re: Appalachian Trail Completed

Thank you all for the congrats! This was probably the toughest and most rewarding thing I've ever done.

Now to answer a few of your questions.

I lost 60 lbs on the trail. Started out at 230 lbs and now I'm around 168-172 lb range. I won't know exactly until I get back home in a couple of days and weigh myself on the same scale I did before I left.

I started taking 1000mg of vitamin C every day a couple of weeks before I started and learned later, after I had lost close to 50 lbs, that vitamin C helps convert fat to energy. I think this helped me to lose so much weight so fast (lost about 45 lbs half way through).

My feet are OK now. I have thick calluses on the bottom of my feet. They hurt a lot initially and when I got to Boiling Springs, a little over half way, I strongly considered giving up on the trail because of the intense pain in my flat feet. I got through it on much Ibuprofin and Alleve. Every night it was hard to fall asleep because of the throbbing pain in my feet and in the mornings I found it hard to even stand up, but once I got my boots on I was ok. Eventually the pain subsided and my feet were no longer a major issue.

I was able to take off work by listing myself as "inactive." I work for the SBA as a disaster reservist. They call me up when there's a disaster like hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, etc.

My favorite part of the trail would probably be Maine. It was beautiful there. The mountains in the southern part of Maine were as tough as the Whites but the trail got easier to hike on and I was able to step up the pace. Going through the White Mountains was hard but not as hard as many people think. The going was very slow only because you had to watch every step and chose each step carefully. There were very few sections of the trail you could move at a decent pace. Typically if you did 15 miles per day on average, through the Whites you might do 8 or 10 miles if you had a good day. It was just slow going, but not overly strenuous. (By this point you had good mountain legs anyway.)

The second half of Pennsylvania was horrible. We called it Rocksylvania. There were so many damn rocks to hike through.

For me, the toughest part of the entire trail would be Georgia. Not because it was actually tougher than other parts (it wasn't) but because I was 60 lbs heavier and had no mountain legs. It took me about four weeks to build up muscle for uphill and downhill and even longer to develop better cardio to the point where I wasn't out of breath so quickly on uphill climbs. I started out as a fat couch potatoe and did no training before the trip other than a few day hikes through Louisiana and Mississippi with the hiking club.

I've uploaded a couple more videos to YouTube but it'll be a while until I can go through them all and make a proper trail video.

Sunrise on Moxie Bald, Maine

A view above Carter Notch Hut

A view above the clouds

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ShubutaMS

Been wasting a good deal of time reading your journals. Thanks. There is enough material there to write a book.

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Thanks! My brothers keep telling me I should but I don't think so. I'll be adding the rest of my journal entries in the coming days.

That's absolutely incredible man Another reason why my life is so frickin boring

Man that is awesome!!!

Wish I would have seen this thread earlier, I was at Baseball Tavern and would have bought you some beers.

Very impressive

I am jealous of few people in this world, but you have earned my envy. Congrats on the hike.

Gear heads are curious about you carried.

congrats!

did you encounter any of the warrior hike group out there? one of my Marine Corps brothers just finished the trail a couple of weeks ago with the warrior hike program. i've been following him and warrior hike on facebook, as they hiked the trail. was really cool following their progress day to day; i've always wanted to hike the trail but following them has really stoked the fire.

warrior hike is an amazing program. people should check it out.

I don't know anything about the trail but what you've done seems to be impressive.

Congratulations

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That'd be nice. I met a guy named "hollywood" who was repaying his "debt" this year on the PCT. We weren't through hikers, climbing Three Fingered Jack, but he didn't care. He had it all, including bourbon/ . Great guy, good times.

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Off topic but stories about the PCT from last week are pretty crazy. Anyone enjoying the OP's journal may want to check those out, a lot of folks got stranded in a pretty massive snowstorm for 5-10 days.

Any other big outdoor plans, OP? I'll probably never get to do the whole trail, but would like to hit some highlights in time. Going to try and get to to the Roan Highlands this winter, weather permitting.