He told me that one of his goals in retirement was to do something really hard and challenging. He started reading about the Appalachian Trail, which is a 2200 mile hiking trail from Georgia to Maine. He realized if he was going to hike the entire trail in six months he would have to average 13 miles per day for 165days!!!! What he also found challenging was the fact if he made it the whole way from Georgia to Maine he’d be only the 51st person recorded hiking the entire 2,200 miles at the age of 70 years old!
So why am I relating this story? He called me two months ago and asked if Julie and I would like to fly from Chicago and meet him somewhere along the trail for several days to keep him company. While I was contemplating the pros and cons of walking 13 miles per day, Julie quickly said it’ll be a lot of fun and we should do it.
So of course, we said yes. We flew to New York City, rented a car, met him near the New York-Connecticut border and hiked with him for five days almost to the Massachusetts border.
When he told me it was a fun hike, I somehow underestimated the number of hills, (which seemed like mountains) and rocks (which seemed more like boulders) that we would be dealing with. A good friend highly recommended bringing walking sticks. Thank goodness we had those with us.
I always thought going on my annual three-day silent retreat was a good way for self reflection. However, spending seven or eight hours for five days walking through the wilderness with Julie and my friend took self reflection to an entirely different level.
Seeing the natural beauty of the forest, hearing the sounds of the animals, and greeting other hikers along the trail was a fantastic experience.
I must admit after five days I was totally exhausted…but how can I possibly complain when my buddy is hiking 2,200 miles over 5 months?
