Hello! I’m Aria and this March 2026 I’m heading up the Appalachian Trail for a northbound hike with one of my closest friends, Phoebe. I’m equal parts excited, terrified, grateful, and ready. This blog will be where I share the real stuff: the highs, the lows, the lessons, the magic, the missteps, and probably some crazy thoughts along the way.
I still can’t believe I can do this. But here we are.
I won’t lie, writing a blog for anyone to read makes me nervous. I’ve written this introduction more times than I’d like to admit, and I don’t consider myself a «writer.» I’m more of a word-vomiting type in a diary. But I’m trying to appear authentically here, with fewer grammatical disasters and hopefully some photos to make up for it.
I’m 23 years old (almost 24) and grew up in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. I live with my husband, Will, and our three ridiculous cats: Peach, Soup, and Jinx Harold, who I will miss dearly while I’m gone. I work in my family’s print shop, where I do embroidery and any other heavy lifting that needs to be done. Outside of work, you’re most likely lifting weights, saving, cooking, eating, or, my favorite, sleeping.
Other things about me are that I love animals, coffee, volleyball, and trying literally anything at least once. I am someone who really enjoys doing things with my hands. Some of my favorite hobbies (although I haven’t had time for all of them lately) are pottery, crocheting, drawing, woodworking, and making little things that keep my hands busy and my mind calm. In some ways, walking feels like an extension of that, a long, slow project that changes shape as you work on it. Imperfect, challenging, meaningful. The AT is simply a much, much larger version of that creative process.
In October 2025, I completed the New Hampshire 4000-foot 48-meter. That project taught me something important: I am capable, stubborn, and ready for something bigger.
Me on Mt Carrigain holding the sign my mom made me for finishing my last 4000 foot!
So… Why the Appalachian Trail?
I get asked this all the time and I never have a clear answer. The short version is: because I can. Because I am young, healthy, strong and at a point in life where I can step away from routine and fully commit to walking. That alone is a privilege for which I am deeply grateful. But the long version? It goes back almost a decade.
where it started
My hiking journey started when I was 13 years old. In July 2015, inspired by the book Following Atticus, My mom decided she wanted to hike the 48,4000 feet and asked me to accompany her. I said yes without knowing what I was getting into.
Our first mountain was Tecumseh on July 9, 2015. Being on that summit changed something in me, an emotion, a new perspective, a moment that changed me in a way that I am still trying to put into words. Still, since then, the White Mountains have become a place I return to whenever I need grounding, clarity, or a reminder of what I am capable of. New Hampshire looked very different from above; It still amazes me every time I see its views from over 4000 feet. That summer, we hiked peak after peak. Whiteface, Galehead, Cannon, Pierce, Eisenhower, Waumbek and Moosilauke! We learned, we made mistakes, we laughed, and we created the kind of memories that end up shaping you in ways you don’t realize until much later.
So when TO Walk in the forest he came out A month after our first hike, we had to see it. That was the moment the Appalachian Trail entered my world. I remember thinking, someday I want to do that. I also can’t forget that that movie is how Lord Huron’s song “To the Ends of the Earth” entered our lives and became our hiking mantra, and something we still say as a measure of the length of our love.
Mount Tecumseh, my first 4,000 footer!
A photo my mom took of me on our walk around Pierce and Eisenhower.
Mom and I are matching our wishes at the top of Mount Whiteface.
Life happened…
As I got older, hiking took a backseat. High school, volleyball, college, friendships, studying abroad in France, and getting married. Life filled up quickly. But eventually that spark came back.
This past summer was full of hiking, adventures, and finally sleeping in a tent for the first time in years (surprisingly tolerable for someone who needs a fan to fall asleep). The AT was still a quiet idea, hidden away as a dream of “maybe someday after retirement.”
My husband, Will and I are heading to West Bond this summer!
A great achievement
On the way home from Acadia, we stopped in Rockland, Maine, to visit my grandfather. Sitting on his porch eating butter-dipped clams, he told us something I had known for years: that he always wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. He and my mom had made plans over the years to hike the AT, but as it happened, life got in the way and the dream became increasingly out of reach. It made me realize that “someday” was no longer enough. I am young. I am strong. My life is flexible. And I didn’t want to wait for a future that isn’t guaranteed.
Once the idea took hold… he didn’t let go.
The text that made it happen
I knew I didn’t want to do this alone. I instantly thought of Phoebe, one of my best friends from high school, someone who I knew could take on such a challenge. Having spent several years abroad, sometimes living out of a backpack, I knew she was the only person I could ask. Even before asking her, he had already mentally signed her up. I’m sorry, Phoebe.
On August 25, 2025, I finally sent the simple and direct message: «Do you want to hike the Appalachian Trail?» Her response was, «Oh my God! I’m honored,» but as any sane person would, «I need to think about it.» For two grueling days I waited, filled with anxiety, I would be completely devastated if she said no. He didn’t know if this was something he was willing to face alone. Although I didn’t have to wait long, two days later she said yes.
From that moment we launched directly into planning. We both started researching, going out and hiking, going down Reddit rabbit holes and watching YouTube documentaries, grasping at whatever would prepare us for the unknown. And the truth is that what has stuck with me most from what others have shared is that nothing will prepare us more for the Appalachian Trail than hiking it. And for some reason, that’s scary but comforting.
Phoebe and I’s (Jefferson, Adams, and Madison) first hike after committing to the AT!
The beginning of the full circle
One of the most meaningful parts of this trip is that my mom, grandpa, and husband will be joining us at the beginning and walking with us to Fontana Dam. Three generations climbing the AT together. The people who shaped my love of the outdoors. A dream that my mother and my grandfather shared but never realized. Until now. I can’t think of a more perfect way to start.
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