they're all over your jumper welcome to Vermont Vermont was a mixture of biting insects mud rocks roots and tough terrain but I was still having a great time and a lot of it had to do with the friends I was with a little did I know I was about to make another I feel like my empty experience is complete guess who's here with us right now fresh grounds from leapfrog cafe that's awesome and you may help us to the whites last year I learned that the this is the point where y'all kind of need a little bit more help Vermont New Hampshire Maine so I'm gonna focus more on that this year awesome and try to kind of go back and forth until the funds run out and then when the funds run out I go back home so very good okay we appreciate it thanks a lot great meetin ya yeah look forward to seeing you again so happy I got to see him man I am stuffed I think I had like five girl cheese's is a banana to big honking watermelons a whole bunch of stuff but everything was really good and I packed out three hot dogs too he had to get rid of all this food because he's helping an injured hiker right now like he's just the man today were going into the town of Killington it's in fifteen or sixteen miles you'll figure out what we're doing there there's an outfitter there small resupply to make it to Hanover slash Norwich and right now starting to climb Killington Pete anyway let's do this beast [Applause] [Music] [Music] it's a funny story on the top of Killington peak dat does not come up here beside true it's like are you kidding me Vermont let's see how I might get that back down here it's freezing up here oh boy it's beautiful [Music] to this day I am not sure what happened to me it was like someone whispered to me everything I've ever wanted to know I still consider this moment as the most important lesson I learned on the trail but I cannot put into words what that lesson was okay so I had read from a couple people that have thru-hike that like really went through with like life changes and stuff they kept talking about the woods speaking to them the trail speaking to that I might just say and I'm like hell does that mean tell you what man that was the strangest feeling I've ever encountered in my entire life I'm not even sure how to describe what just happened to me that was weird bill a really good dog yeah told miles left getting an awesome view and then that's something climbing later on today see a fire tower look at this freakin view now we're talking yeah cat man yeah Marco so obviously we just got fresh ground down there and he is with us for the next eight days to the whites helping us through it's gonna be like freakin Konami code entered into the trail it's freaking awesome love it really looking forward to it now there it is right there smiles are definitely back the trail is a battle of ups and downs not necessarily from an elevation perspective but from an emotional standpoint togs and lucky had fallen behind due to a waterborne illness and as much as everyone wanted to wait for them to catch up we all decided collectively that it was best to keep the illness isolated but that meant that we had to say goodbye there was still some hope that they would catch up to the pack but based on the situation we were all starting to feel that that idea was hopeless I was ballin this morning I'm gonna try to get through the segment without crying again but lucky sick he's gonna have to hang back togs is gonna stay with them super hard this morning just got super choked up you know these guys means so much to me out here and uh you know they're a big reason why I changed my viewpoints on so many things out here it just really sucks just uh I really hope they catch up anyway white mounts are calling let's do this [Music] [Music] so I decided that I'm gonna let the hogs and lucky thing go I'm having a hard time with it today obviously and let it go at the top of the summit I'm gonna think about it anymore two super important people in my life so I really hope they can catch up I think that's it let it go to summit move on see him again definitely but emotionally destroyed today beside the summit is it what the hell is this [Music] I'm just gonna roll around and make a snow angel but a mile away from the summit right now it's only 400 feet from here [Music] doing right [Music] holy crap [Music] tough mother's luck [Music] all right I'm good sorry about this morning everybody so emotional obviously they were just a huge part of this hike and how I change the better [Music] it really doesn't look real looks like alright Franconia Ridge it's about 12:30 heading up Mount Lincoln right now I'm also gonna hit mount lafayette and then write the base of mount garfield interstate garfield pond [Music] a little tired so glad we got this beautiful calm day it's magnificent up here talking about going up and over garfield to get to the shelter I'm not sure yeah I remember I'm in a hammock so stealth sites are gonna be important to me through this place I don't know if I want to risk it I might just meet up with them tomorrow all right let's see if I can do this with the wind maybe we'll go under here okay so made it to the Garfield shelter it is insanely windy here hoping I'm gonna have a good night these trees are blowing like freakin crazy rain was coming in hitting the underflow hitting me in the hammock I had to put my trekking poles leaning up against the car kind of stop it from you know just blow it all around everywhere Moo's walk down tight - I don't know if you guys can hear me right now but it was a bad night's sleep trees were moving not doing this again I will stay at lower elevations