Where in the world is Cindy Kinmon?

Cindy Kinmon is off on a grand adventure. She left her Dry Ridge home Monday, March 18, and if all goes to plan she won’t be back for a long time. Kinmon, along with her sister and brother-in-law, Penny and Harvey Wright, set out to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail--all 2,190 miles of it.

The trail stretches from its southern end at Springer Mountain in Georgie, 8.5 miles north of Amicalola Falls; to its northern terminus at Mount Katahdin in Maine.

Kinmon and her hiking companions expect to return to civilization about every five days to restock food and other supplies, do laundry and check in. They’ll also need to replace trail shoes every few hundred miles. Kinmon expects to go through five or six pairs during the course of the hike.

During these breaks she promised to update the Grant County News with her location and photos, allowing everyone back home in Grant County to follow her progress and see the beauty of the trail.

Her trail name, by the way, is the Blonde Bandit, voted on by other hikers. It’s common to be known on the trail by a nickname instead of using your given name.

Tuesday, March 19, the day of departure, dawned a chilly 25 degrees. “The sun is up and it’s very beautiful out here,” Kinmon said that morning.

The party hiked a mile to the official start of the Appalachian Trail and took their first steps along it at 3 p.m.

She expects it to be 25 degrees again tonight, but instead of a sleeping in a cozy room in the Adventure Lodge of Dawsonville, Georgia near the trail’s southern starting point, she will be sleeping in a tent on the ground.

Her sleeping bag is good down to 30 degrees, so she’ll add a liner to help withstand the cold.

“When I was out here last year, it was really warm weather,” Kinmon said of the 45 days or so she hiked part of the trail with a family member. They logged 150 miles, making it through Georgia and part of North Carolina before water source problems and heat drove them to Virginia to get in more miles.

Kinmon expects it will take five to seven months to complete the thru-hike. “A lot depends on the weather,” she said, along with possible impediments such as flooding and forest fires.

It’s not uncommon for thru-hikers to “flip-flop” on the Appalachian Trail in order to take advantage of better weather. For instance, a hiker might hop up to Maine to do the last part of the trail during warmer months and then go back down south to pick up where they left off.

“Thousand of people start this journey every year,” Kinmon said, “and about 15 to 20% finish.”

Kinmon and her companions joined a flood of hopeful hikers. She said most people hit the southern end of the trail between March 15 and April 1 in order to make the 2,190 journey before winter weather sets in at the northern end.

Since Jan. 1, 1,200 hikers have registered at the visitors’ center and gotten a thru-hike tag. Once they have finished their journey, hikers can get a certificate of completion.

Kinmon was raised on a Grant County farm with cows and tobacco but has traveled the world, including trips to Israel, Italy, and Puerto Rico. She exudes confidence and excitement as she talks about her latest journey.

“It can be a life-changing adventure,” she said (probably not referring to the rattlesnake she encountered on the trail last year).

She spoke of the beauty and solitude she finds in hiking. “Life; there’s just so much noise.” It’s definitely not like that on the trail, where’s there’s often no cell phone service. “It gets very peaceful.”

It’s surprising how many people start the trail alone, she remarked. Hikers often befriend one another on the trail, though.

Despite the thousands who set off on the trail every year, on last year’s hike Kinmon said there were days when they encountered only four or five other people.

“It gives you a lot of time to think and pray.”