Mallory Weston 6/13/25 Mallory Weston 6/13/25

Appalachian Trail, Days 26-28

I’ve been falling so behind on my blogging, so I’m going to try a 3 day format! Plus I’ve been writing more than I expected, so maybe this will make things more manageable. I wrapped up my time at Uncle Johnny’s, probably my favorite hostel stop along the way so far, and departed Erwin. The vibe at Uncle Johnny’s was great, but I think trail friends that I reconnected with and the new crowd of people that I met were really the defining factors of my time in town. From here on out, I’ve been camping with a really wonderful semi-consistent group of people.

Mallory Weston 6/9/25 Mallory Weston 6/9/25

Appalachian Trail, Days 21-25

The trademark AT weather created a week of highs and lows: a sleepless night in the torrential rain followed by dreamless sleep in the shelter and another night of pleasant camping. There was also so much wonderful and unexpected trail magic. Big Bald was the hiking highlight of the week, but there was also a fun scrambly ridge line that I tackled in the fog.

Mallory Weston 6/4/25 Mallory Weston 6/4/25

Appalachian Trail, Damascus Trail Center

Just a quick break in the blogging to announce an upcoming event. I’ll be passing through the trail town of Damascus, VA this week, and the Damascus Trail Center will be hosting an info session where I’ll talk more about my residency and my hike so far. Please join us if you’re in the area!

Mallory Weston 6/1/25 Mallory Weston 6/1/25

Appalachian Trail, Days 16-20

There is little fanfare when crossing over into Tennessee, mainly because for the next 200 odd miles, I’ll be hugging the state line, criss crossing back and forth between them both. This week, I visited Gatlinburg and Hot Springs, two places with opposite vibes. I surpassed 200 miles on the AT. I continued my quest to karaoke blaze. Plus, I connected with some new cool people.

Mallory Weston 5/26/25 Mallory Weston 5/26/25

Appalachian Trail, Days 11-15

After the last few days of terrible weather, things cleared up a bit and it was a much more pleasant camping experience. I set foot in Smokey Mountain National Park for the first time, I hiked my first 20+ mile days, and I slept in an AT shelter for the first time (rather than camping nearby)! I also saw my first bear of the trail and had some other wildlife encounters. Things are starting to feel routine out here as I pass the 2-week milestone since I started the AT.

Mallory Weston 5/19/25 Mallory Weston 5/19/25

Appalachian Trail, Days 6-10

This week, I reached a few of my first AT trail milestones: I passed my first state line from Georgia to North Carolina, I finished 1 full week on trail, and I passed the 100 mile mark (both on the AT and in total miles hiked). It started with some truly foul weather that drifted north after a few days and left some of the nicest days since I started at Amicalola. Using the bad weather as an excuse, I’ve been feeling guilty about spending so many nights in hostels. But I guess I’m still easing into things, and I’m planning to work my way up to spending more nights on trail.

Mallory Weston 5/13/25 Mallory Weston 5/13/25

Appalachian Trail, Days 1-5

I made it through the first few days! Now I’m holed up in a hostel outside Hiawassee, GA trying to decide what to do about the heavy rain and thunderstorms forecasted for the next few days.

Day 1: We woke up in our Sandy Springs hotel and spent the morning repacking and organizing our groceries from last night. At 9:30, the shuttle driver arrived to take us up to Amicalola Falls. I decided to do the approach trail, because what do an extra 9 miles mean in comparison to the rest of a thru-hike? We only spent a minutes at the visitor center and then headed outside to take some pictures beside the stone arch. With little fanfare on a beautiful sunny day, I started hiking the Appalachian Trail at 11:15 am on May 6, 2025. It’s true what they say about the Amicalola steps, they’re a rude awakening with a full pack. But after that, we transitioned onto regular trail for the ascent up Springer Mountain. We got to the official terminus in the mid afternoon and spent a few minutes taking pictures and signing the logbook.

Mallory Weston 5/6/25 Mallory Weston 5/6/25

Appalachian Trail, 1 Day Out

Oh my goodness, to be one day out is truly surreal. I spent most of my last morning in Philadelphia running around like crazy, going to the studios, cleaning, packing, etc. I was going right until we called the car. But I feel confident that I have everything I need, maybe more than I need. But around 1:15 Alex and I arrived at the airport. That giddiness of heading out of town for a prolonged period of time.

