Day 8 started with breakfast at the Green Dragon Hostel. Bill and Donna’s famous French toast, somehow caramelised on the bottom with honey in a way that I still can’t fully explain, just that it was extraordinary. Then a goodbye that felt harder than expected. Some people you meet on this trail leave a mark. Bill and Donna are those people. Kind without trying, generous without keeping score. The kind of hosts that make you feel like you belong somewhere. Even when you’re ju

Days 1-7 | Springer Mountain to Dicks Creek Gap — The First Week on the Appalachian Trail Seven days in. One state down. And already, the trail has taught me more than I expected. I started Day 1 at Springer Mountain — Mile 0 — and settled into what would become my natural pace almost immediately. Two miles per hour. Not by design, just where my body landed with a fully loaded pack. The goal was Hawk Mountain Shelter at Mile 8.1, just 7.2 miles from Springer — a conservative

3am. Alarm goes off. This is it. After fifteen years of dreaming, two years of serious preparation, and more early mornings than I can count, I’m finally doing it. I’m heading to the Appalachian Trail. The shuttle picks me up at 4:20am. The airport is quiet, barely anyone around, the Qantas staff haven’t even opened the check-in counter yet. I find a coffee shop — overpriced, airport standard, doesn’t matter — and I sit there with my thoughts and a very average flat white, th

Fifteen years ago, I was hiking the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina when I crossed paths with a group of hikers who had completed the Appalachian Trail the year before. Listening to their stories absolutely fascinated me. There was something about their energy, their sense of accomplishment, and the sheer scale of what they’d done that stuck with me. From that moment on, the AT became something I dreamed about — watching YouTube videos, reading trail journals, imagining