For this post, I interviewed my cousin, Toni Proescholdt, about her experiences hiking the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail. She is a total badass and has done some truly amazing stuff! For travelers looking at doing a long-distance trek in the US, these are two of the most popular and well-known trails. Toni has done both trails, which gives her a unique outlook on the hikes.

I interviewed Toni about her experiences on the trail(s), all opinions are honest and remain our own! All photos in this post are courtesy of Toni—you can see more of her photos on Instagram.

Appalachian And Pacific Crest Trails: Inspiration

Q: Tell me a bit about yourself and your big hiking expeditions (when you did them).

A: I grew up in central Iowa and went to Iowa State University, graduating with a Biology degree in 2014. Since then I’ve been working seasonally and traveling: specifically hiking! I hiked all of the Appalachian Trail in 2016 and most (2,235 miles) of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2017. I also hiked the Superior Hiking Trail in 2018 and the Oregon Coast Trail in 2019.

Q: What inspired you to start hiking? Was there any specific inspiration to do these long-distance treks?

A: I grew up playing outside and have always appreciated nature and wildlife, but backpacking or camping were not a part of my life. I knew nothing about thru hiking in 2013 when I was working as a field technician in Wyoming, living on a research station for the summer. A girl who was living in the same cabin was reading a book about a man who had hiked the Appalachian Trail. I had heard of it, but it was such a foreign concept at the time. My first thoughts were, “wouldn’t that be crazy?” and “that’s not for someone like me.” I can’t quite explain what drew me to it. Something about it just stuck with me. I found myself reading blogs and forums and going through gear lists online. Eventually I started to think, “Why not me??” I started slowly buying gear, and listening to podcasts about long distance hiking. At the end of 2015, I decided that I wasn’t going to look for another job when my season ended, and I told everyone I was going to do it so that it felt more real. And I did it.

Q: How did you train for the trips? What types of exercises or work-outs do you recommend for people training for a big hike like this?

A: I did virtually no physical training before my thru hikes. Before the AT, I did some short walks with my backpack partially weighed down to get used to the feel of the pack. Much of my work is outside, and I’m pretty active overall, so that definitely helped. However, over the course of a six-month hike, you have time to get in shape while working your way up to bigger miles. I think any kind of cardio training helps your lungs and heart, and stamina in general. But I think there’s an extent to which you just can’t train to hike 20 miles every day until you’re doing it. My biggest recommendation is to take it slow at the start, and pay attention to your body.

 Preparing For The Appalachian And Pacific Crest Trails

 Q: What was the actual physical trail like for each – easy to follow/well-marked? Impossible to follow and requiring your own navigation?

A: The two are very different!

AT: This trail varies so much. The tread itself can be paved paths and short stretches on actual roads, packed dirt, rocky jumbles, solid rock cliff edges, boardwalks, and boulder scrambles where you have to use your hands to help pull yourself over or under obstacles. The trail seems to almost always be going straight up or down a slope, often for seemingly no reason. We call these hills “PUDs” for Pointless Ups and Downs. The elevation change along the length of the entire Appalachian Trail is the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest 16 times. The entire trail is very well marked with white blazes (rectangular strips of white paint on rocks, trees, and posts) and very easy to follow, overall.

PCT: This trail is actually graded for pack animals, so most of its length can be travelled by horses. This means it has comparatively mild tread and less steep climbs/descents. It is 400 miles longer than the AT, though its elevation change is 3/5 that of the AT. For these reasons, I found the actual walking to be easier on the PCT. This is also why you can hike more miles per day on average on the PCT. This trail is also pretty well-marked and well-travelled, though signed less frequently than the AT. It doesn’t have painted blazes; it has small signs on posts or trees.

Q: What did you do for food on the trail? How much did you need to plan in advance?

A: Before both big hikes I cooked a bunch of meals, dehydrated them, portioned them out, vacuum sealed them, and stored them in my (ever patient) parents’ deep freezer. These meals can last years! These are big calorie bombs that I open up and rehydrate on trail. They have the added benefit of being way cheaper than the cost of commercial dehydrated meals. I also stocked up on things like Cliff bars, snacks, powdered milk, oatmeal, and chocolate, often buying bars and snacks well in advance when they’re on sale. I left big tubs in my parents’ house with a stack of cash to cover shipping. I had my mom send me packages of food to stops along the way, often general delivery to post offices. I did fewer resupply boxes on the PCT and relied more on grocery options near the trail. Some hikers exclusively buy their food as they go, but then you are at the mercy of whatever nearby stores have to offer. I have learned that I like a mix of the two strategies. In towns, I often buy more perishable things like cheese for the stretch ahead, and I often carry other food items like dried fruit, nuts, cereal, instant potatoes, leftover pizza, and many more.

