How a Brick Named “Bricky” Thru-Hiked the Appalachian Trail

The saga of Bricky—the Yellow Emergency Hiking Brick that traversed the entire length of the Appalachian Trail in 2024—started as a joke. 

“The inspiration came last year when a friend of mine was thru-hiking,” says Abraham “Rifle” Reyes. When “Rifle,” who’s from Duluth, Georgia, decided to hike the A.T. this year, he painted a brick yellow and took it to Mountain Crossings at Neel Gap—one of the early milestones on the Trail. On the brick, he wrote in red block letters: EMERGENCY HIKING BRICK *FOR ALL YOUR EMERGENCY BRICK HIKING NEEDS* NOBO 2024. “I dropped it off on a Wednesday and got on the Trail on Friday.” 

Bricky’s story picks up with two 2024 thru-hikers—“Gadget” and “Soap.” They started at Amicalola Falls State Park on February 22 and met within hours on the Approach Trail to Springer Mountain. A couple of days out, they encountered “Rifle,” who told them to keep an eye out for a brick and to feel free to take it to Katahdin. They found it at Neel Gap and signed their names on the brick. Another hiker, “Cheese Block,” wrote: Bring me to Katahdin, then carried the brick 20 miles to Blue Mountain Shelter. 

The brick went on to become a legend within the 2024 thru-hiking class. On September 13, the brick summitted Mount Katahdin with “Frodo” and his tramily. At least sixty hikers—and likely more—had shouldered the load during the brick’s thru-hike. 

Becoming a Celebrity 

Bricky—as he came to be known—inspired the creation of a Facebook Group, “Follow The Yellow Brick Trail,” that has more than 2,000 members. He was featured in multiple YouTube videos and appeared in a news segment on a Boston TV station. He ate in a Chinese restaurant, had acupuncture and a massage, visited Times Square and Grand Central in New York, and was a guest at a public ribbon-cutting ceremony in Virginia. 

He scaled Dragon’s Tooth, almost got thrown off McAfee Knob (well, not really), successfully completed the Half Gallon Challenge, and joined the revelers in the Hiker Parade at Trail Days in Damascus. Bricky traveled with a logbook filled with the names of many of the hikers who carried him on the Trail. He also acquired a pair of googly eyes, and had to undergo restorative surgery when he broke in two after a fall. 

Finishing the Hike 

There’s a footnote to the story, though: Bricky didn’t actually start his hike at Springer Mountain. 

“Gadget” and “Soap” caught up with “Rifle” along the Trail. “Rifle” revealed that he had driven the brick to Neel Gap. “If it makes it all the way to Katahdin, you have to get it to Springer Mountain,” Gadget had told him. 

In a fortuitous coincidence, “Frodo” lived near “Rifle.” After bringing Bricky back to Georgia in his checked baggage, he and “Rifle” met in Dahlonega—the A.T. Community™ that’s closest to the start of the Trail—and the brick was returned to its creator. 

“Rifle” took Bricky back to Neel Gap and carried him up Blood Mountain. He then handed Bricky off to “Gadget” and “Soap,” who gladly took on the task of delivering the yellow brick to Springer Mountain, where “Rifle” met them again. 

He carried Bricky down the Approach Trail to the iconic Arch at Amicalola. Bricky’s thru-hike—although, technically, a flip-flop—was complete. 

Melissa Masse, who created an interactive Google Map that let people track Bricky’s progress, wrote on Facebook, “Bricky’s experience set a perfect example of how trail family and community come together to help each other get to Katahdin.” She praised the “misadventures, milestones, and magnificent moments along the way.” 

In another post, E Lee Saldaña wrote, “It’s often the little things that bring us joy! Who would have thought it would be a brick?!”