“A journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step.” And sometimes a journey of 2,000 miles begins with your hair-brained brother-in-law saying, “Hey, let’s hike the Appalachian Trail!” Followed by my equally hair-brained reply, “That’s sounds like a great idea!”
It reminds me of the old joke: “What’s the last words of an idiot? ‘That looks easy.’”
Why hike the AT?
Tony confessed that a little mid-life crisis is upon him. Me? I’m always up for an adventure. It’s been on my bucket list too, so why not? In all honesty, I find myself in an equally transitional phase in my life. Not the mid-life crisis, just a change in life events.
Despite our initial enthusiasm I quickly pointed out to Tony that thru-hiking the AT is a solid 4-6 month event. (Actual research later pointed out it’s more like 3-4 months). So we agreed to pair it down to a series of section hikes over several years instead.
Tonight we took our first, very timid step towards that journey: planning. Or planning to plan thanks to the always helpful staff at REI. REI offers regular classes and it turns out tonight was “Hiking the Appalachian Trail – Trip Planning.” I’m not doing doing a review of the class, but in the end it was great. Fantastic resources.
Are we totally out of our depth? Not completely. We’ve both been avid backpackers and have some basic knowledge & experience. We’ve travelled together on an off the trails so we should be able to do sections before finding alternate uses for the shovel.
Are we in the same great shape we were when we last backpacked together 15 years ago? Not even close. That is the greatest challenge ahead: Getting into the physical and mental shape it’s going to take to conquer that majestic beast.
The journey of 2000 miles begins with the first step. I’m lifting my head looking where to place my foot.
(Image by Compass Point Media)
All Things Dave 