Starbuck

Starbuck (Lisa) and her son are section hiking north on the Appalachian Trail for a month before Lunch begins his new job. Starbuck is a 54-year-old retired teacher from Woodbridge, Virginia. The interview took place at Mountain Harbor Hostel in Tennessee. 

Starbuck and her son Lunch

What was your motivation to start hiking?

I started backpacking with my dad when I was a teenager. We would go out for five days at a time in the Cascades of Washington state. I was sort of raised backpacking, and I was a Boy Scout wannabe. Back then, girls were not allowed to be Boy Scouts. The closest I could get to that would be to run the daycare center at the Boy Scout camp to see from the periphery what was happening. But I always looked forward to having male children and being part of the scouting program. But, even before that, I was an avid hiker. I kind of assumed that all males were into outdoor activity. And when I got married, I assumed my husband would join me in those adventures. But I realized that he just really wasn't into it as much as I was. So, I started seeking out adult groups that I could participate with. I started out backpacking with the Boy Scouts, and then I ended up joining groups, and then, as I've moved around the country a lot, I’ve gone from weekend trips to short thru-hikes to long trails, and now it's what I do. I’ve done about 1600 miles of the AT.

What do you enjoy most about hiking in general or hiking on the AT?

So, each trail has its unique personality. The physical part of it and the idea of being free and being self-sufficient and surviving in the wilderness, that is definitely part of what draws me to it. But there's really nothing better than a long physical hike to get to a mountain peak where there's a breathtaking view. So, for me, a lot of it is reaching the view. With the Appalachian Trail, you're in that green bubble [a common nickname for the dense trees that often surround the trail], and then these amazing views appear every once in a while. On some trails, you're hiking in the view the whole time. So, you know, each trail is a little bit different. It's also a little bit of Xena Warrior Princess. That's like a 90s reference. A superhero of the Greek female sort. I feel like you're conquering the mountain in a way that gives you a sense of satisfaction getting up and over. And also the history of the small towns. That was the unexpected bonus to the Appalachian Trail is really getting to know the people who live in these small connecting towns and support the hikers. That would include the hostels and the unique personalities of the hostels and hostel workers. And the camaraderie, the level of camaraderie between strangers. I'm actually going to publish one day about the extent of people helping one another. It's astounding what you find on the trail that you may not find elsewhere in society.

What is the story behind your trail name?

It’s originally from when I was backpacking on the West Coast on Catalina Island. I'm from Seattle originally, so Starbucks and coffee are a big deal to those of us from the region. I may have had a lot of coffee and croissants and things that you might find in a coffee shop, and probably too much because they say in the backpacking world, you pack your fears. So I had brought way too much. One of my first three hikes was Catalina Island. And everybody who ran out of coffee just said, “Don't worry about it. Just go to Lisa's tent. It's pretty much like Starbucks.” So my name started out Starbucks with an ‘s,’ and then when I hit the AT and started backpacking, I would tell people my trail name, and they would drop the ‘s.’ They thought I was saying Starbuck, like the character in Moby Dick, the loyal companion. Honestly, nobody on the East Coast has ever assumed it was Starbucks, as in the coffee shop. They always assume it's like Moby Dick. Evidently, Moby Dick is like a big thing on the Appalachian Trail. I can't tell you how many people have understood the reference, and there are even some hikers who actually make it their mission to come up with a Moby Dick reference every day on the trail. So, I think there are some really fun English teachers on the East Coast who really become obsessed with the whole book and pass that along to their students. So it's a trail thing, evidently Moby Dick. So I am now Starbucks. Some people think it's Battlestar Galactica, and I let them go whatever they want to go with. But most of the time, people go with Moby Dick. Mount Greylock in Massachusetts is the tie-in to the AT. It was the inspiration for the White Whale in Moby Dick. So, there is an actual tie-in between Starbuck and the AT.