I love metrics and stats! Anyone who’s seen the yellow AT journal I carried on my thru-hike can attest to how much I geek out on numbers. So, here’s some of the interesting facts, figures, and opinions I gathered during my thru-hike.
Where I ranked among 2019 AT thru-hikers
- Amicalola Falls Visitor Center, GA: NOBO hiker #2467
- ATC Headquarters, Harpers Ferry, WV: NOBO #1076
- Baxter State Park, ME: NOBO #609
Distances
- Official distance of the AT in 2019: 2,192 miles
- Total mileage (with Approach Trail & Katahdin descent): 2,206 miles
- Duration of my AT thru-hike: 126 days (18 weeks)
- Zeros taken: 11
- Daily mileage average (including zeros): 17.50 miles/day
- Daily mileage average (excluding zeros): 19.18 miles/day
Daily Mileage
- Days with at least some miles hiked: 115 days
- Longest mileage day: 29.1 miles
- Shortest mileage day: 3.8 miles
- Days hiked >10 miles: 7 (6%)
- Days hiked 10-15 miles: 10 (9%)
- Days hiked 15-20 miles: 46 (40%)
- Days hiked 20-25 miles: 39 (34%)
- Days hiked 25-30 miles: 13 (11%)
- Percentage of days I hiked 20-30 miles/day: 50%
Where I slept on the AT
- Nights in my tent/AT shelter: 78
- Nights in a hiker hostel: 18
- Nights in a hotel: 3
- Nights in private home (trail angel or family): 4
- Nights in our RV with Keith & Finn: 23
Food
- Resupply packages mailed to myself: 7
- Resupply packages lost: 1 (Caratunk, ME)
- Trail towns used for resupply: 27
- Favorite town to resupply in: Hanover, NH
- Microbreweries visited: 6
Weather on the AT
- Completely dry days: 70 (55% of my thru-hike)
- Days with some rain: 56 (45% of my thru-hike)
- Days with torrential downpours: 10 (8% of my thru-hike)
- Days with hail: 2
- Days with freezing temperatures: 1 (Smokies)
- Days with a heat index over 100 degrees: 7 (in VA, PA, & NY)
- Days I felt symptoms of a potential heat injury: 3
- Days off waiting for sunny weather for my Katahdin summit: 1
Wildlife spotted on trail:
- Bear sightings: 9 (Smokies, Shenandoah, New Jersey)
- Moose sightings: 0 (much to my disappointment)
- Porcupines: 1
- Copperhead snakes: 1
Gear
- Pairs of trail shoes: 5 (swapped out every ~500 miles)
- Pairs of injinji socks: 3
- Base weight of pack: ~15 lbs
- Gear lost: 2 items (hat and sit pad – both in last 150 miles!)
- Biggest item added: Enlightened Equipment 30-degree quilt
Miscellaneous Facts & Figures
- Favorite States: Virginia & Maine
- Toughest part of the AT for me: Southern Maine
- Cat holes dug: 5 – yes, privies are that abundant on the AT
- Slipperiest State(s): New York and Maine… so much wet rock
- Worst injury: Maine (busted my knee during a bad fall)
- Audiobooks completed: 8
- Favorite Podcasts on trail: Against the Rules, Backpacker Radio, This American Life, RV Entrepreneur, Revisionist History, The Trail Show, Beyond the Wheel
- Person I hiked the most days with: Luna
