It’s 6 weeks later now. I’m back in polite society. I wear different clothes every day. I use a full-length toothbrush with real toothpaste. I shower every couple days at least. I don’t carry my trash around with me for days on end. Basically, I look and smell a bit less like I live outdoors now.
Here are some stats I’ve tallied in the aftermath of my northbound AT thru-hike from January 17 to July 4, 2025:
Of the Hiking and Camping
- Total number of days from Springer to Katahdin: 169
- Number of “zero” days (including two trips back to NC): 33
- Number of days actually hiking on the AT: 136
- Total number of AT trail miles in 2025 according to FarOut: 2198.5
- Miles from start to finish as the crow flies: 1123.4
- Sinuosity of AT (how much it meanders): 2198.5 ÷ 1123.4 = 1.957
- Extra miles hiked (official “white blaze” miles repeated for whatever reason; “blue blaze” miles to campsites, water sources, vistas, and trailheads; and miles wasted on wrong turns): 70.1
- Total miles hiked: 2198.5 + 70.1 = 2,268.6
- Average miles covered per hiking day: 2,268.6 ÷ 136 = 16.7
- Most miles covered in one day: 42.9 (the “Maryland Challenge” from Harpers Ferry, WV to Pen Mar, PA)
- Most consecutive nights sleeping outside: 5 (both the Great Smoky Mountains of NC/TN and the 100 Mile Wilderness of Maine)
- Most consecutive nights sleeping inside: 7 (both Hiawassee, GA to Robbinsville, NC and Erwin, TN to Hampton, TN)
Of the Animals
- Number of times I saw a rattlesnake: 1 (on Wolf Rocks in PA)
- Number of times I saw a bear: 1 (half mile before Cloudland Road in VT)
- Number of new birds on Merlin Life List: 36!
- Eastern Towhee
- Pine Warbler
- Barred Owl
- Fox Sparrow
- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
- Chipping Sparrow
- Dark-eyed Junco
- White-throated Sparrow
- Eastern Phoebe
- Tree Swallow
- Eastern Bluebird
- American Woodcock
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Northern Flicker
- Ruby-crowned Kinglet
- Turkey Vulture
- Black-and-white Warbler
- Common Yellowthroat
- Winter Wren
- Blackburnian Warbler
- Ovenbird
- Veery
- Wood Thrush
- Black-throated Blue Warbler
- Magnolia Warbler
- Northern House Wren
- Field Sparrow
- Blackpoll Warbler
- Swainson’s Thrush
- Bicknell’s Thrush
- American Redstart
- Gold-crowned Kinglet
- Common Loon
- Common Raven
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Least Flycatcher
Of the Body
- Weight: 164.8 → 161.6 = 3.2 lb. loss
- BMI: 23.6 → 23.1 = 0.5 loss
- Body water: 59.2% → 59.6% = 0.4% gain
- Body fat: 17.9% → 17.3% = 0.6% loss
- Body protein: 18.6% → 18.8% = 0.2% gain
- Skeletal muscles: 52.9% → 53.3% = 0.4% gain
- Base Metabolic Rate: 1655 → 1629 = 26 kcal loss
- Caffeine per day: 90mg (Illy Instant Classico)
- Total caffeine across all hiking days: 12,240mg
- Average caffeine per AT mile: 12240 ÷ 2198.5 = 5.6mg
- Times I went swimming: 0 (not even in Maine in July?!)
- Times I got sick: 0
- Times I hiked into a low-hanging tree limb just out of my FOV (thanks, hat brim) knocking me on my ass: 3
- Times that resulted in a black eye: 1
- Times I broke a filling and had to add mouthwash to my daily regimen to avoid a dental crisis with 500 miles still to go: 1
Of the Mind
- Time spent in my own head per day: 2+ hours (every trail morning before putting on podcasts or music)
- Minimum total time in my own head: 136 * 2 =272 hours
- Important epiphanies experienced, ultimate questions answered, life decisions made: 0
- TV shows watched: so so many, but no good way to count them now? In winter there were more hours of darkness to kill, so I’d watch at least 2 hours a night. I must have watched 20+ seasons of various series.
- Intentions for the future: touch my piano and guitar for the first time in countless years; resume cross-stitch project last touched in Brazil in 2018; enjoy my family while they’re near me; keep eyes, ears, and heart open for new opportunities, but don’t rush into anything.
So far, looking back 6 weeks later, all my memories of this epic hike are fond ones. So many moments come back to me every day and compete for best memory of the trek. I’ve relived all my spatial photos and videos in virtual reality, and they bring me right back to the trail in that moment.
So what’s next in life? No idea. What trail’s next at least? The Camino de Santiago is an obvious frontrunner, but I’m really more excited to undertake the South West Coast Path in Cornwall. Maybe that’s because I’ve read The Salt Path but no books about the Camino yet. (But then I never read any travel logs about the AT, either!) Wherever I go, you can count on me mentioning it here at Migratory Pebbles.