By the time I reached the Georgia-Alabama state line, all doubts about a life spent hiking had dissolved. The societal detox was complete, and the trail had me in awe once more. After leaving Cave Spring, I stopped at Spring Creek Shelter for the night, realizing there were far more shelters along the Pinhoti than […]
Tag: thru hike
Poetry, Georgia
From Mack White Gap, the Pinhoti Trail stretches southward, a ten-mile ridge walk through the crisp fall leaves of the Chattahoochee National Forest, before spilling down to Georgia State Route 100. Not quite a road walk, though close enough, the trail clings to the roadside, occasionally meandering out of sight. I’d been told that this […]
Keown Falls, LaFayette, Georgia
I was still coughing up thick green mucus, but compared to the wreck I’d been when I left the trail, it felt like a new lease on life. The road walk out of Chatsworth stretched for miles ahead, but I didn’t make it far before a car pulled over, unbidden. No thumb needed. The driver […]
Chatsworth, Georgia
There was a heaviness in me that went beyond exhaustion, a bone-deep weariness that no amount of rest could touch. I’d barely set foot on the Benton MacKaye Trail when I noticed the blister that wasn’t a blister. Squeezing the swollen lump on my foot, I watched in disbelief as a string of green and […]
Eglin Air Force Base, Florida Trail
Eglin Air Force Base, a sanctuary of rolling hills, serene boardwalks, and quiet streams that soothe the soul, is one of my favorite sections of the Florida Trail. It was here, amidst this tranquil landscape, that we reached two significant milestones: the 1,000-mile marker and the high point of the trail, a lofty Florida mountain […]
Hillcrest Baptist Church, Altha, FL
I’d done everything that I came to do on the Florida Trail. Maybe I’d skipped some miles, but I intended on hiking those miles in the opposite direction in order to catch a flight to Las Vegas. A little flip-flop instead of hiking straight through. Because of the rain, I said goodbye to the bayview […]
Panama City Beach, Florida
It didn’t take us long to reach Navarre Beach once we realized that we couldn’t cut across the beach from Okaloosa Island. We had a few cocktails at Juana’s Pagodas, chased by several shots of tequila before we pressed on. Though it was a road walk, this was the part of the trail I’d been […]
Jr’s Aucilla Store, Perry, Florida
I hike every day until I pass out. I haven’t done any writing in over a month. The words for social media posts escape me. I was pushing hard because I didn’t have enough time to finish the Florida Trail, and that kept weighing on my mind. I split from the group after we’d gotten […]
Keystone Heights, Florida
We were on an abandoned forest road, drying out gear from the overnight condensation, listening to the whisper of the wind through the trees, when I realized that I hadn’t posted anything to social media in a while. Usually that meant that I wasn’t having fun, that I had zero desire to share the boring […]
Rodman Dam, Palatka, Florida
My plan had been to go into the town of Palatka to resupply, but everyone else had a mail drop at Rodman Dam, and they had more than they could eat. I ended up with some hand me down peanut butter and Pop Tarts, more than enough to make it two days to the next […]