Date: 2015-09-09
To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

During the Hike, Part 1 of 2It was Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015 when I was dropped off at the trailhead to Springer Mountain where I walked to the official start of the trip. I met a hiker, So-Crates, we snapped a few pictures at the summit and I wished him the best. I said something along the lines of ¢who knows where our journey takes us, but best of luck on yours¢. We shook hands and then proceeded to walk together for the day. I never saw him again after that day. I remember the first day on the trail. It was rainy, which must have been foreshadowing for the remainder of the trip. It always was very cold at the beginning of the trip. The following weeks were either rainy, cold, windy, snowy, or a combination of any of them. It was expected since I started at the beginning of March. Don¢t be fooled though, Georgia is cold! The thing was, it was okay. I enjoyed it. I was meeting new people every day. I was hiking with friends I made in a short time; Tree Ninja, Sycamore, Hermit specifically. It was exciting. It was new. It was amazing.The weather on the trail eventually turned milder and Spring had sprung. The forest and hills were coming alive and the brown of the trees and undergrowth were slowly fading away. Buds were forming and the landscape was changing. I remember saying to myself, ¢soon the leaves are going to block in the amazing views.¢ But I still enjoyed it and I was hitting milestones sooner than expected.It took me a few days past a month when I hit the 500 mile mark. The sad thing was my good friend, Stretch, had just left the trail just two days earlier. If you have read some of my journal entries early on the trip, you will see how much of an important person he was to the positive attitude and motivation on my walk. I remember talking to Nikki about his departure and how it was tough to not have that person in my ¢trail family¢ anymore. She gave me some encouragement to help get me out of a bit of a funk I was in. I think that was the first time I hit a low on the trip.I bounced back, as I knew I needed to keep a positive attitude to continue moving forward. That 500 mile mark was a milestone, and it was an accomplishment to say I had made it that far but I never fully felt content. It may have been a milestone for many others, but I knew it wasn¢t enough and I didn¢t get the warm and fuzzies. Regardless, I kept trekking on. But in all honesty, Katahdin was never on my mind at that point or any time prior. When people would ask ¢Are you walking to Maine?¢ I would just respond, ¢I hope so¢. I knew I¢d make it but I had to be realistic and think that something unforeseen could, possibly, in an act of God, derail me. Yet thinking of seeing the sign at the top of Katahdin was too far away to even think about.It was mile 856.60 when I got some bad news. It wasn¢t a death, it wasn¢t Lyme Disease, it wasn¢t a broken bone or anything like that. It was my other good friends Axon and Shrugs (www.trailjournals.com/axonshrugs) had an injury, possibly ending their hike. Axon rolled her ankle really bad and needed to go have it evaluated. So we ended up meeting in Waynesboro, VA where they needed to take some time off. I left a day later and they needed to stay. Depending on how Axon¢s ankle felt, it would determine whether or not they could continue on. That was the second low point I hit, and it was just a few weeks after Stretch departed from the trail. It was like a punch in the gut. I knew that since Axon and Shrugs had to stay behind for a 5 days or so, I may not see them again on this trip. It was tough to deal with since they, and Stretch, were my trail family I had spent time sharing experiences with. I ended up turning to another hiker for help. Former thru-hiker, Much Fichigan, I reached out to and he said that it would work out and to focus on a goal to keep your mind from being down. So, I did that. I focused on getting through 110ish miles in 5 days. It helped and I hiked and became friends with another guy, Giuseppe. Yet, I never became close like that with anyone else for the rest of the trip like I did with Axon and Shrugs. Thankfully Axon and Shrugs were able to continue on with the trip. We would keep in touch daily or weekly via text messages from there on out.Almost a month to the day after that 500 mile mark I hit the 1,000 mile mark. I remember that day vividly, one of the most vivid days of the trip. It was Mothers Day, May 10th, 2015. It was at that point, that single sign on the tree, when I knew I was never going to quit. I never had the idea of quitting, and I never used that word even in jest, but it was the reaffirmation that quitting was not an option. I remember calling my mom to wish her a happy Mothers Day and telling her and my dad of my accomplishment to this point. I remember talking to some day hikers at a view and hearing their excitement for me too. It was an amazing feeling, one I will truly never forget.I continued hiking on and off with Giuseppe and met a few other hikers I really enjoyed; K2, Bear Fish, Zipper, Long Horn. Great guys. It was nice to have the same people around, ones that I got along well with and I enjoyed hanging out with. I always enjoyed the end of the day, sitting around with other hikers, BS¢ing about the day, or life, and having a bond on trail. The trail is one place where it doesn¢t matter who you are, where you are from, the things you have done, the job that you have, the age that you are or the people you know. When you sit down at the end of the night, eating your Knorr rice sides and packets of tuna (more often than not), it¢s the time when everyone is the same. There is no hierarchy among hikers. I reached the unofficial halfway point of the Appalachian Trail at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. I went in to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and registered as a northbound thru-hiker. I was number 106, a number I was very pleased about. I walked through the historic town and was in amazement of the preservation, restoration, and information regarding the sites. I enjoyed my short visit and continued on hiking.The only thing that was bothering me was Nikki, family and friends couldn't experience everything I had so far. I could take 1,000 pictures, describe the finest details, but no descriptions or pictures could capture the moment and the feelings. I knew I just had to deal with it and keep on moving. That, I did.Part 2, The Final Half, to follow this entry