The Food-Obsessed Subculture Of The Appalachian Trail

How do you feed yourself on a hike that’s more than 2,200 miles long and takes six months to complete? Every summer, hundreds of people attempting to hike the entire Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine, are faced with that question. This week senior producer Emma Morgenstern heads to Pine Grove General Store, the trail’s halfway point, and enters a world where most typical rules of eating seem not to apply. Hikers tell her about trash potatoes, ramen bombs, and a famous ice cream-eating challenge. Then we continue on the rest of the journey with Cricket, a hiker from Ohio. When things get tough, Cricket has to rethink her approach to food.

This episode contains some discussion of disordered eating.

The Sporkful production team includes Dan Pashman, Emma Morgenstern, Andres O'Hara, Nora Ritchie, and Jared O'Connell.

Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.