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The Adventure Begins

Matthias
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The Adventure Begins

The Adventure Begins

The last few days in Germany I wasn’t really nervous about the flight to Charlotte or the journey itself. So I enjoyed the days with some really good friends. We grilled some beef, made burgers and had a lot of fun.

Thanks to my sister Carolin who drove me to the airport in Frankfurt. So, she was the last person in Germany who saw me alive ? The flight itself was horrible. Way too long and I couldn’t sleep this time. So I watched nearly an entire season Suits on Netflix on my phone.

When I landed in Charlotte my friends Fabian and Jacky and her cousin Cindy picked me up at the airport. Many many thanks to Cindy Cummings and her husband. Without her it wouldn’t be possible to start this trip! I could use her address for my VISA request. She picked me up at the airport. I could sleep at her house. Really awesome!!! First, we went shopping. I needed an American SIM card for my phone, fuel for my stove, some food, etc. After more than 2 hours in the T-Mobile store and some technical problems later, I got my own American mobile phone number. How cool is that? ?

The next day, Jacky, Fabian an myself drove to Springer Mountain in Georgia which is the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Many thanks to these two guys who spended the last day of their two weeks trip for me driving me about 5 hours.

I started at about 6pm on the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. I took an camping spot just after 3 miles of hiking because it was getting dark outside. So I set up camp and just after eating and going to bed it started raining nearly the whole night. The next morning I had to pack my soaking wet tent. I met many different people on the next day out there on the trail.

This first day I hiked around 16 miles to a nice little camping spot. Few weeks ago I said to myself that I have to start slowly. So a first 16 mile is definitely not a slowly starting. I met some awesome people at the tent spot. We eat together and had a lot of fun.

I‘m really excited about Neels Gap. There‘a supposed to be the best outfitter on the entire Trail. Every single person there once thru-hiked the AT. I‘ll keep you updated. I definitely need some stuff and fresh food ?

Lake District National Park

Matthias
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Lake District National Park

Lake District National Park

I went with Emanuel (a colleague of mine) to the Lake District National Park in England for a four day hike. We took a flight from Frankfurt to Manchester. It was a very windy flight with many turbulences. When we flew we also didn‘t know anything of the Beast of the East yet. Actually it is the coldest winter in England since 27 years. A guy in the plane told me that half of his colleagues didn‘t came to work because of the snow and very windy conditions.

Day 1

Nevertheless, we arrived in Manchester, took our rental car and drove to Crewe. We slept the first night in a very nice hotel called Rookery Hall. The breakfast the next morning was fantastic. After buying some fuel and food for the next day we went for our three hour drive to the Lake District National Park.

Day 2

We arrived at our destination parking lot at around 1 o‘clock. So, we had about 4-5 hours to walk before the sun goes down. We walked about 2 miles until we saw the lake called Wast Water. A really scenery lake between the mountains. The path besides the lake was insanely rocky and difficult to walk. Wasn‘t what we expected. So it took us quite some time to reach the other side of the lake. Besides the difficult path it was crazy windy down at the lake.

We looked for a spot to set up our tents. No way to set up our ultralight tents in this windy conditions. Luckily there was an open camping area where wo took a wooden hut with a small heater for the night. It was really chilly. We met a guy from France at the camping area. He set up his tent in this conditions. I have no clue how this guy did it.

Day 3

We met the guy the next morning. He said it was stupidly cold in his tent. Despite he wore all his layers he had. He wanted to climb the highest mountain in England, Scafell Pike. The guy in the camping shop told us that we would not be able to do this without crampons and an ice axe. Nevertheless, we wanted to reach the summit and went with the french guy. By the way, Benjamin, the french guy, was really well prepared. He had all the needed gear for a successful summit. Imagine two hikers with trail runners and a 60l backpack and one with snow boots, crampons on it and an ice axe on his climbing backpack. What a surreal image. About half of the way was really doable. Then hell began. Freezing cold wind with wind speeds around 50mph. Snow and ice everywhere. It was a really hard climb up to the summit. But, WE DID IT. We reached the summit of Scaffel Pike at around 12 o‘clock. The way down was really dangerous. Ice everywhere. Really hard without crampons. We came back to the camping area at 3 o‘clock. So, what to do with the Rest of the day? We went to a local pub about 20 minutes to walk for some beers. Had some nice talks with Benjamin. He summited Mont Blanc last year. What a crazy guy.

Because of the extrem conditions we were not able to take our planned route. It was way to windy on top of the mountains for setting up our tents. So, we took the wooden hut for another night.

Day 4

On sunday, we took a path up on the mountains by the lake Wast Water in direction back to our car. The scenery with the mountains around and the lake was absolutly amazing. We had all kind of weather this day. Really high wind, sun, snow and rain. After some hours of hiking we found a lovely camping spot down at the lake where we set up our tents. Soon after we went to bed it started raining. Perfect timing. The night was not that cold. It rained sometimes and was quite windy. So, not that much sleep.

Day 5

The next morning was absolutely perfect. No rain and beautiful sunset. We only had a couple of miles left back to the car. So, we took it easy. We arrived quite to early at the airport in Manchester. We enjoyed some food, beer and coffee.

