Blackalachian

The Blackalachian: First Gold-Mouth Rapper to Thru-Hike the Appalachian Trail

In April of 2017, Daniel White of Charlotte NC, Aka the rapper known as Logo, was dropped off at Amicalola Falls State Park to embark on a two-month section hike that would inevitably turn into a complete thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. He would become, as it says in his YouTube video series, “The first gold-mouth rapper/hiker on the Appalachian Trail.” The majority of this story is obtained through the watching of his videos.

He leaves an unsatisfying life to go on a life-changing adventure on the AT

At the ripe old age of 31, Daniel White found his life going nowhere. As an electrician, he would go out and do the same thing, day in and day out. He felt like he wasn’t living—in his words, “Just waiting to die.”
For a long time, he yearned to go out in the woods and live off the land. One day, while posting his feelings about living in the wilderness on Facebook, his cousin suggested he hike the Appalachian Trail. The thought of hiking over 2,000 miles intrigued him. The more he thought about it, the more he came to believe that this was just what he needed.
Initially he planned only to hike for 2 months, until his 32 birthday, but events were soon going to transpire which would see to it that he hiked every step of the trail.
So, after a lot of planning and preparation, he set off for the adventure of his life….

Pre-Hike Message to Black People

In his pre-hike video, the Blackalachian, his gear spread all over the floor of his apartment (by the looks of it, enough weight to break a camel’s back), described one of the reasons for his hike, saying “you know black people don’t do this type of thing—long distance hiking—that’s what we’ve been told. That’s what we’ve been taught. Black people don’t hike; black people don’t seek therapists. I’m trying to change the narrative; black people… we’re just like white people… for the most part. I just want to show y’all we don’t have to live the stereotypical way that we’ve always been taught.”
By hiking the trail, the Blackalachian said he wanted to show people that there’s a different way to live; “Not necessarily as black or white, but as human beings period”
He also wanted to show that people can live off the grid, although he admits to enjoying all the comforts of the grid.

The Blackalachian: Black Man on a White Trail

From the moment he set foot on the trail, looking a little wild, with his erratic locks and gold smile, the thin, 6 foot 3 inch Blackalachian took to the physical challenges very well, logging around 16 miles the first day.


In his videos, it was clear that he was very comfortable with hiking as well as using his gear. His videos were fairly well organized, describing the trail in meticulous detail, from the geography; the elevation gains and losses, to the interesting plant and animal life, to the weather and, his favorite parts–the breathtaking views–he seemed to live for those.
It wasn’t long however before he began to get noticed for his different color. On his second day, he said he passed an older man, a trail maintainer. who told him, “You know, I appreciate you coming out here. You’re a rarity out here”. The Blackalachian said in his video, “I’m glad he said it simple and plain like that.”
Then he went on to tell his viewers, “Young brown, black, just poor kids in general, we gotta see stuff like this (motioning to the forest around him). “In my ‘hood… black people, you only know how to make it off about three different things—that’s what they glorify anyway. That’s a dope dealer, an athlete, or a musician, a rapper, singer or whatever…”
He explained how, on the trail, there are doctors, lawyers; all kinds of professionals and he appealed to the kids in the ‘hoods and their parents to, “Do something else”, to find something they’re good at and then get out and do it. He told parents to support them to make something of themselves.
Further down the trail, he met Frank, who told him, “You’re the first black fellow I’ve ever seen on the trail.” The Blakalachian used this to lead into a teachable moment: “People of color—we’ve got to do better! We’ve got to try something different. We’ve got to get back to the earth.” Daniel expressed his concern for people of color, saying he’d like them to get out of the house instead of just sitting around not doing exercise and dying of heart disease and diabetes.
Throughout his journey, The Blackalachian’s desire was that he would no longer be viewed as a black hiker, but just a hiker. To the credit of many hikers, they did just that.

Evolution of a Hiker: Newbie to Hiker Trash

As The Blackalachian posted video after video, faithfully recording his daily experiences, it is instructive to see how he evolved from a hiker who had issues with “going dookie” in the woods, to a smelly, always-hungry, seasoned hiker who lost most of his inhibitions.
Somewhere along the way he stopped being as concerned about his appearance, not worrying what people thought about him.

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