Q: What did you do for drinking water?

A: On the AT and PCT I used AquaMira water treatment chemical drops. These can kill everything, including viruses, if you let it treat long enough. The system consists of two little bottles that you mix in equal parts in a separate cap to activate before adding it to your water, which is safe to drink after 30 minutes (longer for particularly suspect sources or to kill viruses). However, you do need to wait for the water to treat, there is a finite amount in the bottles before you need to replace them, and it doesn’t filter out any of the “floaties” (i.e. algae, moss, dirt). Some people also don’t like the taste. I do sometimes try to filter out some floaties before treating with a bandana, which helps.

 

The vast majority of thru hikers use the Sawyer Squeeze filter, which is an excellent option that you use to squeeze water from one bottle/container, through it, and into another container. One filter can treat almost endless quantities of water. But it does not catch viruses, you need to be careful when filtering to keep the clean and dirty water separate, and it can break if it freezes. I recently got a Sawyer Squeeze, and I’m still figuring out the best system. It worked great for the few hundred miles I’ve carried it for, but I was still missing my AquaMira! There are multiple options and no universal correct choice for everyone.

 

Water sources are known about in advance from guide books or apps, and I often plan on how much water to get at each source, depending on scarcity. At times in the desert on the PCT I would stock up with 6+ liters or 13+ pounds of water. I have two plastic Powerade bottles that are in reach and accessible while hiking without taking my pack off, and a 4L bladder that lives inside my pack to refill them. On the AT my maximum water capacity was 4L with a 2L Camelbak instead of the larger bladder.

Q: What was charging/electricity like while you were on the trail? Was there any?

A: I have an Anker portable charger (it weighs 6.3 oz.) that I used on trail to charge my phone and headlamp. Any time I’m in a town, I am looking for an open outlet to plug in my phone and charger. I also have a wall plug with 2 USB plugs so I can charge both the battery and phone. If I stay in town overnight, I make sure the battery pack is plugged in. When I’m on trail, I keep my phone in airplane mode to conserve its battery and just check for service when I think there will be some (i.e. if I can see a town in a valley below me, I’m at a high point relatively near civilization, etc.).

Comparing And Contrasting The Appalachian And Pacific Crest Trails

Q: How long did each trek take you?

A: I was on the Appalachian Trail for 5.5 months (2,189 miles). I was on the Pacific Crest Trail for 5 months plus one week this summer for a 100 mile stretch I missed the first time due to wildfires (2,335 miles).

Q: What were your favorite things about hiking the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails?

A: AT: The community on the trail is astounding. I met so many wonderful people from all walks of life (get it???) while hiking. The towns along the way are filled with people who know what we’re doing and are willing to give stinky hikers rides into town, or come set up alongside the trail and feed us (acts we call “trail magic”). I made life-long friends on the AT, and a whole world was opened up for me. The experience truly changed my life.

PCT: If I had to choose one favorite thing about the PCT, I’d choose the variety in habitat and landscape. It starts with 700 miles of California desert, with beautiful wildflowers and blooming succulents and cacti, scorpions, kangaroo rats, jackrabbits, and Joshua Trees. The trail rises into the high Sierras, where the altitude is frequently above 10,000 feet. There are glacial mountain lakes, pikas, talus fields, rushing streams, and tiny alpine wildflowers. Then from northern California’s dry, dusty crags to Oregon’s flatter volcanic fields to Washington’s wildernesses and wild blueberries, the trail never ceases to show you something new. As a biologist and overall nature nerd, I loved every section.

In general, I love the slow progress of moving onward toward a distant goal. Walking 2,000+ miles can seem unfathomable, but each step you take adds up to get you there. I also love the simplicity of a daily life that consists of movement and fulfilling basic needs, knowing that you can do so with what you’re carrying on your back. These trips have made me so much more confident in myself and taught me many lessons about life.

Q: What were your least favorite things about hiking the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails?

