Gazelle said that to me and Thomas and Tapo and Orange Aid on the third day of my Appalachian Trail thru hike. She was 640km/400mi into a NOBO FKT (northbound fastest known time) attempt and I was 50 miles into a flip-flop thru hike attempt which had started three days earlier in Erwin, TN. We were eating Little Caesars pizza in the Appalachian Station at 19E hostel in the midst of a storm that I’d pushed a 40km/25mi day through the Roan Highlands get out of. After a relatively pleasant first day on trail featuring a lovely sunset at Beauty Spot, it had started raining and not let up for 48 hours (it would continue to rain on and off every day for about another week). Despite my relief at being inside and out of the deluge, that kind of mileage is WAY too big for the third day of a thru, or at least the third day of my thru. Everything hurt, and I wasn’t at all sure I was ready to get back out there the following morning. I, to quote the mighty Dave Woodman Sr., “didn’t know whether to shit or go blind.” Dissolve you, indeed.
I’ve thought about what Gazelle said that night a lot in the intervening 40ish days. In one sense it’s literally true: water is the universal solvent and this trail dumps a lot of it on you, at regular intervals. And when it’s not raining it’s so humid that between the water in the air and the puddles and the sweat you’re never really dry. Combine that with the perpetual movement of hiking and you have a recipe for physical dissolution. Not to mention the joint-grinding, tendon-fraying potential of a trail that features a degree of elevation gain and loss equivalent to 16 times up and down Mount Everest. But it’s also true in a metaphorical sense: all your unnecessary qualms about being wet and dirty and smelly and bug-bitten just kind of melt away in the face of the realization that, no matter what each morning brings, you just have to keep hiking; I don’t worry about the rain so much any more. And I hope Gazelle hits her FKT.
The Stats:
Erwin, TN: 551.2km/344.5mi
Harpers Ferry, WV: 1,642.5km/1,026.6mi
Total: 1,091.4km/682.1mi
Days: 42
Mileage per day: 25.99km/16.24mi
Zero mileage days: 6
Mileage per day, net of zeros: 30.3km/18.9mi
Max. daily mileage: 57.3km/35.8mi
Min. daily mileage: 7.7km/4.8mi
The Details:
May 24th – 569.3km/355.2mi Beauty Spot – 17.12km/10.7mi
May 25th – 593.3km/370.8mi Clyde Smith Shelter – 25.0km/15.6mi
May 26th – 633.0km/395.6mi Appalachian Station – 39.7km/24.8mi
May 27th – 633.0km/395.6mi Appalachian Station – 0km/0mi
May 28th – 662.4km/414.0mi Moreland Gap Shelter – 29.4km/18.4mi
May 29th – 685.9km/428.7mi Boots Off Hostel – 23.5km/14.7mi
May 30th – 700.8/438.0mi Vandeventer Shelter – 14.9km/9.3mi
May 31st – 724.0/452.5mi Double Spring Shelter – 22.7km/14.2mi
June 1st – 753.6km/471.0mi Damascus, VA – 29.6km/18.5mi
June 2nd – 753.6km/471.0mi Damascus, VA – 0km/0mi
June 3rd – 753.6km/471.0mi Damascus, VA – 0km/0mi
June 4th – 779.2km/487.0mi Lost Mountain Shelter – 25.1km/15.7mi
June 5th – 807.2km/504.5mi Wise Shelter – 28km/17.5mi
June 6th – 839.4km/524.6mi Trimpi Shelter – 32.2km/20.1mi
June 7th – 855.4km/534.6mi Marion, VA 16km/10mi
June 8th – 889.8km/556.1mi Campsite – 34.4km/21.5mi
June 9th – 912km/570.1mi Chestnut Knob Shelter – 22.4km/14.0mi
June 10th – 950.9km/594.3mi Helveys Mill Shelter – 38.7km/24.2mi
June 11th – 618.5 Wapiti Shelter – 38.7km/24.2mi
June 12th – 989.6km/625.7mi Woods Hole Hostel – 11.5km/7.2mi
June 13th – 1,019.8km/637.4mi Pearisburg – 18.7km/11.7mi
June 14th – 1,051.2km/657.0mi Pine Swamp Shelter – 31.4km/19.6mi
June 15th – 1,091.4km/682.1mi Sarver Hollow Shelter – 40.2km/25.1mi
June 16th – 1,127.8km/704.9mi Huckleberry’s Hostel – 36.5km/22.8mi
June 17th – 1,169.0km/730.6mi Daleville – 41.1km/25.7mi
June 18th – 1,169.0km/730.6mi Daleville – 0km/0mi
June 19th – 1,209.3km/755.8mi Buchanan View- 40.3km/25.2mi
June 20th – 1,241.8km/776.1mi Harrison Ground Spring – 32.5km/20.3mi
June 21st – 1.260.0km/787.5mi Glasgow, VA – 18.2km/11.4mi
June 22nd – 1.292.2km/807.6mi Brown Mountain Creek Shelter – 32.2km/20.1mi
June 23rd – 1,340.2km/837.6mi Harpers Creek Shelter- 48.0km/30.0mi
June 24th – 1,375.7km/859.8mi Paul Wolfe Shelter – 35.5km/22.2mi
June 25th – 1,383.4km/864.6mi Rockfish Gap – 7.7km/4.8mi
June 26th – 1,416.5km/885.3mi Blackrock Hut – 33.12km/20.7mi
June 27th – 1,456.2km/910.1mi Country View Motel – 39.7km/24.8mi
June 28th – 1,513.4km/945.9mi Pass Mountain Hut- 57.3km/35.8mi
June 29th – 1,555.8km/972.4mi Mountain Home B&B – 42.4km/26.5mi
June 30th – 1,593.6km/996.0mi Rod Hollow Shelter – 37.8km/23.6mi
July 1st – 1,609.4km/1,005.9mi Bears Den Hostel – 15.8km/9.9mi
July 2nd – 1,642.6km/1,026.6mi Harpers Ferry – 33.12km/20.7mi
July 3rd – 1,642.6km/1,026.6mi Harpers Ferry – 0km/0mi
July 4th – 1,642.6km/1,026.6mi Harpers Ferry – 0km/0mi
daviddavewoody 
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