Today’s post is the last installment of my “Lessons From the Trail” series about my time on the Appalachian Trail…

On this day, thirteen years ago, I proved to myself that I could accomplish anything I set my mind to.  I hiked the final few miles of a 2,168 mile journey on August 21, 2000.  During the five months and a week it had taken to get to this point I had learned a lot about myself, had endured days of hiking in the rain, and even survived a near death experience on a ridge line in Virginia.  The summit of Mount Katahdin was temptingly close.

The hike up Katahdin was interesting and challenging, even for someone who had just hiked 2,160 miles to get there.  I think my journal entry for the day describes the hike perfectly so I’d like to share a section of it with you…

“I knew it was going to be a hard climb, but I never expected anything like what we encountered.  The first mile of the trail was great but then we moved into some obstacles.  It’s what I refer to as a geological amusement park.  You walk a bit and then encounter some formation that you have to get over, under, or around.  We continued on and then came the really fun part.  As we hiked above tree line the winds picked up as we moved out onto a rock bluff.  There were several vertical routes that hikers navigated using steel ladder rungs that had been anchored in the rock face.  Some of the rungs made hikers contort themselves into inhuman positions.”

Katahdin definitely didn’t dissapoint.  I had been looking at images of jubilant hikers perched on the summit of Katahdin for months and I was within a few miles of being there myself.  The trail leveled out for a while in an area called the tablelands.  It was a flat, rocky plateau on the mountain that had about a mile of trail on it.  Just as we started making the final ascent on the summit we ran into Caveman and Chinman.  I had hiked with these two guys on and off throughout the entire hike.  They were two of the happiest men I have ever seen as they returned from the summit.

It wasn’t long before we were up on top of Katahdin and enjoying the beautiful view.  After days of rain in Maine we finally had a clear and beautiful day to end the hike.  There is a sign on the top of Katahdin that marks the summit of the mountain and the official end of the Appalachian Trail.  There was a flood of emotions as I gave the sign a rub and then a big kiss.  I posed for photos with the sign and with Alamac, Profile and Little Bear.

There were about 30 day-hikers on the summit who must have thought we were all crazy.  If they weren’t familiar with the Appalachian Trail, these bearded, worn out hikers must have seemed a little crazy hooping and hollering at the top of the mountain.  We spent a little more time up on the summit soaking it all in and then as the saying goes, what goes up must come down.  I honestly don’t remember anything about the hike down the mountain.  My mind was flooded with memories from the trail.

I ended my journal with this paragraph – “I delayed writing this last entry to see if an epiphany or some grand insight would reveal itself, but it didn’t.  I don’t think I will ever know the full impact that this trip will have on my personality and my outlook on life.  Since I’ve been home, lots of people have asked how my trip was.  I struggle to find a way to concisely explain it to them.  When I think about it, the hike was a lot like life – it has moments where it’s a lot of fun, hard times, scary moments, and then sometimes it was jut there, but when you look back you know it was good.”

It’s interesting reading that paragraph all these years later.  Pretty good insight from the 21 year old me.  I learned a lot about myself while I lived in the woods.  Lessons that I still carry with me today.  Some of the lessons I have forgotten over the years but I have been thankful for the reminders while writing this series of posts.  I reached the end of the trail many years ago but the journey of a lifetime continues.

Some have asked, “Would you ever go do it again?”  Probably not.  Almost everyone on the trail was in a time of transition.  Graduating from high school or college, changing careers, retiring, divorced, or suddenly impacted by the reality of their own mortality.  I am a husband and a father now and have responsibilities and blessings at home.  The only instance where I could see myself on the trail again is if one of my daughters wanted to hike the AT one day and they would let their dear old Dad tag along.

I appreciate all of you who have read along through this summer series of posts about my time on the Appalachian Trail.  Did you miss one of the posts?  You can read them all on the Appalachian Trail page.