A: AT: Rain! It was incredibly rainy during the spring season on the AT, and in May in Virginia it rained 21 out of 31 days. There were days in a row that I would take down my tent in the rain, hike in the rain, and set up my tent again in the rain. That can get demoralizing!

PCT: The high snow conditions in the Sierras was a low point for me on the PCT. We walked in snow for miles on end, and the snow melt led to very dangerous river crossings. It was so slow-going that I got stressed about having enough food and rationing out what I had. I ended up deciding to skip part of the Sierras for these reasons. It wasn’t worth it to me, and I look forward to going back for that section when I don’t need an ice axe and crampons.

Q: What did you struggle with the most on these adventures?

A: One of my biggest struggles was loneliness. It can be hard to motivate oneself when there’s no one around to hold you accountable, cheer you on, or listen to you vent. On both of these long trails, there were tons of people around, but sometimes it felt like I was so far from anyone who loved me. This was especially true on the AT, which I started having never lived or travelled much alone. It was on that trail that I ate at a restaurant and stayed in a hotel room by myself for the first time in my life. I just didn’t yet know how to be alone. These experiences made me face that head on though!

Q: Which did you prefer: Appalachian Trail or Pacific Crest Trail?

A: This is such a hard question!!! The two are so very different. The AT will always be special to me, because it was the first big thing like this that I did by myself. I don’t exaggerate when I say it changed my life. As far as ease of walking and new, exciting things to see, the PCT wins. It is truly beautiful and wild.

Q: What was your worst day on each?

A: AT: On the AT in the rainy season, there was a span of about 2 weeks during which I considered quitting every single day. One day during this stretch, I hadn’t seen the sun in three days, and I was hiking alone. I heard about a hostel along the trail that offered a good deal for a warm bunk and a big breakfast with fresh fruit. I decided I NEEDED to stay there that night. I kept trying to call to reserve a spot for when I’d get there, but I couldn’t find enough cell reception to hold a call. Finally, I did, and I was informed that they were fully booked. And I was NOT going to get that breakfast or warm, dry bed. I felt so disappointed and alone, wondering what the heck I was doing out there. I stood there on the trail, leaned against a tree, and cried. Eventually, I took my only real option: I walked on.

 

PCT: One day that was particularly bad came after skipping ahead out of the snowy Sierras. I no longer had many hikers around me, and none who I knew. I had been hiking with a partner for around two months who I met on the first day, but he left the trail when I skipped forward. I felt so lonely, and there was still a lot of tricky snow navigation making for slow miles. My old phone, which I used frequently as a camera and navigation aid, had a battery malfunction and started going from fully charged to dead in four hours. Add in some of the most numerous and voracious mosquitoes I’ve ever experienced and you have Toni going certifiably insane. I was approaching Truckee, California, which has a train station and bus stop, and I decided I was going to quit and go home from there. Of course when I got to Truckee, I ran into two friends I knew from the desert who let me sleep on the floor of their hotel room and calmed my nerves enough to make me change my mind about quitting.

Q: And what was your best day on each?

A: I couldn’t possibly pick! I had so many excellent days on both trails. On the AT, days stick out on which I experienced euphoria hiking through delicious-smelling coniferous forest on soft dirt trail with close friends. On the PCT, some of my favorite memories are from the last stretch, hiking in the glorious Washington wilderness with my hiking partner and our friends, swimming in beautiful lakes, gorging ourselves on perfect wild blueberries.

Q: What was the most you walked in a single day?

A: I once walked 42 miles in 24 hours to get to a post office and retrieve a resupply package before it closed for two days, which included basically hiking through the night. In a normal day (with actual sleep on either side of it) the most I did was about 35 miles. These were both on the PCT.

My biggest day on the AT was 30.5 miles in the 100-mile Wilderness, the second to last day on the trail. So I could say I’d done a 30-mile-day, and to finish the trail on my birthday.

I also once walked 6 miles in an hour and 45 minutes on the AT to get to a pie shop before it closed. (I’m still obviously very proud of this.)

Practical Logistics For Hiking The Appalachian And Pacific Crest Trails

Q: Can you give a rough idea of costs for each trip? Or how much money you spent?

