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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 an image I couldn’t get out of my head, a memory from a childhood trip in Vermont: little carved signs pointing out a path through the woods. Turn one...

A Florida engineer is adamant he spoke with Brian Laundrie on a deserted road near the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina on Saturday morning. Dennis Davis’ alleged encounter with the boyfriend of slain Long Island native Gabby Petito comes as police receive tips that Laundrie may be traversing the trail, the world’s longest footpath. “There is no doubt in my mind I spoke to Brian Laundrie — none whatsoever,” Davis, 53, said. “Dog the Bounty Hunter’s daughter sent me an audio file of Brian’s voice and the voice was the same I heard.” A lost and dazed man allegedly waved...

Dog the Bounty Hunter arrived at Brian Laundrie’s parents’ home Saturday, knocked on the door and met silence – but he’s already picked up a scent. The reality TV star and legendary bounty hunter, whose real name is Duane Chapman, is a father of 13 and lost a daughter around the same age as Gabby Petito in a car accident in 2006. He was already in Florida on a honeymoon with his wife Francie Chapman, he said, when people began reaching out to him to look into Laundrie’s disappearance.

After receiving about 500 tips from viewers, John Walsh, host of “In Pursuit With John Walsh” on the Investigation Discovery network, believes he has narrowed down the list of possible locations Brian Laundrie could be. “We had at least three times more phone calls than we’ve had on any fugitive.” Walsh said. In just three seasons of his show, Walsh has helped authorities capture 26 fugitives and locate eight missing children. He covered the Gabby Petito investigation on his show this week. “We haven’t had this much attention since Elizabeth Smart,” Walsh said. Walsh said the tips he has received...

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford announced Sunday that he is running for president as a Republican, becoming the latest to challenge President Trump in the GOP primaries. Sanford said the Republican Party is facing an identity crisis, and he wants the GOP to take a look at itself and do some soul searching. “I think we have to have a conversation about what it means to be a Republican,” Sanford told “Fox News Sunday,” claiming the party “has lost our way.” Sanford specifically made reference to the debt, deficit and government spending. Other conservatives expressed concern about these issues...

WYTHE COUNTY, Va. - One of the two victims in Saturday morning’s machete attack on the Appalachian Trail has died and law enforcement has now named the suspect under arrest. A spokesman for the Department of Justice said Sunday that 30-year-old James Jordan was arrested in the early morning hours Saturday. He faces federal charges that include murder and assault with the intent to murder. The spokesman said Sunday that one of the victims has died. 10 News previously reported that investigators said one of the victims, a female, was expected to survive the attack, while the condition of the...

WASHINGTON, DC — Work on the Mountain Valley Pipeline has come to a halt after a Friday order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The agency issued the stop work order a week after the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals pulled a permit needed for construction in the National Forest. The 300 miles pipeline is under construction to carry natural gas from Wetzel County, West Virginia to Pittsylvania County, Virginia. FERC ordered a halt to all work with the exception of what it considered measures necessary to land management and stabilization of the right of way and work areas....

There was a moment back in August when Dale “Grey Beard” Sanders considered giving up. In the middle of the 100-Mile Wilderness in Maine, far from help, he was bleeding internally and having heart palpitations — not surprising considering that he was 50 or 60 years older than most of the people he had met on the Appalachian Trail. Sanders called his wife in Bartlett, Tennessee, and she urged him to keep going. With a go-ahead from his doctors, he did, and on Thursday, Sanders, 82, officially became the oldest person to hike the entire 2,190-mile trail in a year....

Attorneys for a Kentucky accountant who embezzled $8.7 million before going on the run said Friday that hiking the Appalachian Trail for six years as a fugitive put him on "the road to redemption."... His attorneys say he has no criminal past, is remorseful and has spent years contemplating his wrongdoing on the popular trail that winds more than 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine.

