Date: 2008-12-23
To: Why am I doing this?
Miles today: 0.0

Q: Why plan to hike the entire A.T. Southbound from Maine to Georgia?This is a question that needs a good answer.Without a good answer, when the going gets rough, hard, painful, and tiring, or the elements, weather, temperature, wild life comes, as they are sure to come, I might leave the trail. Why not just hike for a weekend, or backpack for a week's vacation and then come back to civilization and creature comforts. Why do you want to hike the entire Appalachian Trail, those 2,176.2 miles in one thru-hike?A: Well, let me attempt an answer.For as long as I can remember I have felt a connection to nature. When I was a kid exploring and playing in the forest, it was a magical experience. In high school nature was a coping tool for me. I ran to a park, the forest, a lake or waterfall to figure out questions I had about life. When I went there to think, nature always seemed to answer me. Looking at the trees I learned about stability, about grounding the self and having strong roots. I learned about reaching for the sky, but being flexible in the wind so you don't break. The forests taught me about being human, and living in this place, in the space between the heavens and the earth.When I brought a problem to the river it showed me how water goes around the rock instead of being stopped by it. Nature taught me.When I went away to college in Chicago I had a major problem... there were no quiet natural places easily accessible to where I lived. I felt crippled that a major coping tool of mine had been taken away by the city.I have other coping tools now, but at the time that problem was huge for me. I spent two years in Chicago and then came back to Georgia to finish school. I came back with the idea that I wanted to spend a year living in nature... I felt that I would learn so much. Nature had been my personal tutor before. With nature there was never a mask, there was only you and the truths that nature revealed to you.I never did take that year to live away from civilization. I guess that's what this thru hike is for. I want to spend the time to learn from nature again. It's a school for me. I'll definitely be testing myself, learning self-reliance, self-sufficiency in terms of finding water, carrying our house and supplies on our backs (we're obviously not hunting food and we will be stopping in towns for resupplies most every week, so we will still be very much connected with society and commerce), but less of distractions from society which keep me from examining myself. I want to hike those 2,176.2 miles from Maine to Georgia because in traveling by foot across the scenic, wooded, pastoral and wild lands of 14 states I believe there is something to learn every mile, if not every step, of that journey. I will have the time to look into myself and learn and grow.I know that some things on this thru hike will be risky; I have to accept the uncertainty of the unknown. That it will take self controlThat It will take creative problem solvingThat I will have to be flexibleTolerant of others on the trailThat I will learn about my limits and have to respect my limits That I will have to relax in times I don't feel like relaxing, and be positive during times where the prospects are less than positive.That I will be "reconnecting as a natural animal with my natural habitat" (taken from a hiker named Shane in his online hiking/philosophy journal www.theplacewithnoname.com)I want to go on this thru hike because once I learn how to survive on the trail, then I can start learning how to live. All I will have is the bag of survival gear to distract me, and soon I'll stop trying to re-organize my backpack, and I will have to re-organize myself. I'll have to look through myself, face myself head on, and see what I'm made of.I am lucky enough to have the flexibility and support in my work life to allow me to do this, the same flexibility and support in my family life, and lucky enough to find a companion who wants to do this journey alongside me.I am grateful to have the ability to thru-hike and excited to embark on this journey.-JoshuaSome other quotes below for inspiration: "Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair." -Khalil Gibran"The dreams that thrive are the ones we feed." -Shane"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat." -Roosevelt