Why?

Welcome to “How to Hike 2000 Miles” – thanks for checking out the site and potentially following me as I attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail.

Hiking the AT has always been a dream of mine. I grew up in suburban Atlanta and, from an early age, have held a deep appreciation for the outdoors. From hiking in my back yard alongside the Yellow River as a little kid to camping in the North Georgia mountains as a Boy Scout, I’ve always felt very comfortable being a part of nature.

I hiked small parts of the AT in my teens – and even then, at my most cynical and awkward, I still thought walking on mountains from Georgia to Maine was a pretty cool idea.

At several points in my twenties, I told myself and others that I was going to hike the AT, if not this summer, then the next. Or even “one of these days”.

In April of 2015, I resigned my position with a small PR firm in Seattle and decided the day had come, that in early March of 2016, I was going to start hiking the AT. I began waiting tables and bartending full-time and then some, determined to have the resources in place to see the hike through. And so far, so good!

I set up this website to chronicle the whole thing. While necessity has forced me to keep things simple, I should be able to regularly upload photos and post journal entries daily (or so) once on trail. I think it’ll be fun.

Again, many thanks for the read! Feel free to email me at chriskummer05@gmail.com.