Barbarian Utopia: Encounters on the Appalachian Trail

We used to summer in andover, Maine,

and the trail used to run right by, so I spent

my whole childhood walking up and down the trail,

fishing and...

One day, I asked my father where this trail went

and he's like, "this trail goes all the way to Georgia."

And I'm like, "you're kidding."

"Yep, if you go that way

"you'll go to Georgia, if you go that way,

"you go to mount katahdin."

And ever since then it was always in the back

of my mind that I've gotta hike this trail.

April 10th, 2014,

amicalola lodge.

Down here in northern Georgia.

Sleeping bag at the very bottom.

Big jacket and my rain jacket.

And rain pants, don't need those yet.

Hopefully, won't need them too much.

Though I'm sure I will.

- Oh man, that's a jinx. - And,

let's see, food.

Strap on my tent.

See some bulge in some spots.

All right.

Amicalola state park,

start of the approach trail, weighing the pack.

Weight is...

Looks like about 44, 43.

And so my journey of nearly 2200 miles began

with these steps towards the appalachian trail.

For the next six months,

I followed the trail through 14 states.

My ultimate destination, Maine's mount katahdin.

To reach the trail's official start point

on springer mountain, I first climbed the approach trail

in amicalola falls state park.

The park derives its name from a cherokee word

meaning tumbling waters.

I looked online to see what people thought

of the approach trail.

Seems some people thought it was really hard

and some people thought it was a piece of cake.

I guess it depends on

how in shape you are.

I reached the top of springer

already wondering what I'd gotten myself into.

My goal to hike the entire appalachian trail

now seemed like a crazy, impossible dream.

But the story of this trail is of an impossible dream

that came true.

The appalachian trail, as an idea,

came from a guy named Benton mackaye.

Benton mackaye was born in 1879

in stamford, Connecticut.

Even though a young mackaye once wrote,

he would later attend Harvard university.

After graduating in 1905 with a master's in forestry,

mackaye went on to teach at Harvard

and to work for the government as a regional planner.

In 1915, he married suffragist and peace advocate

Jessie Hardy stubbs, known as Betty.

But it seems the difficult life of an activist

took a severe toll on Betty's mental health.

In 1921, she suffered her final nervous breakdown.

To help his wife recover,

mackaye planned a trip to the countryside.

While the couple prepared to depart

from grand central station,

Betty fled and jumped to her death

into New York's east river.

Mackaye was heartbroken.

Encouraged by friends, he distracted himself from grief

by putting his idea for an appalachian trail on paper.

His proposal was published October of that year.

Mackaye's original idea for the project included

the footpath, shelter camps for hikers to stay at

and two types of communities where people could live,

community groups, camps where people could stay

for recreation, recuperation and study

and food and farm camps which would provide employment

for those wanting to work off the land.

His concept for the trail was to build

a long-distance hiking trail

that would allow people to do long hikes

but also would connect rural communities

along the trail path.

So not many people realize that the second part

of what I just said, was part of his vision.

He wrote,

One such menace was rapid urbanization.

The high value of land in the city

leads to crowded skyscrapers

and people are compelled to live in crowded quarters

while opportunities for recreation and healthful living

are limited.

In the early 20th century,

America's urban population was surpassing

the rural population for the first time in history

and what were once regional cities

were transforming into sprawling metropolitan areas.

Mackaye knew that metropolitan growth

could lead to cultural homogenization

and stifle the sharing of ideas.

He clearly wanted this trail to be away from cities

and away from civilization, which of course

was a lot easier to do in 1920, 1921 when he was

thinking about this and writing about this

than it would be today.

Soon after its publication,

mackaye's proposal caught the eye

of several prominent outdoor organizations.

And that's how the appalachian trail conservancy

was created. It was a meeting in Washington, D.C.

Of trail leaders from a variety of places,

particularly new england and the Washington, D.C. area.

They created the appalachian trail conference

which was our original name.

Under this new organization,

the first sections of dedicated trail were built in 1924.

While some of its most important characters

would be introduced later,

the story of the appalachian trail had begun.

There's some really actually very beautiful parts

of Georgia

that

were awesome

and I was imagining how much better looking they would be

in two or three weeks.

- When spring was there? - I was like, aw,

it's so gray right now, I'm sure this is a great view

when there's, you know, actually looks like

there's trees on it.

When there's a color besides brown?

- Yeah! - Most northbound thru-hikers

start in march and early April.

Georgia was tough just because it was cold and wet

and there was always the danger of hypothermia.

Our last night in Georgia it actually,

there was like a show cover when we woke up

so our tent had a little bit of show on it.

And taking down the tent at that point in the morning

when it's like 16 degrees or something like that,

you can't feel your fingers.

One place of relief from the cold is neel gap,

home of the mountain crossings outfitter and hostel.

Mount crossings is an outdoor store,

it's located directly on the appalachian trail

just under 31 miles from springer mountain,

which is the Southern terminus of the trail.

It's the first outdoors store that hikers come to.

Neel gap is one of the southernmost points

where hikers can resupply food and equipment.

The majority of resupplies are done in trail towns.

I thru-hiked back in 2000,

no one had cell phones back then so, you know,

people like calling the day before they hit town

to make reservations in hotels is really weird.

There's a lot more shuttle services in and out of town

so there's less hitchhiking it seems like.

He's like, "I'll give you guys a hitch back

"as long as you guys aren't gonna hurt me."

I'm like, "we're hiking the appalachian trail,

"I don't think any of us have the energy to hurt you."

The trail towns are very hiker friendly.

Mostly.

Have you had any favorite trail towns?

I think hiawassee might have been my favorite,

maybe just because it was the first one I went into.

As long-distance hiking has become more

and more popular, a cottage industry of hostels

has grown along the trail.

For many years, hiawassee was home

to the blueberry patch hostel

which provided a place to stay and eat

for no more than an optional donation.

But all good things must come to an end

and after many years, the owhers decided to close

the blueberry patch hostel for good in 2015.

A few days after leaving Georgia

and crossing into north Carolina,

I had another great breakfast

when I hit deep gap on easter Sunday.

The easter feast volunteers know what hikers want.

Their omelets are appropriately sized

for people who spend their days walking over mountains.

Now we're gonna hand this to you but it takes

two hands, you gotta hold your plate with two hands.

The at easter feast is put on

by thru-hiker Jerry Parker with the assistance

of his daughter, Megan, a thru-hiker herself.

Mr. Parker immortalized his 1979 hike

with the beer drinker and ice cream eater's guide to the at,

the first-ever thru-hiker guidebook.

I had just an old f-150 Ford pickup truck and I

initially went by myself and sat on the tailgate

and I fed people, either we cooked eggs

or we cooked hotdogs.

I conscripted Megan at, she thinks it was the age of 12,

she's 28 now.