There I am, just ten miles from the base of Katahdin - the end of the trail in Maine. It's difficult to express how much awe this mountain inspires.
It’s a week of anniversaries. Two years ago today I started a 2178 mile journey on the Appalachian Trail. At the time I didn’t know if I’d make it, but I was so excited to begin. Every week brought new faces, accomplishments, stories and surprises. And six and a half months later, I was almost surprised to find myself back home, having completed the whole thing- like waking up from a dream!
Today I was lucky enough to make three presentations to different sophomore classes who are studying Walden. That means I could talk about my hike for almost an hour three separate times! Do you know how happy that made me? I brought my gear to show. I lit my little stove. I talked about the value of time alone and about the power in not needing too much stuff.
And I talked about getting over fears. About how fear keeps us from being our most amazing selves. Whether its fear of not having enough or not being enough or not doing enough. Or fear that we don’t have what it takes to do the things we dream of doing. Hiking the AT did make me braver. And more quiet and centered and peaceful.
I also talked about how hard it can be to keep the lessons learned from a long hike or other “out of the norm” experience once we get back to the realities of living in a world full of distractions and activity. And I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently, as my computer threatens to become an extra appendage. I’ll be heading to the woods at the end of the month and will appreciate the time to be still in nature for more than a day, I think. I am still learning how to balance my time in real life when electricity lets you stay up looking at a screen far too late into the night!
But back to fear and bravery. I felt strong and capable on that hike. Powerful, healthy and happy. I enjoyed sharing photos with the students today and talking about that power and that happiness. Here’s are three photos from my slide show today that remind be of being strong and happy on the trail, and one outtake that reminds me to be silly and spontaneous.
I'm in Maine! And loving the blue sky and the Christmas-y pines and the lakes! Bill Bryson, eat your heart out!
Hiking in the Smokies - Another powerful happy day! Yes, I'm wearing my Dollar General jewelry from Halloween - I wore it every day for the rest of the trip - it was part of my powerful and fearless thru hiker outfit!
The hardest mile on the trail. Took me two hours to go a mile. More like climbing than hiking. But I did it!
Thought I was so clever, swinging on this vine. One second after this photo was taken, I was laying on the ground with a busted vine on top of me!
What an accomplishment to hike the whole AT! Of course I love the fact that it goes through Maine, even though I’ve never hiked it. I bet there will be more than one of those students who will decide to hike the trail after hearing your presentation. Maybe not right away, but the seed is planted!
Thank you, Barb! I was so scared of Maine, thanks in part to Bill Bryson. The trail was super-rugged through much of Maine, but also super-beautiful!
Looks like so much fun!
Yes – so much of it was! Of course, there was a lot of slogging and pain and hard work, but overall it was an amazing an beautiful experience. I treasure those memories and photos.
Awesome! I especially empathize about how we acquire these great spirits when we do something this daring – and then try to figure out how to keep those spirits alive while we live our “real” life. I’ve been thinking lately about how daring we are as children, how we don’t let fears hold us back – sometimes because we just don’t know what to be afraid of. But yes, it’s amazing how fears can hold us back from being our greatest self.
I’m working on getting over fears as well as keeping that daring adventuresome part of me alive in my “real” life.
I hope that you have a wonderful time, electricity free, in nature at the end of May!
Exactly – I’m still figuring it out – and probably will be for the rest of my life! Interesting side note – I was not very daring as a child – a real scaredy cat! I’ve had to learn to be more daring as a grown up!
And I am just excited about my upcoming trip on the Chilkoot Trail… that is only 33 miles but the longest hike I will have ever done.
Glad I found your blog… I think I will be perusing your site for some inspiration. Were you hiking with a friend? Just loved your photos and I hope to get some like those myself.
Enjoy your hike – it looks beautiful and has all of that cool Gold Rush history!
Wow, I think this post is awesome! I think it’s so cool that you hiked the AT and sharing that experience with your students…bravo! I am not very sporty, but after reading this, I want to do some hiking.
I love hiking – the nice thing about it is if you get tired, you can just sit down. It’s not a race or anything! I hope you get out to a trail nearby and enjoy the spring. This is a great time of year to go hiking!
My fears have to do with big cities- the pollution and distracted drivers ( I love
to ride mt bike). But I crave all that culture, interesting people, things missing
up here in the Adirondacks. It can get alittle lonely. Thanks for letting me know
I’ll find like-minded people like you in New Orleans- people who do care about
nature. I look forward to reading your blog and love the pictures. Thanks for
the effort, Kim
So glad you enjoyed, Kim! One thing I love about New Orleans is that it doesn’t feel like a big city – all of the trees and houses make it feel like a network of neighborhoods. I rarely get on a highway to go anywhere, and maybe all of the green trees help with pollution too – I’m not sure!
Hahahaah…the picture of you swinging on the vine made me laugh out loud. It took me and Wags almost 3 hours to get through Mahoosuc Notch. Yikes.
I miss the trail every day, too. It made me stronger and braver. Thanks for reminding me.
Yay for laughing! For the notch I was lucky to go through with this sweet guy named MIJ (Made in Japan) – did you meet him? I swear, I think the angels sent him to me, because I would not have done nearly as well on my own. He had good instincts about routes to take and we did well together. We traded cameras for the notch so that I ended up with a ton of pics of me and he had ones of himself. One of the cleverer decisions of my hike!
I enjoyed these nature and your story.
In particular, the mountain peak is terrific.
Thanks, Cocomino! Mt. Katahdin is a beautiful and formidable mountain!
Wow, wow, wow. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! And wow.
Gee – thank you!
Excellent post, thanks for sharing your wonderful experience!
Thanks so much! I miss it and love to share about it!