Changing the International Appalachian Trail

Last July, my dad told me he was going to climb the AT in 2026 and asked if I would go with him. I thought about it for a while. On the one hand, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do the AT again; I could always spend that time and money walking a new path. But on the other hand, this was something we’d always talked about doing together when I was a kid, and just 100 miles with him on the Long Trail produced so many stories that I thought a hike would give us a real treasure trove of memories together. After talking to my partner about it, I proposed a crazy counterproposal to my dad: What if we hiked the International Appalachian Trail (IAT) instead? I figured that in the process of hiking the IAT, he gets his AT through the hike, and for me, there is unexplored terrain and a sense of added challenge (this will be my longest hike to date at over 1000 miles).

So what the heck is the IAT?

I don’t know if this is something other chronic hikers do, but sometimes late at night instead of sleeping I go to Wikipedia’s list of long distance trails and look at all the random trails I can hike. It was through this process that I came across the IAT. I always wondered why the AT just stops when there are clearly more mountains to climb both north and south of the trail. The revelation that yes, there is indeed a continuation of the path, and that it takes you QUITE so far, it was a bit interesting for me. As far as? Well, north of Katahdin, you can continue walking for about 720 miles. The trail takes you through Maine, then crosses the border into New Brunswick and Quebec, before reaching the ocean at Cape Gaspé in Forillon National Park.

Although we will only hike to Cape Gaspé (this year), technically the trail continues. much beyond that. After leaving mainland Canada, the trail continues to Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. It then continues to Greenland and Iceland, crosses much of Europe and even extends to northwest Africa. You see, in the old days, when the supercontinent Pangea was still intact, what we currently call the Appalachian Mountains were actually part of a much larger chain: the Appalachian-Caledonian Mountains. Today, thanks to hundreds of millions of years of geological forces, these mountains span three continents. What I like about the International Appalachian Trail is that, in theory, you could put all of these sections together and effectively «hike» across Pangea.

Although technically not part of the International Appalachian Trail appropriateThere are Appalachian Mountains south of Springer, so our IAT route will follow them as well. The current plan is to backtrack about a quarter mile from Springer to connect with the Benton Mackaye Trail, which then connects with the Pinhoti Trail. This will add approximately 360 miles and bring us to our terminus at Flagg Mountain in Alabama.

So, for those counting, these shenanigans will add about 1080 miles to our AT hike, bringing the total to about 3278 miles, give or take. Below is a map of our planned route, with the different colors representing different states/provinces and trail changes.

Why not do the entire Eastern Continental Trail (ECT)? ZUoms8K.

Many years ago, I had planned to do this hike as part of a longer ECT. The difference between our planned route and the ECT is the approximately 1,100 mile long Florida Trail, plus approximately 190 miles of road walking in Alabama. I always find it tempting to do more trails, but this hike will already keep me away from my favorite person and our two cats for 8-10 months… adding a couple more months will keep me away from him longer. This extra time also makes it less likely that my dad will agree to the whole thing, and while I’m comfortable hiking alone in most environments, my deep fear of alligators and venomous water snakes means that if I ever complete the Florida Trail, I won’t be doing it alone. Finally, from the standpoint of what an independent trail “looks like” to me, the route I traced seems like a continuous trail to me because of the way the mountains connect and the relative continuity of the actual trail. To me, the highway’s 190-mile connector makes it seem like the Florida Trail is a separate entity.

So why flip-flop?

I hate to admit it, but before I hit the trails, there was a part of me that despised hiking in flip flops. It’s like I thought they didn’t «count» because they weren’t a continuous line. So when I hiked the AT in 2018, I chose to do the traditional northbound hike. My logic at the time was that I wanted that final photo at Katahdin, I wanted to get the “less scenic” terrain out of the way first, and I wanted to maximize my form for the big climbs at the end.

But what I discovered was that once I was on the road, I was very, very a lot too tired to care if my walk went north, south, backwards or the other way around. The phrase Walk your own walk, yes, became my new motto. I’m sure there are some people who care about these things, and that’s fine, but for me… I can’t stop going around and around. Assuming that «flipping» is heading north and «flopping» is heading south, my first AT hike was actually a Flip-Flop-Flip-Flip-Flip (and that does NOT include the occasional southbound slackpack).

While hiking the AT in 2018, I also noticed:

1. I hate to admit it, but when I was in New England, I appreciated the mountains as much as I appreciated ANOTHER package of chicken-flavored ramen noodles. Viewpoint 0.1 mile from trail? Hey, I have miles to go, I’ll pass it. The Whites aren’t a place to do big mile days just to finish the course, and I think that feeling of rush is part of the reason I got hurt so close to the end.
2. My fitness on the trail was something of a bell curve: I started to gain fitness, but at some point, the nagging overuse injuries I suffered on the hike began to negate some of the fitness I had gained.
3. I didn’t realize how much my introverted self would hate being in the bubble (for those who don’t know: «the bubble» is the crowd of hikers heading north from Springer on the most popular start dates, usually March-April).
4. I really hate the feeling of being on a strict schedule, especially one with an unpredictable end date (Katahdin closes from mid to late October, but the exact date changes every year).

Additionally, because the IAT adds such substantial distance north of Katahdin, to complete the course, NoBo would require speed and a strict schedule. Completing the SoBo trail would require starting late enough to not freeze in Quebec (I hate being cold), which would mean I’d be hiking through the southern states in the middle of winter (which my February 2018 AT start taught me means a LOT of snow and ice). So will I completely avoid the cold? Probably not. But at least we are maximizing our window of good weather.

So when do we start and where?

My dad had originally planned to start the hike in Massachusetts, since that would allow my mom to drop him off on the trail. However, I counterproposed the more traditional starting point of Harper’s Ferry because that would give us several hundred miles of flatter terrain with which to build our sections of trail before reaching the northeast. This also allows us to start a month or two earlier than we would if we started further north, further extending our weather window for such a long haul. Finally, this puts us going slower through Maryland, the section I used to be a ridge runner (a ridge runner is basically a forest ranger/janitor). I have crossed this section 13 times and have a lot of sentimental attachment to it for all the time and work I have done there.

We start exactly one week from today, Thursday, April 2, a date that was determined almost entirely by the cost of plane and train tickets. I’m excited to get out and sad to say goodbye to the cats and my partner so soon.

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