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Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike with Jay Moledzki: Podcast Show Notes
Welcome to Experiences You Should Have; Your how-to guide for amazing experiences. I had the pleasure of interviewing Jay Moledzki, who is a world-renowned skydiver and he hiked the Appalachian Trail. Jay is not your average guy. He is the most decorated competitive skydiving canopy (parachute) pilot in the sport of skydiving to date. He has 7 world championship skydiving titles, over 50 gold medals. He is a goal-oriented guy and someone I have looked up to for many years. Check out his profile on Flight-1.
Jay also hosts a podcast with life coach Melanie Curtis (who I interviewed about going on your first skydive) called Trust The Journey (dot) Today. Trust the Journey.Today podcast is all about living, laughing, loving, and learning together. Also, creating and cultivating conscious connections through the practice of openness, vulnerability, honesty, and trust. Check them out on iTunes, Google Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Listen to the podcast episode above or read on to learn about the Appalachian Trail thru-hike.
Appalachian Trail Hike: What Went Into Goal Setting and Planning?
Jay and his first wife, Fernanda, decided they would hike the Appalachian Trail together as a team. They wanted more adventure in their lives and wanted to pursue more scenery and get serious time outdoors. When they decided to hike the Appalachian Trail, Jay had a point in his personal skydiving career that he felt he had checked the goals he wanted to accomplish. He was looking for a new goal that would be connected to nature, earthy, and hiking the Appalachian Trail felt like the goal that he and Fernanda decided to set their eyes on and the enthusiasm was there.
It took 2 years of planning from the time they made the goal before they started hiking the Appalachian Trail. They wanted to make sure they had the knowledge, equipment, and training to complete the trail. The attrition rate is high on the Appalachian Trail and not many people finish the trail who start.
They also wanted to understand why they wanted to hike the Appalachian trail. They started listing out the reasons why they wanted to do it and they wanted to set a goal of completing it and hike the Appalachian Trail the purist way by hiking the entire trail and doing it in one shot.
Appalachian Trail Map
Checklist to Mentally and Physically Prepare to Hike the Appalachian Trail
- Arm yourself with knowledge with books, websites. Ray Jardine is the godfather of Appalachian Trail Thru-Hiking and gives the Ultra-Light approach to Thru-Hiking. Check out his book Trail Life for a guide to Ultra Light Thru-Hiking.
- Find a mentor and talk to someone who has hiked the Appalachian Trail before
- Get in shape, physical fitness training is very important.
- Set a Goal and know in your mind before you start how far you want to go.
- Do a week-long hike before going on the AT with the equipment you plan on using to evaluate the weight, what you’re bringing and seeing what it’s like to do a hike by yourself.
Hiking the Appalachian Trail: The Beginning
On the first day, Jay and Fernanda were anxious. They started at Springer Mountain, about an hour away from Atlanta. About 3,000 people start the trail every year and the majority of them start at Springer Mountain. It was the first week of March (most people start the beginning of March to April). Most people do a northbound hike and follow the seasons. Their friend Annie dropped them off and they got their photographs by the sign.
What’s interesting is that you don’t start the trail until you have reached the top of Springer Mountain. It’s a journey from the start just to get to the starting point. At the peak, there was a sign and nice ladies with clipboards who are rangers who kept track who was starting the trail.
They had planned to hike 8-10 miles a day in the beginning with the plan to ramp up over time to get to their true average. They wanted 17 miles a day to be their average. That’s just an average, some days they would hike 30 miles.
Reaching the Half-Way point of the Appalachian Trail
At the half-way point, they were in Harper’s Ferry halfway, West Virginia. It’s also the Offical Appalachian Trail Conservancy. They will take your photograph, write down your trail names and put you in the book and you can keep track of people ahead of you or behind of you. They kept a general awareness of how the flock was doing. West Virginia was very beautiful. Gorgeous deciduous forest and there was a true sense of community there. It’s a big deal to make it halfway. At the half-way point, you have probably lost 40% of the people who started the Appalachian Trail.
Jay’s hardest time on the trail was when he was injured. When he wasn’t at his optimal level, it was hard. Jay had an overdevelopment of the calf muscle and ended up getting shin splints. When he went to sleep he would get calf cramps and it would tear his shin muscle. The tears on his shins would make him unable to walk some days on the trail. When he found himself 2-3 steps, fall over, he started to really wonder if he would make it. The fear of not being able to achieve the goal was the hardest part. Having a realization there was a possibility of failing because of inadequacy or inability really took a hold of Jay sometimes.
Fernanda was the tortoise and would keep them on pace. At the time, Jay didn’t have the will power to start the trail on his own, he really valued having a partner on the trail.
The Final Month of the Appalachian Trail in the 100-Mile Wilderness
The last month of the trail finished in Maine. It finishes on Katahdin, little over 5,000-foot elevation. The month leading up to this point is a journey through the most beautiful part of the country. The mountains become more and more remote as you go through Mass, Vermont and it gets more and more rugged and pristine. Their bodies at this point were in peak performance with agility, speed, endurance, and their systems were dialed. They were in their groove and they could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The way the trail is laid out is that the 100-mile wilderness is right before the Katahdin summit. During this 100-mile wilderness, there is no resupplies, no towns, you are in the wilderness for this 100-mile stretch. They were covering 20 miles a day during the wilderness. Their energy was high and in synch with other hikers. It’s a bit of a yin/yang scenario where you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but at the same time, you’re really beat down and exhausted. Jay’s body hurt so bad at the same time it felt so great. There is suffering from pushing so hard every day, but also very rewarding for what they were achieving each day.