Mallory Weston 4/30/25 Mallory Weston 4/30/25

Appalachian Trail, 1 Week Out

My AT thru-hike as the inaugural Appalachian Trail Conservancy Artist-In-Residence starts in approximately one week. Almost a year after I planted the seed for this wild idea, somehow, things came together to make it a reality. It feels like it took so long for all the details to be finalized with work, and to finally have a concept of my timeline. I only got word that my sabbatical was approved in mid-March. But luckily, this is the best-case scenario and will allow me to hike at a comfortable pace and not have to rush back to Philadelphia in time for the start of the semester. So I’m feeling very fortunate.

Mallory Weston 4/26/25 Mallory Weston 4/26/25

Alta Via 1, Part 4

For some reason, I had the impression that the trail got less grand as you got farther south. But the views continued to be magnificent. It wasn’t a very long day, but in the morning we traced our way along a narrow trail high on the mountainside. The dramatic mountains were jutting up to our left. After climbing up a sheltered grassy pass, the views from the other side were less sharp, rocky angles, and more green, tree-covered mountains. We descended through the pine trees for a bit. Alex took a tumble and broke one of his trekking poles. At least it was towards the end of our journey. We reached Rifugio Passo Duran in the mid-afternoon. The place was completely packed to the brim with other hiking groups and was a bit rough around the edges. I would have preferred a tent, but it wasn’t a big deal to have one dud in the group.

Mallory Weston 4/12/25 Mallory Weston 4/12/25

Alta Via 1, Part 3

We spent most of day 5 hiking with our new friends Anh and Keaton, heading out from Refugio Averau in the morning. The morning scenery featured some iconic Dolomite vistas, passing nearby Cinque Torri and many other dramatic rock formations. Along the trail, we passed the crumbling remains of a notable military fort carved into the granite at the base of the peaks. We descended through some weathered canyons, then made our down to a roadside Refugio that was a popular stopping point for motorcyclists. From there, it was a short but steep climb to one of the other spectacular views of the trail, a bowl-shaped valley rimmed with peaks and a monumental grassy slope that seemed like a ramp to the sky. My little Alta Via guidebook talked about how this valley used to an ancient hunting ground, where animals would be funneled into the valley, and hunters would block the few entry points, trapping their prey. We said farewell to our hiking pals who were splitting off to go into town, and continued along the Alta Via.

Mallory Weston 4/5/25 Mallory Weston 4/5/25

Alta Via 1, Part 2

Day 3 was short, but it featured one of the most memorable stretches of the trail. The morning started with a climb into the hills surrounding Rifugio Lavarella, with the trail eventually transitioning to a relatively flat gravel road for a few mellow miles. We decided to make things a little more exciting by taking an alternate over a nearby pass. The trail quickly started climbing along the steep hillside, headed towards the distant notch in the mountains. We were keeping pace with the couple we met the other night at Lavarella, and took turns taking photos as we approached the top of the pass. The views from the top of Forcella di Lago were dramatic. Standing at the top of the pass, we were flanked by steep cliffs rising up on either side of us, with views of Lagazuoi across the valley and a pale blue pond immediately below the pass. The descent was marked by the most ridiculous series of switchbacks that I’ve ever encountered. I don’t believe it’s an exaggeration to say that there were over 100 zigzagging down the steep slope.

Mallory Weston 3/27/25 Mallory Weston 3/27/25

Alta Via 1, Part 1

In June 2022, Alex and I hiked most of the Alta Via 1 in the Italian Dolomites. We were traveling to Europe for Munich Jewellery Week, and we decided to spend a week hiking beforehand. I thought the Alta Via would be the perfect introduction to backpacking for Alex since we would sleep indoors at the trailside refugios and get to enjoy delicious food and drinks along the way. The whole trail is about 75 miles and goes from Lago di Brais to La Pissa. We ended up hiking about 60ish miles in total because that’s all we had time for in our schedule. It was a little tricky to plan the logistics and mileage around the refugios (camping isn’t allowed) so that created some awkwardly short days. Still, I didn’t want to push my luck with bigger days to try and ensure that Alex would enjoy the experience.

Mallory Weston 3/18/25 Mallory Weston 3/18/25

Trans Catalina Trail, Little Harbor CG to Two Harbors

When we got out of our tents in the morning, there were palm fronds scattered all around from the wind the night before. We had a leisurely breakfast and then started hiking. It was a climb straight out of camp, and there were beautiful views looking back over the campground. This was one of my favorite parts of the TCT, the trail passed right up the spine of the hillside with a nearly uninterrupted slope on one side, leading all the way down to the ocean. At the top, there was another sheltered picnic table that we stopped at for a few minutes. From here, you could see the whole northern part of the island. After this, it was a descent into the town of Two Harbors.

