The Appalachian Trail (AT) traverses through the Appalachian mountain range from Georgia to Maine. It crosses through 14 states totaling nearly 2,200 miles. Hiking it entirely is a mammoth undertaking. It is the longest hiking-only footpath in the world. Each year thousands of hikers attempt a thru-hike, and only about one in four complete the journey. To do so earns you the title of “2,000 miler.”
Former Franklin resident and 2012 Franklin Community High School grad Matt Chambers is now in the “2,000-mile club.”
He started his thru-hike on March 24, 2024, and completed the hike on August 17, 2024. Chambers was a SOBO hiker, meaning he started in Maine and hiked south to Georgia. This hike was not his first attempt. In 2022 he had hiked 421 miles when his quest was cut short, due to a nasty fall that left him with both bones in his right forearm shattered. That injury resulted in two surgeries and a year of physical and occupational therapy, and permanent nerve damage in his hand. Despite that, he knew he would return to the trail.
To prepare for the demanding endeavor, Chambers read nearly every book he could get that was related to the trail, including those that detailed failures. Preparing for the physical demands of the hike included long hikes every weekend and trail runs multiple times a week. Hiking the trail includes 20- to 30-mile days. Chambers knew that many people hurt themselves by trying to push themselves too hard too fast. He made a rule for himself not to go more than 15 miles in the first two weeks on the trail, and then once he knew he had no nagging pains, he felt confident enough to up his mileage to 20 to 30 miles per day.
He set out on the trail solo, but commented that he was never alone. There is a term known as tramily, meaning trail family, used among the hikers. Those are the people who hike at your pace, who have similar goals, and who you click with and can spend hour upon hour with each day – those become your trail family. Among the hikers a special camaraderie evolves, and a unique set of hiker phrases and terms become everyday language while on the trail. Each hiker earns a trail name, and his became Colonel Popcorn.
Packing for a trek such as the entire trail included planning out all he would need for living in the woods for an extended period. His pack would weigh between 30 and 35 pounds, depending on the amount of food he carried, and would include: tent, sleeping bag, water filtration system, first-aid kit, one set of hiking clothes, one set of emergency backup clothes, a mid-layer jacket, a puffy jacket, a cook set, and a rope to hang food out of reach of bears at night.
Throughout the hike, Chambers hiked through every imaginable type of weather including snow. He crossed paths with all types of wildlife. He came within yards of a few bears and had one scary encounter with a rattlesnake. At one point he wound up with Lyme disease. He was lucky that he was treated early, but prior to receiving antibiotics, he had some of his most physically hard days on the trail. He was exhausted and unable to do even half of his normal pace, and his chest was so constricted that he said it felt like he was breathing through a straw. Throughout the trail he dealt with adversities such as battered feet, relentless chafing and twisted ankles. He took a hard fall, ripping out a chunk of his forehead. Super glue became the substitute for needed stitches. He has a nice scar souvenir from that experience.
While all that sounds like enough to deter a person, Chambers said he never considered quitting. He knew what it felt like already to fail, as he recalled his injury from 2022. “The feeling of not being able to finish my thru-hike was far worse than I ever felt during my [previous] hike, so quitting never crossed my mind,” he said.
Hiker hunger is a trail term that refers to an insatiable hunger that all hikers eventually experience. “When it hits, you can eat whatever whenever, and practically will not get full,” Chambers said. “It is a blessing and a curse.” Chambers said he was burning 4000 to 6000 calories a day. He packed the most calorie-dense food he could find, which included protein bars, peanut butter, ramen, spam packets, candy, meat sticks, and anything made by Little Debbie.
Town food can be a whole different story according to Chambers. When a hiker hits a town along the trail, a thru-hiker becomes a restaurant’s MVP (most valuable patron).
“I’d regularly order two entrees and an appetizer, all for myself,” Chambers said. If that did not fill him up, then he would walk to the nearest ice cream shop and eat a pint of ice cream. On top of that, he said that if he was in town for an extended period of time, he would do the same thing for all three meals. When he got home all he really wanted was a home-cooked meal, and his parents delivered, he said.
Part of what makes the trail so special are the culture and traditions around it. Chambers explained that Trail Magic involves acts of kindness by people (known as trail angels) to thru-hikers. “I’ve seen people lug a grill out into the middle of the woods so they could grill up burgers for the thru-hikers, I’ve seen coolers filled with drinks left at crossings, and I’ve had fully home-cooked meals from people who spend their summers off cooking for and feeding thru-hikers,” he said.
Chambers said the best part of his trip was the friendships he made along the way. He has already made plans to travel with them again in the future. There are other long trails through other parts of the country he would like to explore, and he is interested in pursuing a cross-country backpacking trip someday. He does not have plans to hike the AT again, but he said “never say never.”