The Last Part of Hiking the Appalachian Trail: Summiting Katahdin
After the 100-mile wilderness, they rolled into the last highway and they were a day ahead of schedule so they took a Zero (no miles covered on the Appalachian Trails). They had a double breakfast, double dinner and splurged on this Zero. They camped out the night before at the foot of Katahdin and their goal was to hike Katahdin during the night. They arrived during a full moon. They woke up at midnight, then got on the trail at 1 AM, which was amazing because no one else was on the trail. They hiked it in total darkness under the moonlight.
They reached the top of the mountain right as the sun started to rise. The sky was filled with beautiful shades of pink and orange and they rockstar climbed the mountain and got to enjoy the summit all to themselves, which is incredibly rare. Usually, there are many people summiting during the day at the same time and taking pictures. Jay and Fernanda got to experience the end of the Appalachian Trail at the summit of Katahdin for an hour by themselves while basking in the light of sunrise and the success of the mission.
How Often Should You Go Into Town to Resupply and How Do You Manage Resupply Packages for Hiking the AT?
Resupplies were done 3-4 or 5 days apart. Jay and Fernanda prepared 36 packages before they started the Appalachian Trail and they had a friend mail each package to the right town. They prepared each package based on what they would need based on the distance needed. Turns out you can send packages to any US Post Office, as long as you send each package to ‘Your Name at General Address, please hold for AT Thru-Hiker’. Many post offices will hold a package for you up to 2 weeks.
How Long did it Take to Hike the Appalachian Trail?
It took 153 days, but it could take some longer or shorter. Their goal was 157 days and, but they were prepared to taking up to 180 days. They beat their goal by 4 days!
Appalachian Trail Lingo
There is a subculture of AT hikers, here’s a low-down on the lingo/slang used.
Nero: Nearly zero miles hiked in a day. For Example, you camp 1 mile outside of town then wake up in the morning, hike 1 mile in, re-supply, shower, hit up the post office, then hike 1 mile outside of town and set up camp. You only hike 2 miles, but it can be a very productive day for personal needs.
Zero: No Trail miles covered that day
Thru-Hiker: Any long distance hiker who hikes the trail continuously, or within one year
Top Ultra Light Tips for Hiking the Appalachian Trail
- Go on the trail very ultra-light. Get the lightest version of everything you necessarily need to bring on the trail. The lighter your pack is, the less you will give yourself an injury due to the stress of the weight.
- Most things were made out of Cuben Fiber, Titanium and Silnylon to keep things light and keep their pack 20 lbs.
- Get a tent that weighs 1 pound
- If you have something in your pack that you haven’t used in a week, then get rid of it.
- Have only one set of clothes (but duplicate sets of socks). You will need a very religious bathing routine every day to keep clean.
Most Used and Least Used Items that Were in Jay’s Pack:
Most Used Item: Bourbon/Whiskey- turns out a 1 oz shot at the end of the day was rewarding and it also was used as medicine along the trail.
Least Used Item: Compass – Jay had a great sense of direction and after a few weeks, he realized he didn’t need his compass. They only got off trail accidentally once, which was understandable circumstances. They used the sun positioning, where the moss was on the trees, wind direction, the dry and wet side of the mountain and other indicators to figure out the direction they were headed in.
How Much Should You Save to Go on the Appalachian Trail?
There are no costs for permits to be on the trail, but you should budget for good, lightweight equipment, food, and housing along the way. The cost of hiking the Appalachian Trail really depends on the style of hiker you are. Some people really do it on a budget and never spend a night in a hostel, Airbnb, but Jay and his wife spent $3,000-$5,000 a month. The recommended amount is $1,500-$5,000 per person a month which includes all of the pre-planning, equipment, taxis, room and board, food, everything you need to cover all of your expenses of living.
If you camp all the way through, you can keep your budget much lower. I know a couple who biked from Alaska to Argentina who spent $400 a month per person, so anything can be done on the cheap.
Are there parts of the Appalachian Trail that are Wheelchair Friendly?
Some of Jay’s favorite parts of the trail were in New Jersey. There were some great boardwalk areas of the Appalachian Trail that were the most beautiful parts of the Appalachian Trail. Beautiful marshlands, bridges, boardwalks, and Vermont also had a section laid out as wheelchair accessible. Here’s a great resource for wheelchair-friendly trails on the AT.
Something Every AT Thru-Hiker Should Know
The Appalachian Trail was laid out by a bunch of crazy people who thought the best way to get from one place to another was to go right up the spine and over the top of every mountain in the way. It’s a bit of a lunatic endeavor. Going over the top of every mountain is not the best way to travel, but it only took a couple of weeks to figure out they would be going over every mountain between the start of the Trail to the end of the trail in Maine. Embrace the insanity.
You have to be in the mentality to be excited to go every mountain between Georgia and Maine.
It was truly an adventure he will never forget and it will change you as a person. You are metamorphosing yourself because it’s a pilgrimage. It takes you from one place to another as a person, it’s a journey of growth.
What’s Next for Jay?
Jay is planning on hiking the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) in 1,000-mile chunks. The whole trail is around 3,000 miles, so this hike would be done in 3 parts.
You can Follow Jay on Social Media and on Trust the Journey.Today Podcast
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