a lot of this has to be from last night two inches of rain apparently that's all right coming up on fresh-ground see him in the parking lot Taco Tuesday fresh-ground offered to ride us to the nearest hotel I am icing my knee I need this to work just down hills that's what it hurts but should be alright ready to do this today try cat man yeah it was excited holy gosh Wow so we're doing several four thousand footers before we get to Washington Washington's at like 6,200 feet my goodness this is gorgeous yeah it's gonna be a long day point four miles yes I'm assuming this is the lake in the clouds that's smoke over there we were told is the trolley or the cog train or whatever it's called that goes up to Mount Washington for all the people that either can't make it or the lazy people put on a little show for us up there that was awesome yes baby yeah Wow this is the scariest thing I've ever done in my entire life no seriously all right good short steps heals it gotcha gotcha I'm gonna turn the camera off well I can honestly say I know why everybody on the PCT gets freaked out by those little snow crossings I slid and then wow like literally came to my rescue I dug my poles in it I was going I was that's the scariest thing I've ever done Oh Adrenaline's pumping Oh America farmer and can't me I'm gonna do a workforce day hit the Hut back there I'll go in see if I get the house good tonight stick to the plan let's see how it goes don't got long until dark though and we got Madison to climb stuff anyway almost below the tree line is what I care about good morning everybody I had a good night's sleep re-energized was a great day yesterday it really was hard really hard day I think I made it like twenty point eight miles in the whites yesterday needless to say I'm feeling it today nothing to worry about I don't think I am definitely thinking about taking a zero though at the rattle River hostel at the end of the whites I think it pushed hard enough to warrant 2-0 help lucky and togs try to catch up even though I don't think it's possible but just had some amazing breakfast with fresh ground of course so here's the plan it's starting to rain it's gonna rain all day problem is the weather took a turn for the worse for tomorrow it's actually gonna thunderstorm me and Rd kind of have the same idea we want to get up and over Carter dome I pretty much up and over all of the mountains the four case before it starts thundering tomorrow cuz I don't want to be up there with lightning it's it's a fear I don't like it I don't it's scary it's freaking scary I'll be honest tell you what the hiking trail there's a lot more like bouldering trail at this point I can't tell you guys how freaking cold it is right now I'm debating on whether to put my dry pair of socks on my hands but I know I'm gonna be climbing so I want to save that as if I really need them holy cow I'm postholing man I hope this doesn't drop off the ridge like this because this will be miserable let's see what I can do all right we're gonna dance on top of it little Carter right it's the worst day out ever I'm just having a blast whatever all right so to catch everyone up for the day we stayed at the rattle River hostel last night fresh-ground was here cooked those breakfasts and you started on lunch - in my opinion - yet grilled cheese going yeah and now yeah and now we're going out to eat we got a zero whoo hanging out with fresh ground yep so keeping everything transparent I think I got excited that the whites were over and I was like okay train isn't gonna be this hard it's just as hard if not I'm so just tired I can't believe we just came off I just came off a double zero and I'm still this tired [Applause] you okay oh yes we just walk to Main [Music] not really New Hampshire was definitely a testing point four meter just physical endurance it just destroyed me and I appreciate that New Hampshire appreciate that a lot I hear Maine really southern Maine is exactly like northern New Hampshire so we'll see how it goes but man we just walked 14 states New Georgia to Maine 2000 almost mall that's crazy feels good it was really good know now that we're here we can't even say we're going to Maine say where you headed taught him all right I got one more mountain to go up and at the bottom there's a shelter a little worried about tomorrow based on what I've seen today from Maine we have the hardest mile or the most fun mile however you want to look at it then the Hoosick notch followed by the music arm said it takes about one to two hours to do these mile sections and it's just tiring it's just a lot of what we came in here doing but it's like almost described as ridiculous there's a lot of gut hook comments I'm just like why is this part of the trail kind of stuff so I've seen it in a couple videos and but you know you really can't tell until you do it yourself so I call because I'm stepping on ice right now ninja warrior right here real life Ninja Warrior all right believe we're out of the moosic notch now is it the hardest model or the most fun I liked it it is good morning cat what's going on man got the key got the KT Cape going on now yeah little kill exists you marry man Morning America nice so here's what Maine does alright so it frees you up the hill you're really ticked off you just want to just quit and you hate it and you're cursing up a storm and then it's like it'll be okay look at that holy cow alright just add some more delicious trail magic with fresh ground while you'll even okay made it to camp just had dinner warm I'm happy I'll be honest I was going up a Saddleback Mountain Junior there's a junior