Why Hike the Appalachian Trail?

As I stated in my first post, I’m planning on hiking the Appalachian Trail this summer, from Georgia to New York. 

Invariably, when I tell people this, they fall into one of two camps: “Cool!” and “Are you crazy?! Why?”

I’d like to address the latter group. But first, a bit of background:

When I was a kid, our family vacations were of an entirely different breed than they are now. My parents loved to travel, and travel we did. Cairo, Bangkok, Amsterdam, Singapore…each summer and winter brought new cities and new experiences. At times it was stressful — I was a kid on an adult vacation — but I loved the cities, the museums, the downtown nightlife. I’ve been to over 20 countries and wouldn’t trade it for anything.

But when we moved to the States (I was around 11 or so), we stopped going on those hectic overseas trips full of museum-hopping and event-going. Instead, we started hiking.

And, at first I hated it. Hiking was hard. I was tired. It was boring. Like your average American, I couldn’t fathom why human beings, who had finally evolved cars and cities and fancy restaurants, would willingly spend hours on end walking through the wilderness eating Trail Mix bars only in order to finally reach their destination of…more wilderness.

But then a strange thing happened. I actually started to enjoy it! With no expectations of me other than just to walk, I was free to relax. After a certain level of initial fitness, the aches and pains faded away and I was free to focus on my thoughts and my surroundings. And my surroundings were beautiful. There was no noise and overstimulated bustle of the city, just the simplicity and peace of nature. With no competing demands on my attention, I could allow myself to experience everything around me at a pace impossible anywhere else. I think this is what meditators mean when they speak of living in the moment.

Image Credit: Flickr

Other times, with nothing but my own thoughts for company, I would make up logic puzzles or elaborate stories. Once, I was a swashbuckling pirate; another time, I was a famous doctor; another, the female equivalent of Bill Gates (what can I say, I’m a techie girl). I’d never have admitted to it — only kids played pretend — but it was fun.

Of course I’d still complain. I was, after all, a teenager on vacation with my parents. If a greater torture existed, I had not heard of it. But despite all the whining, those hikes were some of the most relaxing and mentally creative experiences of my life.

Hiking frees you in a way I haven’t ever experienced before. There is no expectation of being productive, doing work, or achieving anything. In the beginning, you don’t even have to enjoy it! There is only the trail, behind and ahead. It’s strangely calming.

I’ve always been an overachiever. In high school, I was that annoying kid you hated — the one who took 15 AP classes, got straight A’s, and had 3 extracurriculars on the side. When I got to college, I had it all planned out. I would finish undergrad in three years instead of the usual four, take a fast-track program to a masters degree by the time my fourth year was over, broken up by summers of carefully selected internships that were perfectly relevant to my chosen career.

And now, my brain is rebelling. Last summer, I did the internship thing, and don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it. But I’m in college! Some part of me wants to waste a little time and do something crazy. Something off the beaten path. Something I can tell my grandchildren about. Something that, when I finish, will leave me a completely different person than when I started.

And as trails go, the Appalachian Trail is the great grandaddy of them all. It spans over 2,000 miles and in hiking the trail, you ascend and descend 470,000 feet of elevation. That’s the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest 16 times! In the early spring – late summer months, hikers experience everything between freezing, near-hypothermic cold, flooding rain, and scorching, 100+ degree heat. Of all the people who start the trail intending to finish, only about 15% actually do. In short, if you met the Appalachian Trail in elementary school, it would beat you up and take your lunch money.

Hikers who complete the Appalachian Trail know that they have done something truly unique. They learn things about their capacity for perseverance and survival they never would have dreamed, and many say that they finish the trail a completely different person than when they started. When I am done, I will know more about myself, be a stronger person, and will have enjoyed one of my favorite activities for three straight months.

So why hike the Appalachian Trail? The classic answer, beloved by mountaineers and teenage boys about to do something stupid, is “because I can.” For me, it’s because I have to.