Why Do I NEED to Hike 2200 Miles

“How far are you walking again?” 

“Are you going to carry all the food you’ll need the whole time?”

“Where are you going to sleep every night?”

“The whole trail runs 2200 miles from Georgia to Maine.”

“No, I’ll stop for food every 3-5 days.”

“In my tent most nights or maybe in a hostel when I am in a town.”

When I tell people that I plan to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail (AT) I roll through the same questions and answers. I usually get asked, “Why would you willingly walk over two thousand miles?” But I rarely get to share the reason behind the thru-hike. 

How did I find the AT?

Even though the AT has existed for longer than my lifetime, I did not know about it until recently. I was always exposed to the outdoors, and I have spent plenty of time hiking, mountain biking, and camping. But I had never been exposed to the Appalachian Trail or the idea of thru-hiking.

This all changed when I found out about the Partners in the Park trip. This trip brought honors college students together from around the country and introduced them to backcountry hiking and camping. More importantly, this trip was the perfect opportunity for me to start backpacking. It slowly introduced everyone to backpacking, starting with short hikes in the frontcountry and working up to two nights in the backcountry. Armed with my new-to-me backpacking gear I ventured out on the trip, and I returned with a love for backpacking.

Why am I hiking?

The Partners in the Park trip did something more important for me than introducing me to backpacking—it brought me to the AT. The trip started at Springer Mountain in Georgia, the Southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. This not only allowed me to get a taste of the trail, but also gave me the chance to learn more about the idea of thru-hiking. And as soon as I found out about thru-hiking I was hooked. Through a barrage of questions to every thru-hiker that I could run into, I found out that I have the perfect circumstances to thru-hike—a semester off of school between December and August, no lease to lose, and no family obligations. Simply put, I am in the perfect position to drop everything and go thru-hike the Appalachian Trail.

Why am I really hiking?

While my decision to thru-hike was almost made for me by the perfect circumstances, the real reason started nine months earlier—when I tore my labrum playing club soccer at Robert Morris University. This traumatic shoulder injury left me out of sports and activities for six months. This injury didn’t just leave me physically hurt, but it also took a mental toll. I am a person who devotes much of my time to the activities that I love, especially physical ones like soccer, hockey, skiing, hiking, and biking. But my injury stopped me from doing all of those for months and left me without a connection to many of my passions in life. Even after I have been cleared to return to my activities, some of them are physically not the same and never will be. 

My shoulder injury left me with a hole in my life that needed to be filled by something new. Then after the Partners in the Parks trip, backpacking quickly became my newly-found passion. An all-new activity that I can devote myself to without the weight hanging over me that it will never be the same as before. One that my previous shoulder injury had no influence over. For me, thru-hiking was not only a new activity that I could find joy in, but it was me taking back my life. I understand that I may never be able to play competitive sports again or bike at the same level, but I am a whole new person when I am backpacking with not even myself to impress. This leaves me free to truly enjoy the activity and allows me to feel whole again.

When people ask, I would love to say that I am going to hike all these miles to find myself or have some other great revelation, but that’s not the expectation that I have. I am hiking for myself and my enjoyment, and to prove to myself that I am good enough. I am hiking to show myself that I can feel whole again, even after everything that I lost when I was injured. So in the end, I NEED to hike 2,000 miles on the Appalachian Trail not to find anything out about myself, but rather to tell myself that I am capable of anything as the person that I am now.