Origins

December 13, 2007 at 5:13 am · Filed under Preliminary

It’s hard for me to trace exactly where my desire to hike the A.T. came from originally. I have always had a love for New England, and in 2000 I worked at a summer camp for kids in the White Mountains. We climbed 9 mountains that summer, including Mt. Washington and Franconia Ridge. I definitely wanted to do the A.T. after that, but it probably goes back earlier than that.

In the summer of 1999, I worked in D.C. and we went camping in Shenandoah National Park. We hiked a small section of the white blazes on that trip. I also think this is when I read Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.

In the last 18 months or so I’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from my girlfriend, who is a former thru hiker and whose life was forever changed by the trail. She has had an enormous impact on me and her experience on the trail has been an inspiration. In June this last summer the reality of it hit me like a train, that I need to hike NOW, as in 2008. The feeling inside is that there may never be a better time.

For me this will be a great culmination of a dream I’ve had for some time. To do this I am having to make great sacrifices in my personal life, finances and professional world. I will be lots poorer and possibly in a less advantageous position at work when I come back. I will be gone for 6 months, from April through September. A lot can change in that time!

However, I am going on an enormous, epic adventure that may be a once in a lifetime chance. I will make lifelong friends, gain confidence, see places I never imagined were made, and even lose some weight. I am not guaranteed to make it, in fact only a small percentage of thru-hikers do. But God will be there, and I’ll be sure to ask him if he wouldn’t mind allowing me to get all the way to Maine. I’ll be sure to take some pictures along the way, and look forward to sharing this whole experience with you’alls.

Map

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