I want to bask this morning in a post I’ve been itching to write: what I’m most looking forward to on the Appalachian Trail.
I could spend thousands of words on any one of the reasons I’m about to describe. But I want to let myself be flighty, to embrace the mental skips and leaps of excitement. I want to follow the joy, rather than fight it.
Follow it with me. Here’s my frenetic, semi-prioritized list of what I’m most excited about:
1. The Honeymoon
Obviously, there won’t be cheesecake and champagne on the trail (though there will be plenty of massages). Better than any indulgence is that Rachel and I are about to take a six-month journey together. We will climb peaks, make meals, and enjoy afternoon naps together. We will succeed or fail together. We will be, regardless of what comes afterward, more in tune with each other and capable as a couple.
2. The Physical and Emotional Challenge
I’m looking forward to becoming stronger not just physically, but emotionally. No matter how or how much I train at home, I simply won’t achieve the level of either I will on the trail.
The better I become at weathering adversity, the richer my life experience gets. I have very much found that the best views come after the hardest climbs (a saying my friend Tessa cross-stitched and framed for Rachel and me).
3. The People
I can’t wait to meet inspiring, ambitious people on the trail. Many of the most rousing personal stories Rachel and I have heard, we’ve heard from strangers while backpacking. We’ve met marathoners, scientists, moms, inventors, and artists, many of whom have been through incredible hardship.
4. The Break From Capitalism
I’m excited to think less about money, material needs, and financial conditions. Although I do appreciate the security of recurring income, I’m tired of the culture of capitalism.
I’ve met brilliant, upstanding executives, to be clear. What I’m talking about and exhausted by is the predatory, “upgrade to premium,” say-whatever-benefits-me streak in American business culture. I’m sick of corporations “giving back” while quietly paying poverty wages and destroying the environment in order to maximize profit.
5. The Break From Media
I need a break from news and political media. I spend entirely too much time doomscrolling, watching interviews with politicians, listening to pundits, and then usually reverting back to doomscrolling.
Although I’m genuinely interested in the historic times we’re living through, I also feel a certain compulsion to follow them. Whether or not it’s justifiable — and I think it is — it’s eroded my mental and emotional health. I can’t help but unpack what these events suggest for our society’s future (and, of course, my own).
6. The Beauty
I’m awed by the varied and enduring beauty of the trail. The Appalachians are nowhere near the tallest mountains in the U.S., but they have a majesty about them. The forests, still with a few old-growth trees, surround as if to protect the trail and its hikers. Many of the streams along the way teem with fish and amphibians to a degree unseen in more developed areas. All I can think while I hike is how beautiful pre-industrial America must have been.
7. The “New Normal”
I’m excited for the normalization of my natural rhythms. I’m always surprised at how quickly my sleep schedule adjusts when I’m away from artificial lights for more than a day. I find I digest more fully, sleep more deeply, and generally feel better when I spend whole days outdoors.
8. The Summits
Although there’s a lot more to this sort of adventure than “peakbagging,” I can’t deny the surge of adrenaline to be found in summiting a mountain.
Try it: Climb a peak, eat a snack in the clouds, and then scramble for your life as lightning strikes on the horizon. Nothing compares. You might even see a U.S. Geological Service marker, which hikers experientially collect, blur by.
9. The Coffee
Yes, I told at least one person I’d like to take a coffee break on the trail. To that person, Warren, I admit: I’m not that strong, at least not in winter and at least not at first.
Nothing is better than a cup of coffee sipped under snowy pine boughs. The nostril-bending aroma, the glow felt through gloves, the pre-exercise jolt: Backpacking and coffee go better together than any wine and cheese pairing ever could.
10. The Self-Reflection
I need to look at myself in the sunlight. I need to walk away from what doesn’t serve me and toward parts of myself that I haven’t yet explored.
After 2020, I’m ready to get closer to the bone of who I am. And I’ll have these posts, not to mention a six-month-sized grab bag of memories, to guide my knife.
Not all parts of this adventure will be fun, to be clear. My feet will finish some days wet and blistered. My gear will break, almost certainly at the worst time. But easy is rarely exciting, much less healing or helpful.
The best you, like the best view, is not easily won.