Mallory Weston 3/17/25 Mallory Weston 3/17/25

Trans Catalina Trail, Black Jack CG to Little Harbor CG

By 7:45, we were packed up and hiking. A few hours later, we passed by Airport in the Sky, where we spent a leisurely amount of time sitting at the cafe, eating breakfast burritos and drinking coffee. Today was a shorter day, with more absurd views for most of the day. We could see the Little Harbor Campground for a while as we approached in the early afternoon. A cove with a beach, palm trees, and campsites dotting the surrounding hills. After an 8-mile day, we rolled in around 1:30. In the November low season, we were able to reserve a premium campsite right off the beach.

Mallory Weston 3/14/25 Mallory Weston 3/14/25

Trans Catalina Trail, Avalon to Black Jack CG

In November 2021, my best friends Leslie, Emily, and I decided to thru-hike the Trans Catalina Trail (TCT) during our fall break. Catalina is a small island off the coast of Los Angeles, and the TCT snakes through the island from top to bottom. After all the hiking I had done over the summer, I was so excited to finally do my first baby thru-hike. This was also the first time backpacking for Emily and me, and it turns out this trail was a great choice. TCT hikers must stay at established campgrounds along the route, and each one had bathrooms and potable water, so we were able to ease into the experience. I had spent the weeks leading up to our departure buying my first pieces of backpacking gear, and we painstakingly planned all the logistics. The day before we started, the three of us met in LA and got a hotel in Long Beach for the night.

Mallory Weston 3/12/25 Mallory Weston 3/12/25

Bryce Canyon NP/Escalante, July 2021

For the last few days of our trip, we headed further East through Utah, stopping in Bryce Canyon and Escalante. This was more of a mishmash of different locations, loosely focused around seeing some slot canyons. Here are some of our hikes:

Peek-a-Boo Canyon (3.3 miles)
Wall Street and Queens Garden Loop (3.7 miles)
Willis Creek Narrows Trail (6.0 miles)

Mallory Weston 3/10/25 Mallory Weston 3/10/25

Zion NP, July 2021

After spending a solid week in California, we packed up our campsite and drove several hours across Nevada and into Southern Utah. Alex’s sister, Callie, was working as a park ranger at Zion National Park, so we planned to spend another week visiting with her and exploring the area. This turned out to be a really generous amount of time, and it allowed us to visit some more remote areas of the park. Here are a few of our hikes from the week:

Angels Landing via West Rim Trail (5.9 Miles)
Observation Point via East Mesa Trail (7.3 Miles)
Northgate Peaks via Kolob Terrace (5.2 Miles)
West Rim Trail, Top-Down (16.4 Miles)

Mallory Weston 3/6/25 Mallory Weston 3/6/25

Yosemite NP/Mammoth Lakes, July 2021

West Coast road trip continued! After spending a few days in Sequoia, Alex and I drove North toward Yosemite. This was our first time in the park and we decided to drive from East to West on Tioga Pass Road to get to where we would be camping in Mammoth Lakes. It was a massive detour, but worth it for the scenery. We spent a few days hiking in and around Mammoth and then went back into Yosemite for a full day. Here’s a few of the highlights:

Little Lakes Valley to Gem Lakes (9.8 miles)
Tuolumne River Loop: Dana and Lyell Forks (3.9 miles)
Vernal and Nevada Falls via the Mist Trail (9.0 miles)
Rainbow Falls via Devils Postpile (4.6 miles)

Mallory Weston 3/3/25 Mallory Weston 3/3/25

Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP, July 2021

In July 2021, Alex and I set off on an incredible West Coast road trip. We flew into Las Vegas and rented a car to travel around Nevada, California, and Utah for about two weeks. Our first stop was a few days at Sequoia NP. We camped just outside the park in the town of Three Rivers. We spent our time day hiking and had a brush of excitement after our rental car nearly ran out of gas on the first day driving within the park. Here are some of the hikes we did:

Tokopah Falls via the Tokopah Valley Trail (4.5 miles)
Giant Forest Loop Trail (8.1)
Heather Lake, Emerald Lake, and Pear Lake (11.7 miles)

In early May 2025, I set out on a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail as the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s first artist-in-residence. I’m blogging periodically about my progress, so stay tuned for future updates. Thanks for following along!

Mallory Weston