Date: 2018-01-27
To: Greenacres FL
Miles today: 0.0

Hello. I am Rick Zinter and am planning to hike the A.T. (Appalachian Trail; 2,191 miles) starting on March 14, 2018.   Although I was hoping to title this blog with my trail name, I will have to start hiking before I am bestowed with one.Let me start with some background about me, and why I am doing this hike. Hiking the AT made it onto my bucket list many years ago, and I think because it sounded like a pretty cool idea, was adventurous, and a real chance to get outside. It represents the antithesis of the sedentary lifestyle of working in an office and being tied to a desk. Over time it became more solid with plans to hike portions of the trail with my sons, Ricky and Kyle, my daughter in law, Sarah (married to Ricky), my wife Silvia, my great nephew Ethan and possibly others. The plan was to do this when I retired at age 66.I have already done a couple short GA section hikes on the A.T., multiple weekend backpacking trips on the Florida Trail, once in Olympic National Park and once inTuck and Robin Lakes in Washington (both with my son Kyle). I made it to Tuck Lake, Kyle did the extra up to Robin Lake.Then in June 2015 my son Ricky was killed on a river rafting trip in western Colorado. This event has had a profound impact on my life. Although there has been much grief and tears, I choose to focus on the positives of what Ricky taught me and what I know he would want me to be. I am responsible for my own happiness, and I choose to be happy.Now, another of my reasons for this hike is to raise awareness of the KATA foundation, which stands for Kendall And Taylor Atkinson. They were sister and brother, childhood friends of Sarah, and both died of Fanconi anemia, a rare genetic disease that leads to bone marrow failure and early onset cancer. Due to the rareness of this disease big pharmaceutical companies do not fund research. The KATA foundation was started by Kendall and Taylor¢s parents, Dr. Ken and Jeanne Atkinson, to research a cure for this disease. In 2016, Ken Atkinson responded to a shooting in his Denver, CO neighborhood to provide medical assistance to a woman who had been shot. The gunman turned on Ken and shot and killed him. I cannot comprehend the grief that this family has endured. As Sarah and Ricky were close friends of the Atkinson family, extremely involved in the KATA foundation and volunteered their time and money to support it, this hike is one small thing I can do for the Atkinson family and the KATA foundation. I want to continue Ricky's work.With the first 4 letters of my destination being KATA (Mt. Katahdin), which matches with the KATA foundation name, I feel it is meant for me to do this hike to increase recognition for this charity. Please feel free to check out the KATA foundation website at www.KATAfoundation.org.There is a donation link at their website as part of my A.T. hike, should you want to donate to this cause.I am targeting to raise $2,191 ($1 per mile).Also, about a year ago I saw a posting on Facebook by a friend of mine from high school, Werner. He was going for a walk in the woods in the Spring on 2018. Since I had already decided to retire one year earlier than originally planned, the timing was perfect. Now we will start our hike together, and God willing, complete it together. In reality, I am not really sure how far I will be able to go, or what possible injury could knock me off the trail. I do know I will look for the positives in each moment and go as far as possible.