Section Hiker Gone Rogue – The Why?

Behind every journey, there’s a beginning…

The Beginning
This is a picture of me and some friends my father took of us ~1983 while in Boy Scouts. I’m in the orange jacket. We are hiking along the Appalachian Trail in NW CT, up over Bear Mountain in the winter…if I only knew then what I know now.

It was cold, there was snow on the ground, we were the senior scouts, and we thought we knew what we were doing…we knew best. LoL, one can predict the outcome of this trip! All our stuff froze, we were cold, our water froze, we hiked ahead and got separated from the group. The main trail got too difficult to descend with all the ice on it, so we blazed our own trail. We arrived back at the cars and waited, and waited…a very long time. The others ended up turning back the way they came and arrived much much later. Yep, we were in trouble! And wow did we have fun!

It was my 1st White Blaze.

Here I am 40 years later packing my gear for almost the same trip. A 6 hour drive from my home in Maryland to Connecticut near where I grew up. I’m currently a section hiker and I’ve extended my range well beyond what’s close by.

1162 AT miles hiked and 1036.4 to go.

This trip I’ll complete both Connecticut and New York. I’m excited! It’s not enough though. I want to be thru-hiking the trail already. In 2024 I’ll be retiring from my engineering job of over 34 years and I’ll finally have schedule to myself to set out on this journey.

Last year I hiked Georgia. The sight of the 1st blaze, the beginning of the trail,

it brought tears to my eyes..

So it begins…in 2024 I’ll just keep hiking…as one giant section, all the way through. Oh, why do I do it? I’ll let you know when I figure it out.

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Comments 9

  • John : Nov 7th

    Vintage picture with external frame packs, blue jeans and no gloves.

    Reply
    • John Kriz : Nov 7th

      Definitely not my gear setup these days…

      Reply
  • Jingle bells : Nov 8th

    Why? Who needs a reason…. Cool you’re going all the way despite already being halfway done. Alpha is typoed in your bio.

    Reply
    • John Kriz : Nov 8th

      True! Thanks for catching that typo… 🤓

      Reply
  • John A Kriz : Nov 8th

    Sounds like a great adventure! All things have small beginnings!

    Reply
    • John Kriz : Nov 14th

      Will be interesting for sure…

      Reply
  • David Stanton : Nov 10th

    By this post, I’d guess your a few years younger than me. I’m looking forward to retirement, too, and the opportunities that brings. Maybe a through hike of my own?
    Looking forward to following your adventures.
    Good luck on your through hike!

    Reply
    • David Stanton : Nov 10th

      * you’re

      Reply
    • John Kriz : Nov 11th

      Thank you David!

      Reply

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