Derin

Me at the southern terminus of the Pacific Crest Trail

PCT 1: after months of planning for a thru hike starting with 600-700 miles of desert terrain, we begin at the southern terminus, completely overcast. Ahead of us today is non stop rain, all day long. An incongruous start, but still thrilled to begin. 31.03.25

We can easily spare a tenth of England for nature without affecting food production!

20% of our land produces just 3% of our food.

Vast swathes of our uplands are owned by about 150 wealthy landowners who use it for shooting grouse, and set fire to our biggest carbon sink, our peat bogs...

Me and Sarah in front of Laurel Falls

Day 35 on the long hike to Moreland Gap shelter we take a quick side trail to see Laurel Falls.

A popular spot, we were asked by a couple of days hikers where we had hiked from, to which we smugly replied "from Georgia!"

🥾18.4 miles

A red log with "welcome to mountain harbour" written on it, in front of a red hostel building nestled in the trees. A few tents on the ground that slopes towards a stream.

We camp at the hostel, dry our clothes and the following morning indulge in the famous breakfast buffet.

A lone tree in a misty field, Sarah hiking ahead on a muddy path

A sign reads "leaving NC" with a path ahead leading through the woods

Day 34 - we wake early and grind out 16 miles as quickly as we can to reach Mountain Harbour hostel. We're constantly crossing the state line so while nearly finished with Tennessee there are disconcerting signs telling us we'd only just left North Carolina!

🥾16.3 miles

The fireplace and chimney plume - remains of a house - in the middle of the woods

Roan High Knob shelter - a rare two storey shelter

Day 33 freezing cold day hiking up Roan High Knob. At least 15 hikers crammed into the loft of the shelter, the wind blew hard and it rained all night. I was crammed up against the roof and barely slept worried that a spider would crawl onto my face.

🥾15.8 miles

Straight, tall pine trees and a soft looking floor of fallen pine needles

Squirrel corn - a white heart shaped flower

Day 32 - well rested we hike a long day out of Erwin and pitch up at a dispersed camping spot. Heavy pine forest which smells amazing, and a new wildflower - squirrel corn

🥾19 miles

Sign for the Erwin Linear Trail which links Uncle Johnny's hostel with Erwin along the Nolichucky river

Day 31 - zero day in Erwin Tennessee. We walked along a riverside path from Uncle Johnny's to the town centre - a nicely preserved old town, busy coffee shops and a taproom. Cool town!

🥾 0 miles

The Christmas posting break is over

View into a valley with the Nolichucky river flowing through

Hikers walking into Uncle Johnny's hostel

Day 30 - a short day hiking to Erwin, TN then a day off at Uncle Johnny's hostel. Awesome views of the Nolichucky river on the way down.

A day of this length is known as a "near-o" i.e. nearly zero - very few miles in the morning then you take the rest of the day off...

🥾6.3 miles

Predictable vote for #1 from me. The AT was one of the best things I've done in my life so far and the sense of achievement has changed every aspect of my outlook on life. My only warning is you'll likely want to do another triple crown trail once you've done one. We're planning for all 3!

Day 29 - nothing to report from this day, a long day hiking through the rhododendron with far spanning views whenever we broke through the green tunnel.

🥾18.4 miles

Nature's Inn was in a dry county which was a bizarre concept as an English person. No beers after the hike, but we bagged a private cabin with a porch overlooking the stream.

Sarah walking in a misty wood

Sarah walking in a wood with no mist

Day 28 - short day's hike to Nature's Inn hostel. It's still very cold, with lots of mist every morning.

🥾11.2 miles

Day 27 - a short day: we saw a cool rock and took the big butt bypass before we had to stop early because Sarah was sick with dehydration.

🥾 6.7 miles

A sign on a tree reads "welcome hikers trail magic - homemade cookie - fresh water - trash can - southern cookie lady"

We hiked past the home of the southern cookie lady who bakes fresh cookies for passing hikers throughout the season. Just one of many examples of the kindness and supportive things people do for AT hikers!

Sunrise from the top of a fire tower overlooking the North Carolina / Tennessee mountains

Stones arranged to make a "300 miles" marker

Day 26 - we watch the sunrise from the fire tower and start hiking early. We reach the 300 mile marker later that day.

🥾16.8 miles

Sunset and our "camp site" from the top of the fire tower

Day 25 - one of my favourite memories from hiking the Appalachian Trail. A short day out of Hot Springs and we camp at the top of the Spring Mountain fire tower

🥾 11.3 miles

I will absolutely be sharing updates on the PCT. One of my regrets after the AT was not keeping a diary / log, so will use bsky to do it on the PCT

Still think about that sandwich often. You cant really get bologna in the UK!

Day 24 - a zero day eating and resuppling in Hot Springs

Highlight was breakfast hash with a fried bologna sandwich from Smokey Mountain Diner

🥾 0 miles

Day 23 - Reaching the tiny town of Hot Springs, NC felt like a milestone - we'd been talking about it for days, and it's (imo) the first famous Appalachian Trail town. Town means a hot shower, resupply and eating some real food - first up, a bacon cheeseburger at the Iron Horse Station.

🥾12.8 miles

Day 22 - for most of the Appalachian Trail you will occasionally cross a fairly busy tourist / sightseeing area. On this day we went over Max Patch which had awesome 360 views out over the rolling mountains - no surprise it was busy with day trippers.

🥾13.1 miles

Day 21 - a short day hiking out of Standing Bear Farm to Groundhog Creek. We accidentally pitch our tent upwind from the privy. It's not all glitz and glamour on the Appalachian Trail! New wildflower - the fire pink.

🥾7.2 miles

Unthinkingly...?

What's upsetting to me about this decision is that it seems that CoL's overspend on the new Dagenham site has significantly influenced their decision to close the existing sites entirely. Feels like a loss of our living history due to poor controls over the project budget...

Vol 2 here:

go.bsky.app/Sn4VNy

Wet tent does suck but I'm a monster snorer so really avoided the shelters to save the other hikers. We only used the shelters a few times

Day 20 - a moody, wet start, we were the only people to use our tent instead of the shelter and heaving rain rolled in overnight! We leave the smoky mountains today and stay at the somewhat notorious Standing Bear Farm hostel. A new wildflower - the fringed phacelia.

🥾18.2 miles