Who is Quiet Man
Thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail has been a dream since I first started backpacking as a teenager in the late 1970s. In those early years, I briefly touched the trail for the first time near Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania while attending a winter survival course at the Civil Air Patrol's Hawk Mountain Ranger School. I cannot say I have ever really backpacked on the AT; I have only hiked a few miles on the AT near South Mountain, Maryland, in the Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, and at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. In fact, my early backpacking years were confined to weekend trips, mostly on the Black Forest Trail and Loyalsock Trail near where I grew up in northcentral Pennsylvania. Then the oft-heard refrain, "Life intervenes," conspired to divert the journey. That is not to say the diversion was a bad thing. College, a career, and a family offered new adventures and new life goals. There were even plenty of hiking and car-camping trips with my wife and children. Living and traveling in Europe for more than 30-plus years amounted to a once-in-a-lifetime journey in itself. A 30-year Army career offered more opportunities to carry a rucksack and sleep on the ground than I care to remember. But from time to time, the thru-hiking dream rises from the depths of my consciousness like a mountain rises out of the mist. The idea became firmly planted after reading the first edition of Colin Fletcher's book, "The Complete Walker," which I had received as a Christmas gift from my parents when I was fourteen or fifteen. I can still remember tailoring my weekend packing lists after his gear lists creating my own backpacking kitchen, bedroom, etc. Now as I ponder whether I will one day fulfill the dream, I am once again pouring over recommended gear lists and tips for thru-hikers. Of course, 40 plus years later, we have the internet to guide potential thru-hikers instead of one seminal book. And through YouTube one can live vicariously through those hikers that have taken the time to document their hikes through video. The blogs and trail journals of past and present thru-hikers are invaluable both as planning tools and as inspiration to somehow make the dream reality. So, creating this website and blog are my virtual way of starting the journey; a sort of D-Day minus unknown integer. It will also serve as an electronic journal of the extensive planning necessary for a thru-hike; someplace to keep track of all of the great ideas I have come across (and probably have already forgotten) and all the great ideas I will inevitably learn from the Appalachian Trail Community. (2/24/19)