I am what is affectionately referred to as an "armchair hiker." This is not to say that I don't hike, because I most assuredly do, but my hikes are mostly confined to woefully inept trails since I unfortunately live in one of the flattest and least topographically diverse states in the nation. So while I truly adore the day hikes that my husband and I partake in, my hiker's heart longs for oh so much more.
My "armchair" status was actually earned due to my obsession with anything and everything related to the Appalachian Trail, a 2175 mile continuous footpath running from Georgia to Maine. Ever since I first started hiking about five years ago, I have been consumed by the dream of thru-hiking this particular trail. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, thru-hiking is the process of hiking a long-distance trail from end to end, which can also be referred to as "end-to-end hiking" or "end-to-ending." In order for a person to thru-hike all 2000+ miles of The A.T., one must be willing to take an extended break from regular life, carry a backpack weighing approximately 40-60 pounds and live in the wilderness for five to seven months. Sounds sublime, doesn't it? Believe it or not, it does to me.
This dream, alas, will have to wait as taking five to seven months off from his job isn't even a remote possibility for my husband and I am unwilling to go without him. No, thru-hiking The A.T. will have to wait for at least another 20 years when we're properly retired and any future kids are out of the house. Unfortunately sometimes your dreams have to take a backseat to real life.
However, the closer I get to reaching my goal weight, the more I think about the Appalachian Trail and with every pound that I drop, my desire to hit the trail burns ever brighter. I think it's because up until recently, I thought it was all just a pipe dream. Oh sure, I talked a big game. "I'm gonna thru-hike The A.T. blah, blah, blah. I can do anything I set my mind to yadda, yadda, yadda." I'm a logical person, so it's safe to say I knew hiking from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine at 320 pounds was a ridiculous notion. However, what I didn't disclose to people when discussing my A.T. aspirations was that before I stepped one foot on that trail, I was going to lose 175 pounds. Think about that. What some people see as an impossible journey, hiking 2175 miles consecutively, is contingent on the completion of yet another perceivably impossible journey, losing the equivalent of the average man. You can see why even I didn't believe I would ever thru-hike The A.T. However, now that I've managed to lose over 100 pounds, I'm beginning to believe I can and will complete both journeys in due course and thus, my A.T. obsession grows stronger by the day.
While I'm still unwilling to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail until my husband is able to join me, I've been giving serious thought to doing a section hike on the trail next spring. By that time I should be at or near my goal weight and I can think of no better way to cap off my weight loss journey than to get just a teensy taste (no pun intended) of my next lofty dream.
In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.
~John Muir
I'd love to hike the AT too. I have no aspirations to be a thru hiker though. I live in Florida and my husband I head off to the mountains a couple of times a year to do some day hiking. I need to get back into an exercise routine and back to moving my weight in the right direction in order to build my endurance and strength. I must say that I've never been much of a nature girl but I also have never felt the peace deep inside me that I do when my husband and I are on a trail in the mountains. There is nothing like it!
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