Date: 2010-01-07
To: The Journey of a Lifetime
Miles today: 0.0

Welcome to my journal. You¢ve found this page so you must already know something about the dang-fool idea I¢ve gotten into my head about walking from Georgia to Maine. Suffice to say it¢s not a lark. I¢m not certain how long I¢ve carried the idea of hiking the Appalachian Trail; it¢s hard to pinpoint the origin of something so fantastic. I can say with certainty the idea wasn¢t the lightning bolt-type variety, but more a thought set long ago to the back burner over a low, simmering heat, among any number of simmering thoughts, quietly percolating over the years. In our youth we hardly notice the array of doors cast wide before us, the world a beckoning blank slate, fraught with opportunity and potential, but as we grow some of those doors slowly begin to drift shut, gliding silently on well-oiled hinges, such that you don¢t even notice until long after the latch has caught. A mountain climber might dream of Everest yet most will summit lesser peaks. So it is with the Appalachian Trail. As an adult there¢s less certainty that your dreams will juxtapose with reality but hopefully we¢re awake and mindful enough to recognize when the stars align, fortune smiles and we¢re able to wedge a toe or elbow in one of those doors. The Appalachian Trail (commonly referred to as the A.T.) is a National Scenic Trail following the crest of the Appalachian Mountains over 2000 miles from Springer Mt. in Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Central Maine. The Trail passes through parts of 14 states and includes more than 90 miles of elevation change over its full course. When the AT was completed in 1937 the Trail was officially 2038 miles long. The official published length for 2010 is listed at 2179.1 miles.As for me, I¢ll be carrying a 30-ish pound pack over this serpentine, undulating stretch with all of the gear and equipment, excepting food resupply, I think I¢ll need for a trek to Maine. At the conclusion of this 5 month sojourn, with October bidding September farewell and the spruce and birch beginning to blush, I should arrive at the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail to stand atop the shoulders of majestic Mt. Katahdin. I¢ll make my best effort to update this journal daily, and in answer to the single most proffered inquiry, No, I won¢t be taking a gun.As for you, please sign my guestbook, explore the entries, and hopefully find an occasional upward tilt at the corners of your mouth.Finally, I couldn¢t put the ¢Why¢ of my trip into words any more eloquently than Thoreau has already done --"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion." --Henry David ThoreauAnd finally-finally, I¢d like to offer my heartfelt thanks, love and adoration to my wife and family. Their strength, fortitude and resilience make all of this possible. In my absence life will go on. Spring will turn to summer and then fall, a school year will end and another begin, a daughter¢s 5th birthday, a 15th wedding anniversary, sporting events, dressed and breakfast in the morning, dinner-bath-pajamas at night. None of their commitment and sacrifice are lost on me and for this I am most grateful.