Week 0
In which I give a brief rundown as I head out
Welcome back to Stairsteps, a semi-regular series about my thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2026! This highly-professional newsletter tries to highlight some of the challenges and joys of discovering thru-hiking, as told by one walking bundle of nerves. If you have questions for me, please comment or reach out - I’ll gladly respond when I can (i.e when I have cell service)!
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Hey, Yall!
Brief update here, to follow last week’s longer post before I scooch down to Amicalola!
Fun fact, in case you haven’t guessed by the incredible photoshop job up front: every last one of my planning brain cells has been reassigned to trail prep, which has resulted in me purging my phone of photos before I started drafting this post. My computer is now in storage, so the pre-trail gear rundown that I snapped a ton of picture for will have to wait. As Søren Kirkegaard once said, maybe: “Uh. Oops!”
Given this, and that there haven’t really been a ton of new goings-on to report this week, this is going to be a shorter one.
What Have I Been Up To?
Really, I wanted this post to sketch a quick picture of the Just Some Guy I’m entering the trail as.
After accidentally mothballing a bunch of pictures I wanted to use, this week I took my sewing measurements and weighed myself to get my “before.” Given that the AT is an intense physical challenge, I’m interested in seeing how starkly these change after the end of my hike!
Heading out (albeit after a month or two of weight loss and slight toning up thanks to training), I’m looking at:
Weight: 192 lbs1
Chest: 40.5”
Waist: 35.5”
Hips: 41”
Arms: 13.75”
Thighs: 24.75”
Calves: 16.25”
Starting pack weight: 33lbs2
Speaking less physically - but no less importantly for painting a picture - your boy is tired!
My headspace has been getting only more crowded by brain worms as The Day has approached. Certainly, the AT offers no shortage of anxiety-inducing “what ifs,”3 and for me, knowing the soreness and troubled sleeping I’m staring down in my first week has been a bit daunting.
Ever since I last posted on Monday, I’ve been working off my growing nerves with final preparations. My clothes and pack are doused in tick poison, my gym membership was cancelled, I have been freed from the wretched act of driving by storing my car, and my food stores have been smashed down a bit to squeeze an extra few cubic inches into my bear can. It’s done okay by the few remaining anxieties, but I’m still a touch nervous, as I’m sure anyone about to walk 2200ish miles would be. And the more I focus on my remaining anxities, the more pounds I’m going to talk myself into adding to my pack though. That’s no bueno! Mercifully, the first day is almost here, so the time for [over]thinking is almost done.
I definitely feel that the slow, grinding routine of prep work (which effectively has been a full-time job for me in the past three and a half weeks!) has overstayed its welcome, not the least of which because I know that everyone who’s hiked the AT would say nothing truly prepares you for the full hike like the first few weeks. So with that in mind, I feel it’s more than time for that change - for a new slow, grinding routine! It’s going to be rough going at first, but I’ll take it over the constant suspense!
So, What’s Next?
Next stop: Amicalola Falls, baby! Time to make every number I posted here incorrect. I can’t wait to finally get this show on the road!
Stay tuned for the next post, where I’ll try to not open by complaining about my knees. Until next time!
-Michael
I wish I had time to get body composition notes before the big day came. I’m not exactly a beanpole going in, though! Based on the half-assed google search, I’d guess mid-to-low 20%, and that guess is good enough for me.
So, in lieu of compromising pictures and a clear “X% to Y%,” a more quantitative “wow, I’m skinny now! …and cold!” will have to do for this at the end. Frankly, in this day and age of physique hyperfixation (read: “looksmaxxing” [gag]), I’m all too happy to be this slapdash.
…with water bottles empty. Damn! Looks like I’m hitting the trailhead with 35 lbs after all. This is mostly thanks to a finalized food supply at least, so it will bleed off pretty quickly. Though I’m sure I’ll be shorter-of-breath and quicker-to-start-swearing about this, it could be worse.
What if bears, what if mice, what if norovirus or giardia, what if storms, what if on and on and on… These are all important things for thru-hikers to know about obviously (and I’ve been sure to do my research in the interest of safety), but I’d caution other prospective thru-hikers against psyching themselves out. It’s all too easy to do!