Not hiking is easy. That’s what my brain said when I was hiking. Just stop and all the pain and suffering will go away. Maybe afterwards it will feel all better. A kiss on the wound from Mom. One great hug or pat on the back from Dad. It sounds so easy. If you don’t like it, don’t do it. C’mon man! Just be yourself and stop… or keep going who knows?
970 is a milestone. Some people reach the 2192. I on the other hand had to learn the hard way that this adventure (which it is aptly named) is just that. Let’s not make this all about me though, I will hike more in the future, maybe not on this said trail, but I will do so with new boots, new knowledge, and a respect unforgiving for the wilderness around us.
This is Angela. She helped me get further than I thought I would hike. She was a guiding voice of positivity and poise that I couldn’t seem to muster. Having this “lifetime opportunity” seems and smells like a farce, as if it will go bad at any minute to me. Expiration dates are real for a reason, and I never thought of them coinciding with my own mind. Angela prolonged my expiration date. She continued to show me that this trek wasn’t about others, it was about us. Us in the sense of self. How terrible would it be if we didn’t know ourselves?
Hiking in general is cathartic. Who wants to be cooped up inside a four walled box all day, regardless of bean bag chairs and ping pong tables provided? Why would one want to subject oneself to the harshness that is life to the blandness that is a building? Get outside! Go find a new plant or a fossil on a mountain! Try your best to do something you never thought possible!
The concept of impossibility is astounding. Over time it has pushed the placated perceptions of thought to excruciating lengths. Let’s take my sister for example. This woman was valedictorian of her high school while being class president. She became one of the most respected diplomats the United States has ever known, and while doing so contracted such a rare disease of cancer in her stomach that she was flown back to the U.S. for experimental treatment. While she was in treatment, she was also told by professionals that she wouldn’t be able to hold child. That sounds impossible. Well guess what.
Who wants to throw stones and say that anything is wrong in this world when such beauty exists. When God himself could not tell a woman to say, “I cannot,” she still does.
I was lucky… beyond lucky, to be able and willing and financially powered to hike as far as I have. Every day makes me wonder what is next and how I will survive now. I do not envy those who’ve completed their thru-hike. I also do not wish for anyone else to find this writing and say, “Nah I don’t wanna do that,” because YOU SHOULD. Find that impossibility and attack it. Don’t be afraid of things you don’t understand, and always remember that the “trail” is always going to be there. It really will be.
My trail will continue. Thank you all so very much for reading my words. This will not be the end.