To most, it’s a distance nearly impossible to relate to even if talking about covering it by plane or car.

Ask Warren County native Christian Hunter and he can tell you what it means — on foot.

Last month, Hunter completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail.

According to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, more than 3,000 people set out to complete the hike each year. Just about one in four are successful.

What does it take to complete a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail? Christian Hunter credits “prayer, hard work, commitment and attention to detail.” Submitted photo

“I am just grateful to God for the opportunity to attempt and experience the thru-hike,” Hunter said. “God blessed me with the day, then I just had to put on my pack and put in the work.”

So he set off on March 24 at Amicalola Falls State Park in Georgia with an 8 mile hike to the official starting point for those hiking the trail to the north.

He arrived at Mt. Katahdin in Maine on Aug. 9.

“It took about 4.5 months of hiking, day after day, along the spine of the Appalachian mountains,” he said.

Hunter worked for the Forest Service in the Land Surveying department for the past few years in southern New Mexico, western Montana and the Cascades of Oregon so the idea of being out in the forest wasn’t foreign.

Christian Hunter said that the views from the ridges were some of the brightest moments of his time on the Appalachian Trail. Submitted photo

And there wasn’t a ton of planning that went into this venture.

“I quit my two carpentry jobs in southwest Ohio at the end of the winter and when my apartment lease was up,” he said. “Then (I) put my few belongings into a storage unit. Bought a guide book and backpack. The flight from Erie to Atlanta was only $100 because COVID was still preventing people traveling. It was pretty basic.”

While some hikers might meticulously weigh everything they’re carrying, Hunter took a much more laid back approach.

“I was going to take what I felt I needed to complete the trail. The weight of the pack would be whatever it weighed,” he said.”I carried cold weather gear, wet weather gear, two liters of water, a tent, sleeping bag, and food the entire hike. I took a camera, Kbar knife, head-flashlight and few other items.”

He preferred to hike by himself — waking up each day at 5 a.m. and hitting the trail by 5:40 a.m. He avoided some of the shortcuts — slackpacking, for example, where a hostel will provide shuttles that allow them to hike the trail but do so without their pack.

His wildlife exposure was limited to a moose in Maine, six black bears in New York, a rattlesnake in Virginia and a few deer.

“It was still awesome being outdoors all the time and to start in the spring, see everything bud and get green into the summer months,” he said. That optimism survived two 20-degree nights in North Carolina, a morning with snow in Tennessee and a heat wave when passing through Pennsylvania.

“I carried anywhere from three to five days of food. At 20 miles hiking a day, it would be 60 to 100 miles before I would have to resupply with food,” he explained. “Basically, I was walking around the woods for a few days, then hitchhike back into town and get more food.

“The first three months I ate tuna, ritz cheese crackers, almonds, fruit snacks, and shredded wheat. The last month and half I ate beef jerky, cheese its, granola bars. I would get my water from rivers, streams, springs, and ponds. Then treat water with iodine tablets. I almost always had two liters on me. When in town resupplying, I would get a pizza and pint of ice cream.”

The enormity of the challenge did result in Hunter losing 13 pounds from beginning to end.

His most favorite state was Tennessee.

“It had awesome views on the ridges, the Smoky Mountains were incredible, and there was always a stream nearby to get water,” he said.

But that water wasn’t quite the same blessing in New England in the summer.

“New Hampshire — the White Mountains — were challenging. It involved a lot of climbing, rather than just hiking,” Hunter said. “Then with all the rain in July, descending the mountains was difficult and slippery because the trail a lot of the time the downhill trail was all stones.

“The weather in July, in New England, really added to the challenge. You would wake up putting on wet boots and socks from the previous days. Then you’d hike 20 miles all day in the rain. Most of your gear was soaked from the previous day’s storm, and would not dry out. Then at the end of the day, you would set up and hop into a wet tent. Rain was expected thru-hiking the AT, but this season in July in New England, it rained consecutively every day for weeks.”

The 2,193-mile trail turned into 2,200 in total miles hiked given a one mile detour added this year and the eight mile approach trail.

“Before I started the AT, I thought the thru-hike would be 85% fun, 15% work,” he said. “After carrying my pack every step of the way and staying on trail until I finished in Maine, it was more like 90% work, 10% fun.”

His motivation to do it? The better question is “Why not?”

“There was no specific reason I attempted the AT,” he said. “The trail sits out there in the forests and mountains of Appalachia, as a challenge for anyone. Poor, rich, old, young, white, black, male, female … it’s for all people.

“Us humans have a finite amount of time on this earthly journey to go different places and the AT is a great trail to roam about taking you different places.”

He credits “prayer, hard work, commitment and attention to detail” as the traits most important to ensuring success.

“I had to make sure I had enough protein, salt, sugar, and grain for the every 60 to 100 miles,” he said. “After the first few weeks, my body got used to the physical part of hiking all day. Then it became more mental, hiking day after day to complete the 2,193-mile trail. Breaking the thru-hike down just by states, helped a lot too.”

Hunter acknowledged completing the thru-hike is “uncommon” but “not anything extraordinary.”

“God blessed me with the day, and then it was up to me to put in work and miles. After committing myself to the goal, a few months later I had hiked from Georgia to Maine. About 300 hundred people finish the whole hike every year. I was one of 300.

“A Warren county resident was one of the Appalachian Trail finishers this year though.”