LOWS SO LOW

Two couples share their experience hiking the 2,190 miles of the Appalachian Trail.

BY AMBER PHIPPS

In May of 2018, Travis Harding and Lindsey Rudibaugh quit their jobs, sold their belongings and embarked on a seven-month long journey across the Appalachian Trail. Going all-in was an idea the couple took to heart as they planned their wedding, non-profit organization and their 210day non-traditional thru-hike to ring in their marriage.

The Appalachian Trail spans across 14 states and reaches a total distance of 2,198.4 miles, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. While these numbers might be intimidating for most, there are millions of hikers and thru-hikers who lace up their hiking boots and hit the trail every year.

“You have to have a very strong reason why you’re out there,” Harding says. “It’s called the why. You must commit and commit for a reason. The rest is gravy because you’ll get out there and you’ll find other people who want to help you.”

For some, the trail is an escape from reality that comes with having a demanding job. While everyone’s reasons for committing to a challenge that pushes themselves mentally and physically to the limit may look different, the most important part of the decision to embark on the journey is the why.

With a few hundred miles of hiking experience and some outdoor knowledge, Harding wanted to hit the trail as a way to heal from the past and recover from his job at the time. He had discovered his why.

Hiking so many miles might sound taxing, but the human body is capable of achieving so much more than people realize. The Appalachian Trail is a test of mental strength. According to Rudibaugh, mental preparation and encouragement are far more important than physical attributes.

The Appalachian Trail’s official website states that the success rate remains at a steady 25 percent over the course of a year. With nearly 75 percent of hikers dropping out or not finishing all 2,190 miles.

Harding and Rudibaugh started their seven-month journey in the spring. The term “non-traditional” thru-hike means the couple planned their hike to start at the mid-point rather than the southern or northern points. From the middle of the trail, working north or south and then back to either point is what hikers call a “flip-flop,” according to the official Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

“The Appalachian Trail Conservancy protects the natural resources and the people and so on,” Rudibaugh says. “They maintain the trail and so many people start out in March in Georgia and the trail gets really overrun and the towns there get really overrun. It’s not super sustainable and they were asking people to start somewhere else along the way or in the middle.”

With so many people hiking the Appalachian Trail, it is important that the area is taken care of so it can be enjoyed in the years to come. For this reason, many hikers choose to hike in ways that are sustainable or suitable the environment. This can be done by reducing the amount of trash or resources that are being used while hiking on the trail.

As a way to maintain their health and foster sustainably, the couple chose to dehydrate all of their own food sources and package everything so that it was ready to be shipped to them while they were on the trail. The supplies that are shipped are called a hiker’s “bounce boxes,” according to the Pacific Crest Trail Association.

Once they were on the trail, their “trail mom” took care of mailing their food deliveries out to their planned destination points. A trail mom is a hiker’s designated person that is not on the trail that supplies the hiker throughout the entirety of the hike.

There is also a level of physical preparation that comes with hiking so many miles over the span of a few months. Rudibaugh had not had a lot of long-distance hikes, so it was important that she spent as much time as she could out on different trails around Ohio to gain some experience.

Hiking thousands of miles is not an easy feat, and tacking on bad weather, exhaustion and sickness is what hikers call, “the suck,” according to Harding.

“Out there on the trail, the highs are so high and the lows are so low that you’re constantly through this medium of a really wonderful time,” Harding says. “There are some real terrible low times, but then there are times when you’re on top of a mountain with some of your best friends, celebrating each other’s successes together.”

“The suck” is a term used by hikers to describe the parts in the trail that are the lowest in morale and the most mentally draining. These are the moments that truly test the limits of hikers as they continue pushing through all kinds of situations that the trail unleashes upon them.

“My brain said, ‘You’re tired, you’re tired. Stop it. Stop it,’ Harding says. “And we just had to keep going.”

After spending so much time on the trail, hikers develop bonds with people along the way that can turn into what are known as “trail families,” according to Rudibaugh. There are so many people hiking the Appalachian Trail that it becomes necessary to form relationships with others going through the same situation. Self-reliance will only get hikers so far on the Appalachian Trail.

The more time spent on the trail with others, the sooner a trail name is established. Trail names are part of the hiking culture, and they offer the beauty of staying anonymous when out in the wilderness.

“You can be whoever you want to be,” Harding says. “You get your trail name, and nobody cares where you came from or what you’ve done. Who you are on the trail is who you are on the trail so you can use that as an opportunity to reinvent yourself. When you meet somebody, it offers the hikers an ability to make connections with each other on a more human level rather than a societal level.”

The couple met quite a few memorable individuals over the span of the seven months being on the trail, from a woman that dehydrated her own butter to a man with two pet rats. One couple, who just recently got married, also had some experiences of their own.

Madison Donohue and Jonathan Flinn also hiked the trail in 2018, which is when they met and became friends with the Travis and Lindsey. Having lived in the Athens for the past seven years, Donohue made the decision to hike the Appalachian Trail with her partner Flinn.

“I wanted a reason to really explore the Appalachian region and push myself to my absolute limit,” Donohue says.

Everyone has their own reasons for subjecting themselves to such an intense trail, and for Donohue, the Appalachian Trail was a way for her to discover just how far she could be pushed. After first stepping onto the trail, everything changed for Donohue. The first day was one of the hardest as she started the trail and made the commitment to hike for six months.

Similar to Harding and Rudibaugh, Donohue would later experience the kindness of humanity as people helped her along the in her journey. After developing a severe infection while on the trail, one of her most memorable moments was with all the individuals that aided in getting her to safety and maintaining her health.

Using the money earned through their Appalachian Trail hike-a-thon, Lindsey Rudibaugh and Travis Harding were able to co-found a nonprofit located in Athens, Ohio.

“I became an established patient at this tiny little doctor’s office in New Hampshire and he saw me for the next seven days,” Donohue says. “And the lady that dropped us off ended up picking up back up and taking us to her tiny little apartment where she fed us dinner and drove us to our doctor’s appointment.”

For Harding and Rudibaugh’s experience, the individuals they connected with deterred the negative self-talk that comes when pushing one’s limits. Reliance on others helped the couple overcome some of the most difficult and treacherous parts of the Appalachian Trail.

“While I was outwardly experiencing and trying to give kindness, I wasn’t giving it to myself and it was detrimental to my mental health,” says Rudibaugh. “And, one day it clicked that I was allowed to be kind to myself.”

Mental preparation is just as important as physical preparedness, and negative self-talk was not something that would get the couple over the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Maine. Despite the rigidness of the White Mountains being one of the most memorable and difficult parts of the hike, it was still one of Harding and Rudibaugh’s greatest achievements.

The Appalachian Trail may be one of the longest trails to hike in America, but through the kindness of everyday individuals, anything is possible. It is easy to get caught up in the difficulties rather than simply experience what the human body can do and bask in the kindness of those met along the way.

“So, try not to get caught up in the miles,” Harding says. “Put in the days, [and] enjoy the moments because you won’t want to lose them.” b