The Appalachian Trail: 2,200 Miles of Wandering, Wondering, and Finding Oneself

"Why the hell would you want to do something like that?"  "You're crazy!"  "I couldn't do that, but more power to you!"

These are some of the responses that one gets when they tell their family, friends, and coworkers that they're going to leave for six months to transverse the Appalachian Trail.  Not to mention the warnings of bears, crazy rednecks with guns, and of course, Bigfoot.  I can testify some of these are true, though.  You will see many bears (they almost always run away at first sight), many gun toting country folks (you'll usually see their kitchen table and dinnerware before you'll see their armory), and I may really be crazy (in the 'I'd rather be 20 miles from civilization than in a metropolis', hermit empathizing kind of way).  No word on Bigfoot yet, but many swear he's out there.  

When it was my time to thru hike the Appalachian Trail, something in me clicked (or maybe snapped is a better term) in November 2017. I just knew that it was time for me to do something different with my life.  You'll hear about this click/snap from a majority of the hikers on the trail, all from different walks of life.  Myself, I was perpetually single with no real desire to put myself out there and stuck in a mind numbing rut of wake up, go to work, buy beer on the way home, drink said beer, go to bed.  Rinse and repeat.  My soul needed a change.  By March 2018, I had procured all of my gear and was out there starting a 2,200 mile journey to self betterment. 

The Appalachian Trail runs through 14 different states from Georgia to Maine, each providing their own perks and drawbacks.  During a typical thru hike season, one has to hike through elements of every North American season:  blistering cold, snow, freezing rain, the blooming of flowers and trees in the springtime, scorching summer heat and humidity, sudden thunderstorms, and the glorious colour of autumn...all while navigating terrain ranging from rolling hills, farmland, rocky cliffs, stream fordings, etc.  Every part of this journey plays a part in breaking one down to who they really are and then building them back into a much more mentally resilient walking machine.  

Any mention of this journey is incomplete without mentioning the wonderful people one meets long the way.  In itself, a thru hike is a ridiculously long walk that is at alternating times obnoxiously boring/lonely, mentally deflating, and masochistic physically. The relationships a hiker makes along the way are the perfect cure for those hurdles.  A pep talk from the owner of a popular hostel, a can of beer and a sandwich from a loving trail angel, or just the camaraderie of other hikers in your vicinity can be the difference in completing a thru hike or calling it quits somewhere along the way. Lifelong friendships and connections are made out in those woods.

I finished my hike on October 17, 2018.  What are some of the things that I gained from those seven months away from society?  Well, to start, I've never had the level of self confidence that I now possess.  I was also healthier than I ever remembered being, dropping from 215 pounds pre-hike to 156 pounds the day I finished.  On a much more personal level, I was also able to meet the love of my life just north of the halfway point in Pennsylvania. I was pretty broken down by that point and it instantly became clear that she was the partner in life that I had always been seeking.  She is so soothing for my go go go mindset.  After finishing the hike and moving to Georgia to be with her, we were also blessed to find out that we were going to have our first child the following May, a beautiful blue eyed baby girl (a true trail baby, tell me that kid isn't destined to do some amazing hikes in her life.  haha).  Comparing my life before the Appalachian Trail to after it is truly like night and day.  

So call me crazy, but I'll always think highly of the Appalachian Trail and what it has the potential to do for one's life.  I promise to spend more time looking for Bigfoot next time.

Follow me the next few weeks for blogs on each of the 14 states on the Appalachian Trail:  Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.  They will be full of highlights, landmarks, hijinks, shenanigans, and of course, the best restaurants to satiate hiker hunger along the way.

Check me out on Instagram @ wanderin_mountaineer