AUGUSTA, Maine —Documents show an Appalachian Trail hiker whose remains were found last year in Maine survived at least 26 days after getting lost. During that time, her texts went undelivered because of poor cell reception. The Boston Globe reports Geraldine Largay kept a journal in which she acknowledged that she expected to die and that it might be years before her remains were found.

A black bear bit through the tent and into the lower leg of a man who was hiking the Appalachian Trail and camped for the night at a national park in Tennessee, park officials said on Thursday. Bradley Veeder, 49, of Las Vegas, was sleeping around 11 p.m. local time in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Tuesday when the bear attacked, park spokeswoman Dana Soehn said by telephone. Because it was so dark, Veeder and nearby campers did not see the bear, which was initially scared away by his screams, Soehn said. Park officials said it was a...

(CNN)For two years, the whereabouts of Geraldine "Gerry" Largay had confounded authorities in Maine. Largay, a 66-year-old experienced hiker from Brentwood, Tennessee, disappeared while trekking the Appalachian Trail in July 2013. Hundreds of people searched for her. There wasn't a single clue. On Wednesday, a single person, a surveyor, came across bones, clothing and gear just over a half mile from the trail.

The storied Appalachian Trail, which begins 2,190 miles away in Georgia, ends here, with a final scramble up Maine’s highest peak — some of it nearly vertical, much of it blocked by boulders. For those who have trekked five or six months, Katahdin’s iconic summit is an exhausting challenge with a rewarding end.“It takes your breath away,” said Chuck Wood, 64, a hiker from Norristown, Pa. “Just to be there, it’s like an audience with the Lord.”But that experience is now in jeopardy. Faced with increasing crowds and partylike behavior by a few — including an ultramarathon runner who celebrated...

From the top of a mountain in Maine, he swigged champagne and recounted the historic trek. By noon Sunday, 50 people had reached the summit of Mount Katahdin. They hiked a trail through the woods, up boulders, and across a windy ridge to camp out on jagged rocks overlooking the lake-dotted Baxter State Park in central Maine. They waited to see ultramarathoning history. They all had the same question. Where is Scott Jurek? At 2:03 p.m. ET, they got their answer. He was clutching a faded wooden sign, his cheek brushing the engraved letters that read, “KATAHDIN, Northern Terminus of...

GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) - Three Appalachian Trail hikers who were stranded in the snow without shelter have been flown to a hospital by helicopter.

2,184 Miles: From Georgia to Maine on Foot, ( 13:16 ) Cornerstone University Documentary 2013 Final. Join Zac Tolsma and his friends as they experience the Appalachian Trail.

Watch the 7 minute 17 second video Beauty Beneath the Dirt: Thru-Hiking 101. It's brief description : Everything you need to know about thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail in 7 minutes. For the story beneath the surface... check out: http://beautybeneaththedirt.com.

Hikers using part of the Appalachian Trail are being warned about a stomach virus. The U.S. Forest Service released a warning Tuesday to hikers traveling from Hot Springs north to the Tennessee border to be aware of a stomach virus, the Asheville Citizen-Times is reporting. That section of the trail goes through the Appalachian Ranger District in Pisgah National Forest. .....The article is excerpting one from the Asheville paper that hates FR and doesn't allow linking. If you click the article you'll see a link to the Asheville article. This is the time of year when through-hikers start out from...

Arizona Sens. John McCain (R) and Jon Kyl (R) said Tuesday they have no idea where Gov. Jan Brewer (R-Ariz.) is. “No, everybody keeps asking me that,” Kyl told The Hill. “I didn’t know she was missing.” McCain answered similarly. “Since I wasn’t home last weekend I didn’t know about this,” McCain told The Hill. “Jon [Kyl] just told me that there was some issue that she’s not around.” On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported that Brewer was taking a week-long out-of-state work trip that’s shrouded in mystery. Her office has refused to disclose her location or the nature of...

My brother and I are taking our first steps on the Appalachian Trail in 2015. We will start in Georgia and complete the trail in Maine. Any Freepers ever done a thru-hike? Would like any advice/stories anyone may have.