I can only imagine how nervous I’ll be the night before the AT! Day 1

Needless to say, we did not sleep well as both of us were a bundle of nerves. Us northerners thought it was funny, but a bit annoying that it almost reached the historical low from our research. It calmed our nerves a bit to know we had a reliable ride to our trailhead and a contact nearby if anything went wrong.Īll of the locals today profusely apologized for the unseasonably cold weather, which was actually in the high 40s when we arrived. We were so thankful for their kindness, and it was so nice to catch up. We had my gracious family friends come pick up our bags with flight clothes and beach gear for after our trip, and they even offered to drop us off at the trailhead the next morning. It’s a simple motel in walking distance to everything we needed and the manager, Cindy, was amazing. We haven’t seen each other since college so it was so nice to reunite! We picked up our bags and took a Lyft to Tequesta Palms Inn, which I would highly recommend. I landed at about 11:15 and my hiking partner landed at about 11:45. I left my apartment at 5:30 am to get to Boston Logan Airport (my amazing roommate drove me), checked my bag, and took off at 7:30. This is not exactly what I’ll be bringing on the Appalachian Trail, since the weather will be wildly different to start. To see everything I brought, look through my LighterPack for the O2L trail. If you want to see more photos from the trail, watch the O2L story highlight on my Instagram! Gear Looking for everything you need to know about the Ocean to Lake Trail? Check out Jupiter’s comprehensive write-up about the trail. We settled on the Ocean to Lake trail in Florida because it was a short trail, easy to travel to, and we could relax at the beach after the hike for a mini-vacation.

My hiking partner and I decided to ditch the northeast and head south for a quick backpacking trip before our AT attempt in March. What do two bored 2022 Appalachian Trail hopeful thru-hikers do in the months leading up to their attempt? Go on a mini thru hike where it’s warm!

Gator man stuck in quicksand