Kanisa Hutchins makes backpacking look easy. The Chattanooga native had zero prior backpacking experience when she quit her job, sold her car and moved home to Chattanooga in preparation to hike the Appalachian Trail (AT).
"I had always enjoyed the outdoors, but before the [AT], the most I had hiked in one day was 10 miles. The most camping I had ever done was a weekend trip to Chester Frost Park," says Hutchins.
The AT is no joke. Fewer than 22,000 trail finishers are registered with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. A registered hiker must trek the full 2,190+ miles through 14 states. The AT's elevation gain/loss is equivalent to summitting Mt. Everest 16 times.
Most backpackers set aside five to eight months. Hutchins completed the AT in seven, from June to December 2021. She hiked southbound from Maine to Georgia. Her motivations? Adventure and getting outside.
Staff photo by Olivia Ross / Kanisa Hutchins stops on the trail at Sunset Rock.Survival shows like "Alone" and "Naked and Afraid" captured her interest during pandemic lockdowns. Soon, she was watching YouTubers pack their bags for the AT and discussing the trip with her friends. Her family first thought her decision was a joke.
"I sent my mom a link [to a gear video], and she thought, 'this girl is crazy,'" says Hutchins. But skepticism soon turned to support. By June 9, she'd packed, traveled to Maine and set out to hike the AT.
Hutchins started out with 23 pounds of gear, not including food and water.
"New hikers always take more than they need," Hutchins explains. "I did a ridiculous pack dump after hiking through the Hundred-Mile Wilderness." The bag lightened to 17 pounds, and her five outfits became two.
"Not even a month in, it went from all those outfits to 'wet clothes' and 'dry clothes,'" she says.
On-trail safety was a major concern. At first, Hutchins was "terrified" to hike alone.
"A big thing was being a woman of color in the woods," Hutchins says. "You're going out there with all the fears and anxieties you've probably been conditioned to feel in society."
But those fears soon dissolved. Fellow hikers were kind, supportive and encouraging.
"Gender goes away; race goes away. We're all trying to do this crazy thing, and [we] hope everyone makes it," she says.
Once, when Hutchins had an infected mosquito bite and was feverish, hiker "Father Time" helped her to the hospital. Three friends formed her "tramily" (trail family) and crashed with her for a couple of days until she felt better.
Fellow hiker "Smoky Bear" gave Hutchins her trail name: Pearlie, as in pearly whites.
Upon entering camp, "the first thing [everyone] would see was my big smile," Hutchins says.
She even had the luck to run into one of her favorite hiking YouTubers, Taylor the Nahamsha Hiker. Hutchins also met Roger "Greg" Carpenter, a hiker mentioned in Cheryl Strayed's 2012 best-selling book, "Wild."
Hiking the AT was an amazing experience Hutchins is itching to replicate on the Pacific Crest Trail and Continental Divide Trail.
"You wake up every day, and the only thing you're thinking is, 'How far do I want to hike today?'" she says.
In the meantime, Hutchins explores Chattanooga's trails. Stringer's Ridge and the Rainbow Lake & Bee Branch Trail are two of her favorites.
The lessons she learned in her seven months backpacking stick with her.
"Never quit on a bad day," she says, quoting Father Time, "and embrace the suck." Even in the worst situations — like when her tent and gear flooded — it was hard to keep walking. But attitude was everything.
"That day, I wanted to quit," Hutchins says. But as the sun dipped below the horizon, she realized that "the suck never lasted. I'm fine now. I'll go back out tomorrow."