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By Joan Young, MCP Contributor
LUDINGTON — I was supposed to be interviewing Tim and Tammy Martin of Ludington, regarding their recent Appalachian Trail (AT) thru-hike. But you know what happens when three long-distance hikers get together. Or maybe you don’t… so I’ll tell you.
It doesn’t matter a whole lot what long trail a hiker has done. Any person who has spent a month or more living mostly in the out-of-doors, carrying bed, home, supplies and food in a backpack, being alternately soaked, baked, and wind-burned becomes a member of a “club.”
Clubs have their own jargon and a camaraderie forged in those similarities of experience. We don’t have to explain to each other what it’s like to groan under the weight of a full pack after re-supplying, despite the confidence of knowing we have plenty of food for the upcoming days. We understand the pain of aching muscles or joints, blisters and sunburn, but we can joke about vitamin i (ibuprofen), the ten different ways you can’t heal or prevent blisters even when the gurus explain how it’s done. And we mutually share the joy of knowing we’ve accomplished a physical E2E (end-to-end) feat completed by few others.
Tim and Tammy—their collective trail name is T&T—spent six months doing a hike of the Appalachian Trail from May 11 through November 2, 2024. As the majority of AT hikers do, they started in the south at Springer Mountain, Georgia, and walked north. This is as much as two months later than many of the hopeful end-to-enders. They hiked between 18 and 22 miles a day, a sprightly pace, in the relatively easier states of Virginia and Maryland. However, north-bounders (nobos) have to pay attention to timing. The trail in Baxter State Park, Maine, to ascend Mount Katahdin, the northern terminus, closes in mid-October each year due to snow.
Concerned they might not make it in time, T&T rented a car in Pine Grove Furnace, Pennsylvania, and drove to New Hampshire where they hiked the northernmost section of the trail, also nobo. They had hoped to walk the same direction for the entire distance, but one thing that long-distance hikers must be is flexible. Instead, they filled in the middle section walking south, sobo.
We compared our approaches to food. They chose items mostly by the standard of containing at least 100 calories per ounce. Salt and fat content were important to them. And they did most of their resupply from towns along the trail, which limits the choices. I dehydrate my own backpacker meals and plan on 1.2 pounds of dried food per day. Tim likes Cheetos, noting that what you need is fast calories. I don’t like Cheetos even at home, however, I have a friend who did the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) on a diet primarily consisting of Doritos.
We do share the same sentiments about trail shelters, preferring to tent. Three-sided shelters don’t protect you from bugs and mice. Especially on the AT, they are usually filled with snoring bodies each night, and as people arrive, then arise and leave at different times, a good sound sleep can be hard to come by.
The hardest times for T&T varied from Tim’s bee stings to traversing the White Mountains in New Hampshire. But Tammy said, “People make the trail.” For her, that was the best part. They made lifelong friends, and were blessed by people bringing them supplies and helping them spot vehicles.
Oh, did I mention that this was their second hike of the Appalachian Trail? They also completed a section hike in 2023. And what’s next? They are brimming with ideas… the AT again? The PCT? (it’s calling them) But the Wonderland Trail that circumnavigates Mount Rainier in Washington is near friends and family. Tim wistfully mused that the East Coast Trail in Newfoundland is “only” 200 miles.
And there you have it. “Old hikers never die, they just slow down.”
Editor’s Note: Joan Young of Scottville was the first woman to completely hike the North Country Trail. She’s kind of a big deal in the hiking world!
Tammy and Tim Martin, left and right, with Joan Young
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