Five months, 14 states, one outfit: Following one alumna's journey on the Appalachian Trail
According to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, only one in four people hike through the full Appalachian Trail each year.
Sophia Modugno ’23g (Adolescence Education: Social Studies), alumna and now Center for Student Success learning support specialist at SUNY New Paltz, is one of the latest to join that illustrious group of hikers.
From March to August 2024, Modugno spent a total of 140 days hiking the more than 2,000 miles of the trail’s northbound route through 14 states, starting in Georgia’s Springer Mountain and ending in Maine’s Mount Katahdin. And she walked nearly every single day in one outfit: one pair of shorts and a T-shirt.
“I always took the idea of hiking the Appalachian Trail as the ultimate challenge to push myself to a different level,” she said.
Climbing the Appalachian Trail was something Modugno felt prepared for since she was a child, when she first explored her love of the outdoors.
“I grew up climbing on the Shawangunk Ridge with my parents,” she said. “Being outdoors empowered me.”
She felt even more empowered following a childhood experience on Mount Katahdin, the trail’s northern terminus, which is over 5,000 feet tall.
When Modugno was little, people questioned her wanting to hike all of the Appalachian Trail, but she said she took that slight as “a challenge to push further.”
More than 20 years later, Modugno was ready to take on a solo journey down the trail.
While she began her journey alone, she found that connection with others was not hard to find.
“You don't have any privacy when you're hiking, which is funny,” she said. “You would think you would when you’re out in the woods by yourself, but you're with people all day.”
Most of her time spent on the trail was with two fellow hikers of similar age.
Along the way, Modugno connected with another young male hiker named Ian Irwin at the beginning of the trail, but saw hiking alone while she was in North Carolina and invited him to join her “tramily,” or trail family.
The tramily included a hiker named Liam Rhatigan, who she met while in Gatlinburg, Tennessee on her 21st day on the trail.
“Eventually, Ian, Liam and I split off from our larger Gatlinburg ‘tramily’ because they wanted to slow down their mileage while we felt ready to push our mileage,” she said. “As a result, Ian, Liam, and I finished the trail about two months faster than the others we had been hiking with.”
The experience of being among relative strangers during her time on the trail allowed her to build relationships quickly with her fellow hikers.
“I think it was a good opportunity to learn how to really trust another person,” she said. “For example, Liam got really sick when we were in Virginia, and all of a sudden he's relying on me and Ian to take care of him.”
At certain points on the trail, she experienced physical hurdles herself, having to take a couple of days off after tweaking her ankle during a 24-hour period after completing a four-state challenge hiking from Virginia to Pennsylvania.
- The Trail is 2,197.4 miles long, passing through 14 states. This distance typically changes slightly each year due to footpath relocations and more precise measurement techniques.
- The total elevation gain of hiking the entire A.T. is equivalent to climbing Mt. Everest 16 times.
- Over 3 million visitors walk a portion of the A.T. each year.
- The A.T. is home to an impressive diversity of plants and animals. Some animals you may see include black bears, moose, porcupines, snakes, woodpeckers, and salamanders. Some plants you may encounter include jack-in-the-pulpit, skunk cabbage and flame azalea.
- Thousands of volunteers contribute roughly 240,000 hours to the A.T. every year.
Despite this, most of the trail left her with lasting fond memories. The experience of crossing 14 states in five months allowed her to experience most of the East Coast and the South, which showed her how much unites Americans despite geographical and political divides.
She found on several occasions how locals would support hikers on their long journey.
“It was a great way to see the country and to learn just how kind strangers will be to each other,” she said. “We called it ‘Trail Magic.’ It was incredible to see strangers set up food for hikers at different points on the trail.”
There were also fond memories of hiking near her home turf, with visits to Harriman State Park and Bear Mountain around Rockland and Orange Counties, and a trail that went through the Bear Mountain Zoo.
“It was fun to see the animals, and in turn, quite funny for us to be sitting around a water fountain and have people stare at us like we were the animals in the zoo,” she said.
Once she finally made it to the end, in a full-circle moment revisiting Maine’s Mount Katahdin, Modugno gained perspective that defined the next chapter of her New Paltz journey.
As a member of the Center for Student Success staff on campus, she is able to apply the perseverance and determination she acquired in fulfilling a childhood goal in helping students achieve their goals.
“There's a lot of patience that you build on hiking on the trail and learning to understand that people have difficult moments,” she said. “Being on the trail inspired me to do what I do now, where I work with students with the understanding that each one learns differently than the other.”
There were also life lessons she learned on the Appalachian Trail.
“You just realize there's no need to worry about the things that people are normally concerned about on a daily basis,” she said. “It takes a lot more for me to get stressed out now.”
Know an alumnus with a story worth sharing? Send an email to magazine@newpaltz.edu with tips or pitches for the New Paltz Alumni Magazine.