A: The first big expense is getting gear. I recommend reading other thru hikers’ gear lists and online gear discussions to get a feel for what’s out there. Weight makes a big difference! It is worth keeping track of how heavy each item is to limit your pack weight. It will save you money in the long run to buy better stuff the first time around instead of replacing it. Most of my big pieces of gear have lasted me 5,000 miles!

I have about $2,000 worth of gear (this includes everything from my pack and tent down to my underwear and guidebook), and I think I spent about $3,000 – $4,000 while on the hike (including food, hikers eat A LOT). This allowed me to not worry too much about my budget, for example, I could stay in a hotel room occasionally if I needed a mental health night or a break from sleeping outside. If you can swing it, I’d recommend trying to save up $5,000 – $6,000 USD for a thru hike. That being said, it can definitely be done for much less than that, especially if you already have gear.

Q: Any specific items you would recommend someone bring on either trek?

A: A good headlamp is a must. I have a Black Diamond Revolt, which can be plugged in and charged from USB. This is great because I don’t have to carry extra batteries, and I can charge it from my portable battery pack. My bug-proof head net has saved my sanity at several points on both long hikes. It weighs less than 1 ounce, and is absolutely worth it to me.

I’m a total convert to trekking poles. They reduce strain on your knees, especially on downhills, but they have also saved my clumsy butt from several falls. (EDIT from Maja: I love trekking poles! I don’t know how I managed before them!) I always carry a journal, and I don’t always write in it. However, I’m glad to have it, and I’m always glad to better preserve the memories that I did write in it.

Q: What was your average day like on the trail?

A: On an average day, I wake up in my cozy little bed (aka in my sleeping bag, on my sleeping pad, in my tent), retrieve my food from whatever tree I hung it in if there are bears in the area, eat, and pack up my camp. I typically pull out food for the day to put in an accessible pocket, and I start walking. I walk and walk, stopping to admire views and eat snacks. Maybe I’ll stop to chat with another hiker (and eat). I collect and treat water from streams, ponds, rivers, lakes, or any water spigot I come across. I walk some more and eat some more. Maybe I’ll stop to swim in a lake or put my feet in a cold stream. Sometimes I stop and lie down with my legs up against a tree to elevate my feet. Then I walk some more. Eventually I get to where I’m going to sleep that night, and I take off my pack. I set up my tent, inflate my sleeping pad, cook my dinner, eat it, hang my food, maybe write in my journal, and go to sleep.

Q: Did you meet people on the road? Was it easy or difficult to make friends? Did you feel lonely?

A: I met so many people!! If you start a hike on either of these trails in the spring, there will be so many other hikers around, especially at the start. You meet people at campsites, water sources, shelters (on the AT), and towns as you all move in the same direction. You already have something in common with everyone you meet out there. You’re all crazy enough to attempt to hike 2,000+ miles in one go! I tend to make friends and fall into a hiking partnership for a while, planning together how many miles we’ll hike each day and camping together at night. Eventually you notice that some people are going at relatively the same pace as you, or they have a similar style. It has been pretty natural for me. I hiked about half of the AT by myself, though still having friends around who I would see regularly, and half with hiking partners. I hiked almost all of the PCT with hiking partners. I still did get lonely though, especially on the AT.

Q: If you could give one practical piece of advice for someone embarking on a long-distance trek, what would it be?

A: Pay attention to your body!!! A small injury can turn serious pretty quickly if you try to continue hiking 20 miles a day on it. I have managed to have no injuries or serious complications from hiking. Part of that is luck, but a big part is giving myself easier days or taking days off when I needed.

Q: What are you up to these days? Do you have another adventure planned?

A: I’m currently working as a biological science field technician in western Montana, and I’ve been here for about a year. I plan to stay here another year, and then…. Hike the Continental Divide Trail! This is the last trail (along with the AT and PCT) in what’s called the “Triple Crown” of North American long distance hiking. It runs along the continental divide from Mexico to Canada through New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, and it’s about 3,000 miles long. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since finishing the PCT, and I’ve been waiting until the right time (and saving money) to do it. There are of course many other trails calling my name, so I’ll not run out of ideas any time soon.

 

Thanks so much to Toni for sharing her experiences, tips, and photos with us! To keep up to date with her adventures, you can follow her on Instagram.

Have you ever done a long-distance hike before? Share your experiences in the comments below!

You might like my other posts:

Interview: Everest Base Camp With Himalayan Wonders

All of my hiking posts!

Like this post? Pin it for later!