On March 3rd 2024, I began my first mile of the 2,200 mile long Appalachian Trail. I set out from Springer Mountain GA with my camping gear, a camera, and 35mm Ilford film. I spent a few hours at The Southern Terminus, both documenting and also making a portrait of a thru hiking couple who was hiking the entire trail with their cat. It was my first day, my first few miles, my second portrait in the series, and I only had 2,200 miles ahead of me.
On October 13th 2024, I kissed the sign at Mt Katahdin. I wept.
I had walked 2,200 miles, saw all four seasons, was bruised, sore, and tired, my backpack had broken, and my camera wasn’t in perfect shape anymore either. I had officially become an Appalachian Trail Thru Hiker. What lay on the other side, would be a journey into itself. This was never a typical thru hike. I was on a mission to make a body of work about the trail.
On March 3rd 2025, exactly a year to the date I began my walk to Maine, I finished developing and scanning all of the film from my thru hike and subsequent project. I shot 253 rolls of film, almost 90 portraits of thru hikers (interviewing all of them), and creating over 100 hours of audio from interview subjects. I now have the base for a photo book. I am incredibly and honestly proud of it. The project is a mix of thru hiker portraits and interviews, and documentary work regarding the experience of thru hiking the trail.
Most of my project updates will take place on my Patreon! Click HERE to join it. This will be my first ever book, and I’ve been working hard to make it happen. 2024 was mostly spent shooting for it, and I have scarified at lot of my time in 2025 hard at work on this too. It won’t be out for a while, but if anyone cares to support it, Patreon is a great way to do so!
XO
Laura P.