This is my first blog post chronicling the adventures of me, Adam Boggs, as I hike the Appalachian Trail (AT). I am a software engineer who works from home doing contract embedded software work. I enjoy hiking, pinball (I have 5 machines of my own), brewing my own beer, severe weather, and juggling. I grew up in Boulder, CO but have been living in Eugene, OR for the last few years.

I decided to hike the Appalachian Trail officially at the end of January, 2019. I have been thinking about it for many years now, usually around this time of year when it’s cold and dark and all I want to do is get outside again. After my cousin Rachael passed away last fall in a freak weather-related accident, I started to realize that our existence here on this planet may be brief, and that if I’m going to check off a bucket-list item like an epic hike, I better seize the day and do it while I am still able.

Here it is mid-February and I’m already stressing about all the things that need to be done, equipment that needs to be purchased, resupply boxes that need to be backed, and reservations that need to be made. On top of that, I’m trying to wrap up three jobs.

While my updates on the trail itself will likely be brief updates from my phone, my early posts here from a computer might be a little more detailed as I think through the list of equipment I want to bring, knock off big todo items, and think through some of the issues I’m facing as I get ready to go.

I hope to by on the trail by early April, which is late by some standards. That gives me about 6 months to complete the trail, which doesn’t allow for a lot of downtime. Naturally, I’m out of shape and don’t have a ton of time to train. This might come back to bite me, but my plan is to take it easy on the trail for the first week or two as I slowly get used to the exercise load.

Departure date from Eugene: March 24th
Visit Mom and Colorado.
Estimated flight to Atlanta: April 2nd
Estimated start hiking date: April 4th (or sooner!)

That’s all for now!