Date: 2007-05-07
To: Bed, in my room
Miles today: 0.0

Tomorrow morning, at 8:30, my friend Lance and I set out for North Georgia. Around 3-4 hours later, we will arrive on USFS Road 42, .9 miles from the Southern Terminus of the Appalachian Trail (A.T.), on Springer Mountain. I will camp there for the night, and on Wednesday morning I will begin walking North, hoping to make it to Maine within the next 5-months to Mount Katahdin, where the Northern Terminus of the A.T. resides. I will begin hiking alone.I made the decision to do this one-year ago this very month. It has been a life-long dream of mine from as young as the age of 5. Around 5-years ago, a friend and I began planning to make this same trip. He canceled to finish school, if I remember right; I canceled because I didn't think it smart/practical/safe/wise to embark upon an endeavor such as that solo.After a day of hiking on the A.T. in North Georgia last May, I stopped in an outfitter on Neel's Gap and purchased a DVD on the Trail. I watched it within a few days, and within a few weeks made the decision to hike within a year. Tomorrow begins the actualization of this decision.I don't claim to have been the best or most diligent planner; but, I have persevered. There is a dose of fear that I experience while going into this trek; I think that's a healthy thing. Fear is not knowing, uncertainty. Sure I have quality gear, with my packweight totalling around 30-35 pounds (including food and a gallon of water!); but what will it really be like while I'm out there tomorrow night, sleeping in my one-man, 3-pound tent in the Chatahooche National Forrest, with my food hanging in a bag from a tree to keep black bears (read: large raccoons) from foraging through it? I have no idea, of course. What will it be like using the sunrise as my alarm clock and using the sunset as my indicator that it's bedtime for the next several months? What will it be like walking 15-25 miles a day over rugged mountains, day-in and day-out? What will it be like being rained upon, and attempting to set my tent up despite said inclement weather, keeping the inside, and especially my down-feather sleeping bag (it practically loses all warming capabilities when wet) dry? What will it be like eating poptarts, peanut-butter, trail-mix, ramen-noodles and tuna fish on a near daily basis? What will it be like when a lightening storm is heard approaching?These are all healthy fears. But, the story doesn't end there; in a sense, it merely begins. The fresh smell of unadulterated wilderness, the sound of the wind whistling through the trees, crystal clear sunrises and sunsets over the vastly expansive Appalachian Mountains (which stretch from North Alabama to the Atlantic Ocean in Nova Scotia, Canada). The people I will definitely meet along the Trail, many of whom will become lifelong friends, likely. Then there's the prospect of actually finding a sort of joy in the hardships. "I never knew how beautiful the rain could be; I never stopped to notice." Encountering wildlife from mice, to possums, to raccoons, to rattlesnakes, to black bears, to wild ponies, to long-horn cattle, to moose, to deer will be awesome as is!Why am I doing this? First off, for something like this, a wonderful philosophy is the simple "Why not?" The main rejoinders are that at my age (25) I should focus on finishing college and getting married, not walking for 2,175-miles in the mountains. Reckless, this is to them. I fear they possibly miss part of the purpose of life. The other criticisms generally stem from ignorance regarding the Trail. Someone said to me yesterday, "Look out for grizzly bears!" There are no grizzly bears on the East Coast! The only bears on this side of the Mississippi are black bears, which are like big raccoons!For anything to be appreciated properly, one must first approach it from the perspective of why it exists in the first place. So, why does the Appalachian Trail exist? As a protected haven from the hustle-bustle of city life where one can go and experience the sheer beauty of nature, of solitude, of quiet, and of just getting out of yourself! I try not to overspiritualize this trip of mine, but it's impossible to not spiritualize it in some way. I truly hope to see the Face of God while I'm on this trip. But, also, I'm doing this just to have a good time, and to enjoy myself out there!Also, it is a coming of age in a sense, my bar-mitzvah, if you will. Everyone in the world doesn't need to go hike the A.T.; but everyone needs to do something for themselves like this, something they normally wouldn't do, something most folks wouldn't normally do. People who don't live with regrets for the rest of their life, unequivocally. Don't let other people have your adventures for you. They are yours!I plan to average 7-12 miles a day for the first 10-days of my hike; then to work myself up to 20+ days, with maybe a few 30-mile days in parts of Virginia and Pennsylvania. When I get to New Hampshire and Maine, I will have to slow my pace down due to the sheer ruggedness up there. Baxter State Park, where Mount Katahdin is, boasting the Northern Terminus of the Appalachian Trail, closes to overnight campers on October 15. If the weather is safe atop the mountain, they let people hike to Baxter Peak (the taller of the several peaks atop the mountain) where the Trail ends.I should be in town to do laundry and buy food for my next week every 3-7 days. I'm bringing my cellphone to use while in town, to keep in touch with people, so they know I'm still alive, haven't fallen off of a cliff, or been struck by lightening. I'm also bringing my digital camera, and have provisions for around 3,000 pictures. While in town, if I'm able to find a library with computers, I will upload pictures as I go along. If time permits, I will also upload some here. So pay attention!In closing, I want to thank those of you who have supported me in any way through the course of this past year, as I have endeavored to pursue this crazy dream of mine. I ask that you remember me in your prayers, as I know this trip won't be a walk in the park; it will be quite challening. From getting used to rugged miles with 30-35 pounds on my back, being away from my family and friends, being rained upon, it will have its difficulties. This can serve, possibly, as a microcosm for life. As one thru-hiker (one who hikes from one end of the Trail to the other) told me, "You may have to quit for good reasons, as many do, such as injuries or family incidents. Aside from that, you cannot quit when it's raining, because that's too easy; nor can you quit while in town, for that's also too easy. You can only quit while it's a beautiful, sunny day outside in the mountains. Only then will you be thinking objectively enough as to whether or not you should keep putting one foot in front of the other."