Appalachian State University alumnus Nathan G. Vish hikes the Appalachian Trail alone shortly after graduating high school. He is one of 397 northern bound thru-hikers. Special to The Appalachian

by MEGAN NORTHCOTE
Intern Lifestyles Reporter

When Nathan G. Vish graduated from high school in 2004, he felt like he had spent the last four years in a pressure cooker.

“You’ve accomplished a lot, but you don’t know where you’re going,” Vish, a 2007 Appalachian alumnus, said. “I wanted a challenge, something that would be big and epic. A chance to get my life in perspective, to stretch me and push me in ways that I haven’t experienced.”

That’s when Vish decided to hike the Appalachian Trail – all 2,170 miles of it in five and a half months.

Beginning his northern-bound journey just days after his high school graduation, Vish was one of the youngest people on the trail and also one of the most determined. 

At age 18, Vish hiked the entire Appalachian Trail by himself.

He proudly added his name to the list of 397 northern bound Appalachian Trail completers, or thru-hikers, in 2004, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s Web site. 

Vish had a grand total of only 60 miles hiking experience prior to hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Beginning to plan for his hike as early as the middle of his junior year of high school, Vish read trail journals, guidebooks and anything else he could find online to prepare for his adventure.

Vish decided to pursue the northern-bound hike beginning at Springer Mountain in Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia and ending at Mt. Katahdin in Baxter State Park in Maine.

One of the first things Vish learned when he first started on his journey was the importance of packing light.

“Weight is everything,” Vish said. “If you can cut 1 ounce out of 8 things in your bag, then you cut a half a pound.”

A few hundred miles into the hike, Vish even got rid of his maps because they weighed too much.

Carrying five days worth of food, averaging two and a half pounds of food a day, Vish learned how to get by with small portions of oatmeal and other reduced calorie foods, which were mailed to him from his mom on a weekly basis.

An average thru-hiker hikes about 16 to 18 miles a day, burning about 5,000 calories each day, Vish said.

But for Vish, learning how to survive wasn’t all that difficult.

“Learning how to live with yourself for that long and being forced to be around yourself, that’s the most challenging part,” Vish said. “It’s less boredom than it is discomfort, with getting a look at who you are and having to live with that person.”

That’s not to say Vish was alone all of the time.

Vish often passed people on the trail and swapped stories, cooked food over their campfires and slept along side other hikers in three-sided shelters located in eight-mile increments along the trail.

“The best way to describe it is like being a part of a 500 mile town,” Vish said. “You know everybody and everybody is extremely friendly. The trail is not about the mountains, it’s about the people.”

One of the best experiences he had on the trip was when he and a group of hiking buddies were hiking through the Roan Mountains. 

As they were rounding the bend, the sky lit up before them into a bright rose color that reflected in the water while loons and other birds around them called softly to each other.

“You’re just swallowed up by the sky. Something just breaks inside of you,” Vish said, glad he was able to share that experience with other hikers.

Although friendly, for the most part Vish said other hikers are very hesitant to give advice.

“We have a motto on the trail which is ‘hike your own hike and let others hike theirs,’” Vish said. “The only thing you can know is what works for you.”

Now in his last year of graduate school at Wake Forest University, Vish plans to continue hiking throughout his life. 

Vish wants to hike the Appalachian Trail again in retirement for a different experience.

This summer he will serve as an assistant instructor with the North Carolina Outward Bound program where he will lead beginning hikers through different trails and teach them the importance of enjoying the great outdoors.

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