Appalachian Fail: What I Learned from My Failed Thru-Hike

As the saying goes, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, write a book outlining their many failures."

John Desilets was an unlikely candidate to be a thru-hiker. As a video game industry veteran and reclusive homebody, nothing about him screams "backpacker." Nothing about him screams at all. He appreciates reasonable volumes. Nevertheless, he attempted to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail in 2017. He failed. Spectacularly. John is no stranger to failing and is happy to add the Appalachian Trail to his impressive resume of failures. He hopes to help others realize there's no shame in failing.

Appalachian Fail is a compilation of lessons learned from months of hiking the Appalachian Trail. It contains entertaining stories about trail experiences and useful wisdom for on or off the trail. You might wonder how failing to finish the Appalachian Trail qualifies John to give anyone else advice. People say you learn more from your failures than you do from your successes. John experienced so much failure he's buried in learnings.

If you follow John's advice, you might be successful thru-hiker one day. Or even better–a failure.

• Nobo
• The Badger: A Day to Day Account of Backpacking the Appalachian Trail
• Painted Blazes: Hiking the Appalachian Trail with Loner
• Sheltered: An Appalachian Trail Story
• Sole Searching on the Appalachian Trail
• Walking to Maine: A Scoutmaster's Journey on the Appalachian Trail
• Bludog: Journey on the Appalachian Trail
• Whistler's Walk: The Appalachian Trail in 142 Days
• How the WILD EFFECT Turned Me into a Hiker at 69: An Appalachian Trail Adventure
• A Walk for Sunshine