Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting a global pandemic to shut down the world right before I was to set off on my Trek Dirty to Me project and my years-long planned 2,200 mile trek of the Appalachian Trail. But it did, and I could not have been luckier. What a ride these last three months have been!

I was stressing out about how I would have to completely change the way I eat next month, in an effort to prepare for my April 1 start to my Appalachian Trail thru-hike. I have experienced a stacked stat sheet of health benefits from my two months of Intermittent Fasting, and I didn’t want to give those up or change the way I had become accustomed to eating and performing. Then I realized I didn’t have to stop fasting at all. It’s just one more thing to add to my list of shit folks just haven’t really done (or talked about much) while long-distance hiking. So I’m going to do it and let you know how it goes.

I assume the shared name is the only similarity between the extremely popular trail town of Damascus, Virginia and the city where I once got drugged and robbed after being taken to the middle of the desert in Syria(December 2008). So what do I do when I bookend Trail Days during my visit? Where do I stay? Where do I eat? What must I see? With whom must I speak? How the hell do I get from Damascus to Raleigh on the morning of Saturday, May 16?

It is a bit of a read, but this is why, starting on April 1, 2020, I am thru-hiking the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail for almost seven months.

After binging 158 hours of podcasts from TheTrek.co, Backpacker Radio, Trail Correspondents and The Attempt, I would like to give a special shoutout to what has become my graduate course in thru-hiking. You should check them out!

No, I will not be bringing a weapon (or weapons) with me for my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. I am confident in the overwhelming safety of the trail and the community, and I am confident in my own ability to defend myself against the perils of nature and humans. So please relax. I’ll be safe.

Today I am taking a for real break, but I did take the time to do a bad photoshop and post a movie trailer for my mom starring one of her favorite actors. And it actually has something to do with me thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail.

With a week left in India, before returning to Indiana for the final monthlong March homestretch, I’ve wrapped up almost everything left to do here to get ready for my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. Of course, looking ahead, it feels like this was just a warm up for a whirlwind 28ish days in my hometown of Indianapolis.

The third state (of 14) on my way north to Maine is Tennessee!!! I have driven through here. Peyton Manning played college football here. They have BBQ on the other side of the state. I’m here twice on the Appalachian Trail. Two nights in Gatlinburg and a week and a half further north in East Tennessee. That’s all I’ve got. I have questions. Who wants to meet up? What should I do? What should I eat?

Want a short backpacking trip within an hour-ish of Indianapolis? I am strongly considering a 4-5 day warmup/shakedown hike of the 50-mile Tecumseh Trail portion of the 160-mile Knobstone Trail. It’s a great chance to maybe sneak off to Bloomington to drop me off, or grab ice cream in Martinsville to pick me up. Or maybe you want to join me for a little multi-day walk in the woods (that is close to home this time)?

I have pledged to raise $2,200 (or $1 for every mile I will be thru-hiking of the Appalachian Trail beginning April 1, 2020) for the American Lung Association's Fight For Air Climb to raise funds for healthy lungs and clean air. On March 7, I will climb 47 flights of stairs up Salesforce Tower in downtown Indianapolis, carrying the weight that I will be bringing along for my thru-hike. I need your help to raise the money before I climb!

The second state (of 14) on my way north to Maine is North Carolina!!! Yes. I have spent about seven total days in the great state of North Carolina. Once for a long weekend/spring break when I was not yet even legal to drive. Once for a two-day law school visit (not my visit mind you) to Duke. Consider me a Tar Heeled virgin. I have questions. Who wants to meet up? What should I do? What should I eat?

I will be missing six months worth of holidays (and my 40th birthday) while hiking from Georgia to Maine during my thru-hike attempt of the Appalachian Trail.

One month of blogging regularly (daily) for Trek Dirty to Me! Lot’s of cool stuff on the horizon - especially once I get scootin’ along my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail.

Anybody who has seen my phone and it’s meticulously organized folders of more than 400 apps knows that I love iPhone apps. So naturally I’ve put together a list of the apps that I will be using on the Appalachian Trail to help me get from Georgia to Maine and also have some fun in the meantime.

The ongoing internal debate of bringing a GPS tracker on my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail is more about others being able to contact me in an emergency, and less about me needing to ring out for help. But, then again, you never really know.

Why I will be hiking the length of the Appalachian Trail (and future trails) with a Wild Ideas Bearikade Weekender bear canister and not a bag to carry my food.

A cold hard look at the odds of completing my Appalachian Trail thru-hike with a look at the actual numbers, and why I think I can beat them.

All about my intense hatred of mosquitos and ticks (the assholes of the forest) and how I intend to kick them in the (metaphorical) nuts while thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Time for the 6-week (of 12 weeks) update on the training plan I have been doing for my Appalachian Trail thru-hike. Halfway there and on track. A lot of questions regarding what I have been doing, so I try to lay out the plan that works for me. Again, I know my body well and this may not be the right plan for other folks.

I decided to take a zero day today and just chill. In the post, there is a far cuter picture of this gorilla (minus my bobble head) that I got to hang out with in Rwanda. Enjoy your Sundays, wherever you are!

A short history of why I hike with headphones and a request for your favorite books on tape that I should bring on the trail with me.

Alright Indianapolis! I have put together 112 miles (approximately one week of my anticipated distance to travel on my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail) of trails in our beautiful city. I would love for you to join me for a little stroll on any or all of them. You don’t have to wear a full pack like me, but why not explore our beautiful city with me for a bit?

So here is the nutrition plan I have put together as nutritional insurance on the Appalachian Trail. Dr. Mom was a huge help in making sure that I don’t OD on any particular vitamins or supplements. Please feel free to steal any or all of it.

Thank your mothers folks! In this particular case, big thanks to Dr. Mom today for listening to me run on about the Appalachian Trail all day and helping me lock down my on-trail nutrition plan.

For a variety of reasons, I want to wear barefoot shoes to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. Unfortunately, I’ve had some difficulties finding the right pair to go with my problematic feet. I think that I may have found the right match, but time and geographic constraints are going to make our pre-hike courtship brief and intense.

For my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail, I am building a list of food and drink dives and upscale destinations. Hiker favorites, gourmet hidden treasures, signature dishes and cocktails, and eating and drinking challenges that are part of Appalachian Trail lore. Please let me know any and all that you can share. Photos of my long relationship and fandom with food in the post.

Any ideas on what my trail name on the Appalachian Trail and moving forward might/could be? I have ideas, but genuinely would like to see how things shake out on the trail. I’d love to hear your ideas though. In the meantime, here is a collage of some of my Safe For Work nicknames.

I grew up camping, hiking and backpacking. And when I did that with my family, we fished. It has been almost twenty years since I dropped a line in a stream and pulled out a trout, and I’d like to return to this huge part of my previous life while I am on the Appalachian Trail. I think that I found a system, but I can use all the help that I can get from folks who know the lakes, rivers and streams along the trail.

Many thru-hikers love to say ‘embrace the stink’ and forgo most hygiene on the trail. Cool for them. However, my project and my general sanity require me to be less laissez-faire with my smell and appearance. So I think I have figured out a way to live in both worlds. My ultralight attack to resist the stink.