A year ago today, I started a beautiful journey stepping out on the Appalachian Trail. A mythic trail that represents so much to those who adventure on it & decided to thru-hike it! I include all the sections hikers, lashers, day hikers for whom the trail touches them in way words cannot describe…
It’s more than a trail, it is a community, and it is the people…every single individual who in their way, contributes to make it what it is.
What brings the people on it?
For some, it is the physical challenge of it, for others it is way to process things, others, a way to reflect & take a step back, a transition, or simply a challenge… Perhaps it’s the beauty of being in nature on a continues footpath of 2 200 miles…what ever the reason that brings the people to the trail, we leave with so much more.
There is not a day that I look back on those incredible 169 days!
I think & reflect on what my reality was just yesterday: wake up, eat, pack my stuff, hit the trail, get some water at a water source, snack while hiking, eat lunch, get some more water, hike, meet some incredible people & hike again until the day comes to an end, eat dinner, hike perhaps again, set-up camp, make friends, sleep …and repeat. After few days, get into a town, resupply, do town chores & eat tpwn food. Then hit the trail again! And let’s not forget all the trail magic & trail angels along the way!
Do I miss it? Oh yes!
Would I do it again? In a heartbeat
I think & dream of the mountains so often. I now call them my home. Being in the mountains, in the forest, on a ridge, going for a summit, …or simple doing a small & short easy day hike, I love being there.
You may ask, what did the Appalachian bring to me? So much.
I meet amazing people & friends. Some of the great people that I met and even had a deep conversation, I will not see them again, but that is life. One thing I learned with my travels is sometimes we meet people for which we will not stay in touch. But one thing I can say, at least for me, they forever stay with me. I am who I am today, thanks to everyone that crossed my path.
The trail also gave me a strength, an inner strength that I lost, and now I can say with conviction, that strength & confidence I have in myself is there to stay. I do not believe that anyone who completes a thru-hike can say it was easy. It is hard! Hard in so many ways! But it gives so much more back!!!
It gave me an inherent sense of gratitude.
There is a beauty & strength in people getting together and giving a helping hand to a stranger, even before you realised you needed it.
I would like to finish by saying thank you. Thank you to everyone I met, talked to, that gave me a helping hand or simple a smile. Thank you to the community, hostels, shuttle drivers, parents of fellow thru hikers, and everyone in between…you are all trail angels.
I look forward to giving back.
Bubble bath,
Follow me on jess.s.explores for pictures of some faces of the people on trail
