On the Appalachian Trail, I Fell in Love with America
Elias Wachtel treks the Appalachian Trail, passing through the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. (All photos courtesy of the author)
After graduating high school during Covid, it was hard to see a path. That’s when I decided to hike 2,193 miles.
When I was 18 years old, I decided to hike all 2,193 miles of the Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine.
It was a strange year to come of age, 2020. Covid had canceled my high school graduation and delayed my freshman year of college; it was hard to see how to go out into the world and grow up. But from my bedroom in the suburbs of Chicago, there was…
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