Back in Aus

Heya all - I'm back in sunny and hot Australia. It is now 2025, happy new year!

I decided to come back to Australia for a spell. I still have approximately 800 miles left of the AT to do. Reasons for doing so are as such:

1. Visa. This is the most important. It expired on the first of January and I'd applied for an extension but had heard nothing back regarding my application. So unless I wanted to become an illegal immigrant and have ICE chasing me I had to depart the US anyway. I left on the 21st of Dec, I could have hung around for another 10 days hoping that the approval came through but there were other considerations (below). Also my return flight could only be rebooked once without paying extra.

2. Christmas with the family. Since I'd now made the decision to return in late December, I chose to leave a bit earlier to see the family on Christmas morning rather than stay in the US until the last possible moment. I arrived back in Sydney on the 23rd Aussie time and stayed at a friends place for 2 nights before appearing unannounced at the family gathering on Christmas morning. Being back at this time also means I get to attend NYE, my sister's birthday in early January, and a friend's getaway weekend mid January. It is nice to be able to attend all those things and meet up with people I haven't seen for 6 months.

3. Trail closures. Hurricane Helene had obliterated a significant section of the trail down further south, so I would not have been able to complete the AT this run anyway. I'd heard some other hikers were walking along the road to circumvent the damaged sections but this isn't something I enjoy (hiking a meter away from speeding cars and walking long-distance on road surfaces). I'd planned to return late 2025 to complete the damaged sections that would hopefully have been restored by then. So, with that in mind, it merely became a question of how much of the trail I'd complete later rather than to complete it in one run or not.

4. Runner support. In addition to the return trip to complete the currently closed sections, I'd planned to return to the US in 2025 to support a friend who is participating in the Big Dog's Backyard Ultra (an extreme last-man-standing marathon style event). So I'll schedule my trip to finish the trail, then travel to Tennessee for the marathon.

5. Absence of any bear sighting. Not an actual reason for returning to Aus early, just a gripe I bring up anytime I talk about the AT.

(Warning: Rabbit Hole)

Currently holidaying in Jindabyne to celebrate my sister's birthday. Visited Mt Kosciuszko yesterday, Australia's highest mountain..... As I write this, I checked Mt Kosciuszko's height (2228m) compared to mountains I summited in the US that "felt" extremely high, such as Mt Washington (1917m) and Mt Katahdin (1606m). That... does not seem right. Everyone knows that things in America are larger, and the walk up to summit of Mt Kosciuszko was a cakewalk compared to my memory of the Frodo-And-Sam-Approaching-Shelobs-Lair style experience that was climbing Mt Katahdin. Did I mess up the feet to meter conversions? Nope, they are correct. Then I checked the height of the highest mountain in the US, Mt Denali (6190m). Ok, that gels with my conceptions of Aus vs USA. Highest mountains along the Appalachian Trail and their locations are:

Clingmans Dome (2026m NC)
Mt Guyot (2019m NC)
Old Black (1942m NC)
Mt Washington (1917m NH)
Roan High Knob (1916m NC)
Grassy Ridge Bald (1880m NC)
Mt Rogers (1747m VA)
Thunderhead Mountain (1685m TN)
Whitetop Mountain (1682m VA)
and Big Bald (1682m NC/TN)

So - my take aways from that are that none of the AT mountains are as high as Australia's highest mountain, which seems to mess with my perceptions of the USA where everything must be bigger that what we have in humble Australia. And, secondly, I have only done 1/10 of the highest AT mountains to date, which messes with my perceptions that "I've done almost all of the hardest parts, it will be easy street from here on out". Hrrm, something to think about. Anyway, let's back out of that rabbit hole and get back to the present.

(Rabbit Hole Exited)

My broad plan for 2025 are as follows:
Early Jan - Catch up with family and friends. Catch up on tasks that I've been ignoring for the past 6 months.
1st half of 2025 - Complete one of my remaining uni units in my accounting degree. Pick up a job somewhere, preferably in administration where I can dabble with spreadsheets.
2nd half of 2025 - Return to US on a 3 month visa (actually a visa-waiver). Complete the remaining AT section and be part of my friend's support crew as he competes in the Backyard Ultra in Tennessee.

It is so much easier to write using an actual keyboard rather than chicken-pecking on my phone while being mindful of the battery life the whole time. Which is why this post is much longer than the others, and includes side thoughts my brain has from time to time.

I started making my acknowledgements to the many wonderful people I met along the way but that the list began to get very long. I'll make that a followup post.

TL;DR
- Completed 1400 miles of the AT. 800 left to go.
- Returned to Australia due to tourist Visa expiring.
- Returning to the US late 2025 to finish the remaining section.Read more