One hears a great deal about creating, envisioning, working, but one cannot overlook the importance of the finish. Fifteen years ago, I planned for a trip that began when I was a teenager. That is, hiking the entire Appalachian Trail from end to end. Our family would venture to Shenandoah National Park and join some of the ranger-led hikes which included this famous trail. When a ranger pointed out to me as a curious child that this trail with white blazes went from Georgia to Maine, I told myself that’s what I want to do. Hike this trail. We’ve done lots of traveling in our camper. We first started with a tent that went to a tent camper then finally an RV that we affectionately called Bessie. But I never walked state to state by foot power.
And so, from the time I was an impressionable teenager, I envisioned hiking this entire trail, some 2,195 miles. I bought a book on it with my babysitting money, mailed away for literature from the then Appalachian Trail Conference (now called the Appalachian Trail Conservancy) that included a trail data guidebook. Any time I saw the sign for the trail, I’d stop and get my picture.
Finally, the dream came to pass in 2007 when I undertook a precarious and interesting venture to hike the entire trail with my then 16-year-old son. Why he decided to go remains a little bit of a mystery, but he will tell you to this day that he’s glad he did. It became a six-month hike going through fourteen states. We finished on September 18th, and this year marks the fifteenth anniversary.
I chronicle the adventure in my book Mountains, Madness and Miracles – 4000 miles along the Appalachian Trail. Why 4000 miles? Because I did the trail fifteen years ago and then three years after that did it again the other way. And I am still endeavoring to finish for the third time.
There are always adventures to be had and finishes to relish and goals to accomplish. You may still have some big goals in your life waiting to be achieved. Do the best you can to seek it, plan for it, and make it happen with the time and resources given to you. This is the only life we have to live, so live it well.
