The Who and The Why

Hi! Hello! For my first post, I want to introduce myself and also tell you about my motivation behind this crazy endeavor as lots of people ask me: but why would you do something like that? A simple question with a not so simple answer, at least not in the way non-hiker people would relate to, but I’ll try my best.

City girl with a mountain heart

I’m Ines, born and raised in beautiful Vienna, Austria. I’m just a city girl, living in a lonely (mountain-less) world. Ok, that’s a bit dramatic, but I still live miles and miles away from actual mountains. Somehow, I still managed to get addicted to the hiker life. Well, that somehow is my parents taking me hiking in the Austrian Alps from a very young age on during summer holidays. So not surprising! It feels like a second home to me.

I don’t know how to describe it, but hiking has always felt like meditation to me. When I turn my attention to moving one feet infront of the other, my brain quiets. I can just exist, taking in the nature around me. I never feel more alive when being outside, on top of a mountain or in the lush green of the woods. To me, it’s the best feeling when you reach the summit after a hard climb and look down to see how far you’ve come (maybe that’s also a good metaphor for life?). Naturally, as I grew older, I wanted to hike higher and farther, and we did multi-day hikes with sleep-overs in manned mountain huts (in Austria you aren’t allowed to camp in the wild, safe for a few exceptions). That’s when I stumbled across long-distance hiking, and a new obsession was born.

I have a dream

I can’t say when exactly the desire came up, but for years now I have the dream of thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. After these multi-day hikes, it’s the natural progression to go from 4-5 days of hiking to 5-6 MONTHS. It’s not? Is it just me? I think it’s in my nature to find new challenges for myself, even if the next step sometimes seems a bit excessive. Could I have started with a shorter trail? Sure, but where’s the fun in that?

A short but sweet taste in Sweden

However, I actually did a shorter trail to experience the trekking life. Since backcountry camping is generally not allowed in Austria, I looked for other trails in Europe and found the King’s Path, or Kungsleden, in Sweden. I hiked it for a week in 2023, to really get a taste for tenting in the wild and lugging around 15kg on my back. And what a taste it was! That was when I was sure that the AT is the right thing for me to do. The solitude, the physical challenge, the simple life in terms of possessions you take with you, and nature all up close (sometimes inside your tent – hello mousy neighbor) – all of that scratched an itch I didn’t know I had. So, after years of planning, researching and trying equipment (which I will write about in the next post), and fantasizing about hiking in the forests and mountains of the AT, the time has finally come to make my dreams come true.

What am I expecting?

Obviously, such a hike isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Over that many months, there will be downpours and storms, freezing cold and blazing heat, and whatever else nature throws at you. Everything can happen! But (I hope) there will also be incredible sunsets and sunrises (I’m more of a sunset girl but I’m open to change my mind!), amazing views from mountains tops, flora and fauna to observe, and kind people on the way.

I don’t think that anything can truly prepare you for hiking for months and months in any and all weather conditions. If you are doing a thru-hike for the first time, that is. However, I’d like to think that I have a realistic approach to this whole thing. I’m leaving the romanticised picture at home and I’m aware that there will be days where my motivation equals the temperatures you encounter on Blood Mountain as an early season hiker (hint: very low). But I believe myself strong-minded enough to continue on those days (we will see if that’s true – you are the first to know!).

Masochist in disguise or just another totally normal (crazy) hiker?

As strange as it sounds, I’m really looking forward to all of the hardships of the trail, because the rewards will taste that much sweeter. I remember a moment on Kungsleden in Sweden. It had been raining for hours and I was completely drenched. We were hiking up a small hill which was battered with gusts of wind. My brother was walking in the front, and I just looked at his shoes and followed. At some point he turned around (to make sure I’m still there because he couldn’t hear me over the wind) and asked, ‘Are you having fun?’. I said, ‘Well, not really’ and honestly no one could have said yes in that exact moment. But neither was I miserable. I knew that this was the situation now and in a few hours or the next day it would be better. And it was. Does it sound weird if I say I still kind of liked it?

Sometimes it just is what it is. This is what I signed up for. And I’m set on enjoying absolutely every moment of the AT. I feel mentally well prepared, although there is hardly an experience that could prepare me for 2,200 miles of hiking. At the moment, I like to compare it to running a marathon, which I did last year. Everything was hurting after 30km (18.6m), but in my mind I repeated over and over: You can do it, you will finish, just a little bit farther. Mind over body. And I did it. And fair enough, the AT equals to more than 80 marathons. But I can hardly comprehend that so why bother with it now?

Catching the hiker fever

As I’m now approximately a month away from starting the AT, I feel the hiking fever, that has crept closer and closer over the last few weeks, has finally caught up with me. (I also caught an actual cold, which sucks, but at least I can still snuggle into my comfy bed.) It is probably all the preparations and planning, looking at pictures of the trail and seeing posts of the first hikers that are already out there. I’m so jealous! (But I will follow you soon enough, yay). I’m super excited to start my journey, and to take you all with me on this blog. Especially my friends and family, who are quite concerned that I will be eaten by a bear. Don’t worry, I don’t think a bear will find me appetizing after not showering for a week or two!

Next I will tackle the question how to fit my whole life into a backpack. Until then, see ya!