I Think I’m In Love

It was that first time seeing Mt.Washington in New Hampshire.

Have you ever heard the stories about the first time someone saw the ocean? Reverse it and swap out that vast ocean for a mountain with an attitude problem and that’s when I fell and I fell hard. Now when I say fall I don’t mean I fell off the mountain otherwise I’d have a bad headache and a long story to explain at the ER. I come from Florida when the beaches are fine and the bumps and hills are finer? That’s the drawback….it’s as flat as that pancake you just had at Cracker Barrel.

One Book Started It All

I hope I get to thank him one day because AWOL is the man who inspired me to set a new path for my life and it’s exciting to have the possibility of inspiring someone to undertake such an incredible, eye opening journey across America’s purple mountains majesty the way AWOL did for me and will continue to do with his indispensable contribution to the trail and those who hike it.

Mount Washington and My First Blaze

I guess technically I started the Appalachian Trail on top of Mt.Washington instead of Springer Mountain but that’ll stay between you and me. I met my first blaze on a large boulder directly across from the cafeteria building where everyone was crowding to avoid the furious winds that were whipping that day. Now after reading AWOL on the Appalachian Trail I had a firm grasp on what a white blaze is I mean it’s just a white rectangle that I’ll be staring at for 5 months straight so I don’t walk off a cliff or into a bear den. That blaze is what cemented the idea to start planning and packing and training for the long trail ahead and the excitement that’ll come with meeting new faces and gazing into the vast landscape for hours on end so to those that spent the time reading my “reason” I want to say thank you and I hope to hike alongside you in the class of 2016!