Penn-Trafford couple complete length of Appalachian Trail

After three years of working straight out of college and navigating the worst of a pandemic, Alex McCafferty felt it was time to walk away.

Well, to hike away, at least, and pursue a dream in the process.

He took a break from work and after his girlfriend, Amy Bowser, graduated from college, they took the opportunity to hike the Appalachian Trail.

“A lot of people say they want to do it, but then they don’t have the time. I figured this would be an opportunity, and I took it,” McCafferty, a software developer, said. “When would we both be able to have time off together again?”

McCafferty, 26, and Bowser, 24, who earned a degree in computer engineering, headed to Georgia’s Springer Mountain to begin a 2,200-mile journey north to Mt. Katahdin in Maine.

According to the Appalachian Trail Conservatory, a group dedicated to preserving and protecting the path, over 3 million people visit every year and over 3,000 people attempt to “thru-hike” or traverse it all and about one in four succeed. McCafferty thinks that number could be even lower.

A lifelong backpacker, MacCafferty said he knew what to take and what would not be needed but their bags still weighed about 25 pounds each — a lot to carry on an all day hike. Food and water add the most weight to any hiking bag, he said, and those necessities would lead to both of their “trail names” or nicknames that hikers pick up along the journey.

McCafferty, who lives in Harrison City, said he became known as “Candyman” for eating and giving people candy at every stop. He said he often ate a pound-size bag of Sour Patch Kids during the day.

Bowser became “Spout” for the way she learned a trick to filtering water with leaves, making it easier to fill bottles when they stopped.

He said couscous was his go-to for nourishment while for Bowser it was ramen noodles. Things like cheese and nutrient bars were what they grabbed when they arrived, every three or four days, to a road leading to a gas station or a grocery store where they would get all the food that they could comfortably carry.

McCafferty said they each lost about 10 pounds along the way. Despite eating all the candy he could, it was hard to not be in a calorie deficit.

When they reached the Grayson Highlands area in Virginia, which McCafferty said was one of his favorite locations on the trail, he also made it one they would never forget when he reached into his bag and grabbed a ring he had secretly packed alongside all of his candy.

“It just had this amazing scenery. We were on the top of a cliff. There were wild ponies running below. And I knew it was time. I asked her to marry me,” he said.

About a week after that highlight, he said one of the lows of the trip came.

“We got to a camp, and Spout started throwing up violently in front of all these people,” McCafferty said. “She couldn’t help it.”

He said she got to a tent, and he stayed behind at the camp because he was feeling fine. That lasted about 10 minutes until he also got sick and he realized they each likely had picked up a stomach virus.

“It was tough because we had to hike about 5 miles to the road that would lead us to town,” McCafferty said. “But we were able to hitchhike and we stayed a night.”

Although that bug is known to keep some people off the trail for a week or more McCafferty said it was important for them to get back on the trail.

The pair hiked an average of 15 miles per day for the trip, including what McCafferty called “zero days” or days they did not hike. Those days were usually spent in a town along the way or to enjoy an area they liked a little longer.

On days they did hike, McCafferty said the goal was usually to push through until the sunset which became more difficult the further north that they traveled as the days became shorter, and some of the terrain became so rocky that “it felt like rock-climbing.”

Still, Bowser said that the Presidential Range area in the White Mountains of New Hampshire was her favorite part of the journey.

Among other highlights of the trip was a visit along the trail from McCafferty’s grandmother.

Daryl “DJ” McCafferty said walking a mile or so on the trail in the Blue Ridge Mountains during a visit to see her grandson during the journey gave her perspective on what an achievement the couple was pursuing.

In that short distance, they had to navigate around a large fallen tree blocking the path.

“They said, ‘Nana, you can go around this through the woods.’ But I climbed up the log. I’m 86 years old, and I needed a little help getting down, but we got through,” DJ McCafferty said.

McCafferty and Bowser flew home Sept. 24, and he said his body is still getting used to not hiking all day long.

Now that he and Bowser are settling back home, they are getting ready for the next journeys in their lives: putting their degrees to use and getting married.

“It is very bittersweet, finishing the trail,” McCafferty said. “Amy and I would absolutely do it again, but we would prioritize other long distance trails first. We have already discussed potentially hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (in California) at some point.”

Whatever the couple decides to do next, they will have a supporter in his grandmother.

“I am very proud of him. He worked and earned money to be able to do this. This is something that he wanted to do,” she said. “When someone wants to do something, I think they should do it.”