version of that and it's getting pretty cold all the hand holds we're like in like waterfall just because it was so rainy the past couple hours and just look at my hands freezing and the wind was blowing up they're just cold getting frustrated coming down to this everything was super slippery so I just put in some angry girl rock music in my ears it just started my high-pitched voice that's how am I gonna do that [Music] it's just a number alright we got about a 0.32 fresh-ground hopefully they don't smell is cooking yet so might be on our own tonight I don't know but got a naked man behind me in the spirit of hike naked day I'm just not gonna do it I don't want to embarrass everybody here what can't use any of that no oh boy ok for somebody won't take telling you gotta eat this day on gravy and I'm gonna try it I'm gonna try it yeah never quit on a bad day tree line all right top of the last Bigelow what a phenomenal day no one ever seems to mention how beautiful and unforgiving Southern Maine can be it's like the whites bigger older stronger brother I had a love-hate relationship with Maine but that's because we were getting a little beat up at this point we were starting to dream of home but also didn't want the journey to end the trail has taught me to be more appreciative for what I have and not so envious on where people are at in their lives or what they have their single relationship you know it I am very appreciative for what I have waiting for me back at home that right there being able to experience that life lesson I think is very very good for me because I think that was ultimately my reason for depression honestly I think that's why I was depressed I feel so good I really do I feel freaking phenomenal and to know that I did all this myself you know with the help of the tramway with the help of others allies and that along the way it's a really good feeling can't tell someone these lessons they have to learn them to hurt themselves this is the best campsite I've had on the 80 so far that is gorgeous all right how about this guy's fresh ground and brought us to where we are this is the last resupply that we're gonna do is it we're done afternoon resupply here we go see we need some string cheese do we have 10 days minimum of food gentlemen no no all right let's do this we look good we're carrying three days of food right now fresh-ground has the remaining two and he's gonna be feeding us in about three days the morning definitely not disappointed yeah it's uh it's been a quite an interesting day see that was easy for you there's only one mountain that stands between me and Qatada and one major one at least and that is white cap coming up within the hour here we go [Music] the second I touch the side man started dissipate look at that new thing you may appreciate that one alright just had tacos Saturday with fresh ground sea and uh swapping battery banks in a second here to keep these videos going for everybody thanks to that man right there thanks fresh crowd appreciates no nevermind he's just a civilian today it's some beautiful scene right here this is the trail right here does not feel like you know a few months out here it feels like definitely a couple weeks definitely that but a couple of section hikers we're having breakfast near us and they came up and said hey congratulations you guys remember it right now walked over 2,000 miles change ridiculous amount nothing out here I don't want it to end really don't I think it just hit me crap uh-oh if we got a mountain to climb [Music] [Music] there she is ladies and gentlemen holy crap [Music] all right I haven't seen yet but this is the best view of Katahdin on the oh my god oh look at that oh jeez good morning everybody today is summit day we're heading up to taught him we got everybody here the hikers and the families and the friends let's do this parents walked about a mile and a half with us heading back down Chris he's going the whole way right Chris I'll bet the view on tops it's gonna be amazing [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Hertz done on the Gateway home stretch the Appalachian Trail wasn't just a trail for me it was a journey the hardest part about a thru-hike is making the initial commitment to do it your mind will fight you to the bitter end because it's never going to be a good time you can make excuses all you want but at the end of the day the only thing stopping you is yourself if you want to be a slave to the system and just pay your bills and rot to nothing well then that's your choice my choice was to live life now through experiences you're looking at a success story going into this hike I had no hopes that things were gonna change for me but I knew if I didn't take the chance I may not be here today I went through the gauntlet and figured things out and that's how I live my life there is nothing that I can't do not only did I find myself but I got the girl as well thank you for watching my journey and remember find time go on your an adventure [Applause] you

Channel: Outdoor Adventures

Views: 1,262,812

Keywords: appalachian trail, at2019, thruhiking, thru hiking, camping, backpacking, reviews, gear, outdoor adventures, frozen, hammock, mountain, hike, camp, backpack, trails, ultralight, hammock camping, solo hike, documentary, georgia to maine, AT trail, depression help, long distance trails, thru hiker, exploring usa, american trails, altra, darwin on the trail, hiker trash, great outdoors, the trek, hiking documentary, appalachian trail documentary

Id: UHdnXDxORoo

Length: 101min 40sec (6100 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 14 2020