Distance Challenge

Matthias
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Distance Challenge

Distance Challenge

For my upcoming thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail starting at April, 10th 2018 I definitely need some more training. I have a bad knee injury for a few years. My patella is broken on both of my knees. I’m forced to hike with a bandage on each knee.

A friend of mine and myself thought about doing a distance challenge. So far, we never hiked more than 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) in a day. We choose a distance of 37 kilometers (about 23 miles). He planned his own tour. If you’re interested in the tour, check out this link.

We started early in the morning, about 8 o’clock. I already was a bit exhausted from the 18 kilometer (about 11 miles) hike the day before. The scenery on our hike was not that amazing, but the distance was the goal we wanted to reach. We were able to complete the first 19,5 kilometers (about 12 miles) in just 3,5 hours, which was pretty neat. After our first lunch break my feet were hurting like crazy. Every step was real pain. I sometimes moaned like a little child, but my friend always lifted my mood. We did our second break after 29,5 kilometers (about 18 miles). At that point I realized I only have 8 kilometers (about 5 miles) more to go. From this step on I gained strength and we completed our 37 kilometer in 6,5 hours. I haven’t had any issue with my knees, which is pretty satisfying to me. After reaching the finish line I was really happy and confident.

Felsenmeersteig

Matthias
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Felsenmeersteig

Felsenmeersteig

Last weekend I went out with some of my friends to an awesome hike in the swabian alps. The trail we walked is called Felsenmeersteig. It is known for it’s scenic and impressive landscape. Normally, while being on top you can enjoy breathtaking views from steep eaves. But this time fog was all around. Sometimes we found small holes in the fog and were able to imagine how impressive the views could be.

Nevertheless we enjoyed the terrain. In the middle of the forest, there is the “Felsenmeer“. The huge rock formations tower up and draw a wild as bizarre landscape in the dense forest.

Final Hiking Gear

Matthias
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Final Hiking Gear

Swap out Appalachian Tail Hiking Gear

For years all the hikes I did were day hikes. There was no need for equipment like a big pack or a tent. I started longer hikes with a colleague of mine. So the first think I did was purchasing some gear without any research. I just bought cheap gear (mostly from Decathlon). Guess what is coming next? I changed pretty much all of it 😉 If I wanna hike for about 6 months on the Appalachian Trail, I had to swap out most of my hiking gear. Don’t get me wrong. The Decathlon stuff is great for its price. But if you want to start a through-hike of the Appalachian Trail 2018 it’s just not the right one.

All of my equipment

If you’re interested in my actual Appalachian Tail hiking gear, take a look at my gear list! There, you’ll find all of my actual gear, with links where to buy and even the weight.

Big Agnes Tent

The last missing item is the Big Agnes Flying Creek UL2. I own a Decathlon tent called “Quickhiker Ultralight 2“. For the price of 150 dollar this tent is absolut fantastic. I really like it so far. It’s easy to set up, relatively small and also its weight is ok. But if you wanna hike for months the weight of this tent is just too much for me.

So, I wrote a friendly letter to the christ child and asked for a Big Agnes Flying Creek UL2 😉 Lets hope for christmas eve!!!

No Way Back

Matthias
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No Way Back

Finally through-hiking the Appalachian Trail 2018

About 6 months ago, after a day hike in the austrian alps, I watched some YouTube videos about hiking in the evening. I came across a channel called Homemade Wanderlust of Jessica Mills, aka “Dixie”. She is an american hiker and at this time already through-hiked the Appalachian Trail. While watching her channel she was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Her videos really inspired me to also start a through-hike of the Appalachian Trail 2018. From this evening on there was this idea in my mind. Although I’m kind of an erratic person, I never got rid of this idea.

Some Research has to be done

In the next few weeks, I did some research. How can I accomplish to go hiking for about 6 months without losing my job or my apartment? Well, it was easier than I thought it will be. The company, I work for, has an ability called Sabbatical, where you can take a certain amount of free time. You don’t get paid, but you don’t loose your job. Next, my apartment. My sister works in Stuttgart, a town near of mine. For the last few months she already lived at mine during the week. So, I asked her if she would look after my apartment and pay for the rent. And guess what? She said yes. The two biggest problems were resolved in just minutes. Hell yeah!

Apply for a US Visa

The next point on the list was a Visa for the US. The normal Travel Visa, called “ESTA” only lasts for a maximum time of 3 months. A through-hike of the Appalachian Trail 2018 in just 3 months? No way! I wanna enjoy the trail and don’t be in a hurry! So, I applied for a B2 Travel Visa, which lasts for 10 years with a maximum of 6 months to be in the US in a row. As I was in the US embassy in Frankfurt, Germany I was really nervous. The were all kind of people applying for a Visa. All of them had huge amount of documents with them. I ONLY had my required DS-160 form. I asked myself why they had all those documents for?! But, my talk was a charm. The embassy employee was really kind. He just wanted to know what I want to do in the US. So I said: “Hiking the Appalachian Trail”. After a one-minute talk I had my Visa.

I think that was the point were I realized: THERE IS NO WAY BACK! The weekend after I got my Visa via mail, I booked the flight to the US.

Check my blog posts for more information!

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Matthias
Matthias
My name is Matthias, also known as "Bernie". I'm a sofware engineer. But I'm also addicted to hiking and beeing outdoors.
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