I’ve been reading a lot of trail journals and watching a few YouTube videos of thru-hikers from the Class of 2019 over the past week or so. They all started in mid-February and have been hiking in almost constant rain, ice, mud and cold. That is a very difficult way to start a physically demanding and mentally taxing undertaking such as the AT. I have been impressed with the hopeful attitudes of many, but hope isn’t a plan and today I have read that some are starting to leave the trail due to the weather, various aches, pains, and waning spirit. I wonder how many more have left the trail already that are not chronically their journey on the internet for others to follow. I also have noted that several of these intrepid adventurers are my age or older and have similar stories of how the dream to thru-hike was planted in their consciousness. A few have shared their planning, preparation, and training that began a year or two ago. This has been welcome encouragement that my dream can be a reality. At this juncture, however, it is unlikely that I could start my hike before the Class of 2027 unless something drastically changes in my life. That is eight years! I will be 67 years old; that in itself isn’t an issue. Several of the Class of 2019 whose journals I’ve been following are in their sixties. I also have read about thru-hike record breakers 87-year old Pappy and 82-year old Greybeard. For a split second I thought, maybe I can become the oldest to hike the AT! Then I remembered this is a dream not a fantasy. Take one hike at a time. Let’s just get on the trail as soon as realistically possible. So, the Class of 2027 is the current mark on the wall. That seems like plenty of time to convince my wife that this is a good idea! And plenty of time to prepare physically and plan logistically.
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Quiet Man
I don't have a bucket list. At 61 years old, I have already had the adventures of a lifetime, especially after a 30-year Army career, five years of teaching high school, and a 37 year marriage still going strong. But I still have this deep desire to complete the Appalachian Trial. Archives
February 2022
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