I just realized I did not post this on my blog last fall after I wrote it.
The Hike of
2016
As many of you know, it has been a
dream of mine to hike the whole 2176 miles of the Appalachian Trail from
Georgia to Maine. The goal was to do it during the summer of 2017 when I turned
65 so I could be on Medicare and the government could pay the bill if I broke a
hip.
But when I found a friend who said
she would do a section hike with me in the spring of 2016, I couldn’t pass that
up because I didn’t know If I’d ever find someone to do the whole thing with me
in 2017, and Ed said I couldn’t go alone (he is pretty smart). So, in January
of 2016, Peggy and I began to plan and prepare for a section hike of the trail.
We decided to do the 540 miles in Virginia, starting on May 15 in Damascus. We
heard it was the easiest part and were sure we could do it in forty days.
When Ed and I were coming home from
Florida on the 1st of April that year, I talked him into stopping at Amicalola
Falls in Georgia where you get on the approach trail that goes to Springer Mt
(the southern trailhead of the AT). I got to walk a little bit and talk to a
few hikers who were starting their through hikes. Their excitement was
contagious. But since only 1 out of 10 actually finishes, I wondered which ones
would be in Maine in the fall. It usually takes about six months to do it all.
On May 15, as planned, Peggy and I
met in Damascus, VA for the start of our hike. It just happened to be the
weekend of the huge trail days celebration that is held there every year. There
were hundreds of hikers there, and once again, the excitement rubbed off.
But it didn’t take too long on the
trail before the excitement wore off. The evening of the second day, when I was
exhausted and cold after climbing two mountains, I slipped while crossing a
stream and hurt my leg. But what choice did I have but to go on. Once you’ve
committed to hiking that green tunnel, you just don’t want to get off it. What
an adventure those 40 days on the trail were. We did not get to backpack all
540 miles because of my old feet and tired knees, but we did do 430 miles, shuttling
through the miles we missed.
When we arrived in Harpers Ferry,
W.Va we were both physically exhausted and down 20 pounds. They say you burn
5000 calories a day hiking up and down mountains, and there is no way you can
eat that many calories a day, especially since you have to carry your food on
your back, getting off just once a week to resupply.
But it wasn’t the physical change in
me that counted. It was what I brought off that trail in my heart and in my
mind. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been one of those people who was
always planning for tomorrow and failing to enjoy the day I was living in. I
remember living in the moment as a child, and the trail taught me to do that
again.
I came away with a renewed adoration
for my God too. The splendor He created for us to enjoy is so varied. We see
it, not just in nature but in our fellow human beings. There were only a few
nights when I couldn’t sleep in my tent on the trail and had to sleep in a
shelter with strangers from all over the country. One night it was me and
Peggy, a lawyer, a laid off coal miner, a kid who was going to medical school
in the fall, an 18 year old girl who was hiking the trail alone and a young
married couple on their honeymoon. Talk about diversity and beauty! I was
reminded often that we are not to judge others because we have not walked in
their shoes and we don’t know where they have come from.
In September, I talked my husband
into taking me to Baxter State Park in Maine so I could climb the mountain and
the northern terminus of that magnificent trail. I had been to the start of the
trail in April, hiked the middle for 40 days and I needed to put the finish on
this experience.
On a clear beautiful day, I hiked 5
½ miles to Baxter Peak on Katahdin Mountain in Maine. They say if you can climb
it, you can climb any mountain on the trail. It’s probably true, I could barely
walk the day after that climb. It was excrutiating! But, having been through
childbirth, I can say it was a little like that. When you go through it, you
feel like you are going to die, but when it’s all over, you know it’s been
worth it. From the summit of Katahdin Mountain, I had a 360 degree view. From
that point on earth I could see other mountains and valleys around me and
beautiful lakes at my feet. I’ve never experience anything so breathtaking
(except my own newborn babies).
But what made it especially moving
for me was a young couple who joined me there. They had started in Georgia in
April, hiked the same 430 miles in the middle that I hiked, and now they were
here at the end with me. I did not hike all 2176 miles with them, but I got to
celebrate the end of their trip with them. And it felt like I was at the end of
my journey too.
Be glad of life because it gives you
the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.” -
Henry Van Dyke
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