2023 Foreword, Prologue, Whatever You Want to Call It.
As I write this, it is exactly 01:00 on Thursday, 23 February, 2023. I am four days from the start of my second through hike attempt of the Appalachian Trail. If you had asked me a year ago what I would be doing on this day, I would not have said "preparing for another through hike attempt. "
I had a plan in 2022 regarding through hiking the Appalachian Trail. I was going to start on 1 March at Amicalola Falls, hike to Maine and finish in early August. I was then planning to come home and officially begin my retirement. I had, and still have, lots of projects to finish. That was my plan, hike for five months and then tinker with junk.
There is an old Yiddish proverb that says, "We plan, God laughs". I started the 2022 through hike attempt on 1 March and that is all that went according to my plan. In actuality I hiked for a little over a month, came home for two weeks, went back to the trail for three days and came home for good on April 22 with an injury. I came home hurt and mad. I had set my sights on Maine and failed miserably. At that point I thought I was done hiking forever. I had tried the AT and it did not work out. I had spent a lot of time and money and nothing had come of it. It was time for me to change my plan. "WE PLAN, GOD LAUGHS".
As I sat in my house letting my foot heal all Spring, regular life was creeping back in and I was becoming less mad at the world and myself for the failed through hike. I began to work on small projects I had neglected in the months before the 2022 hike. I got more involved in activities at the church. I worked on lots of old stuff for people and friends. People I had never met were sending me old magnetos through the mail to fix. I was delivering food for Meals on Wheels. I even went white water rafting for the first time in almost a decade. Things were beginning to happen. Many of these "things" were not planned by me.
For the previous two and a half or three years I had been very focused on retiring so that I could through hike the AT. I really did not have any other hobbies. I hiked. That is what I did.
As I now look back on that day in April when I was sitting on the side of the mountain in Tennessee knowing my through hike was finished, I can see God's hand moving my plans. When I came home the first time for two weeks, Eli and I had parted ways. Eli had kept hiking so he could make his exit date and start college. I now see that we needed to part ways. Eli did not need me anymore. He had learned the through hiker game and was very good at it. I was slowing him down and he needed to go his own way. Eli finished his through hike with another hiker with the trail name Croc Eater in mid-July. Those two young people were putting some large daily mileage numbers on the board after I left. There was one day they walked more than forty miles in less than twenty four hours. Clearly I was the anchor holding them back!
As my foot healed and summer headed into fall, I started to think about getting back to the woods and perhaps doing a short walk just to see what it felt like. I had been going to a wonderful personal trainer since May and it was paying large dividends. My foot was about as good as it was going to get. The weather was cooling off and I was feeling that old itch to once again see what was just over that next hill. In September I walked three miles on Sawnee Mountain. This was the first time I had been on a trail since Tennessee in April. After that first walk, I began taking longer ones just to see if I could. My trail legs were gone and I was very slow, but I was out there once again doing what I loved.
In late October or early November I began to quietly consider the possibility of another through hike attempt. I wanted to believe I could do it, but I wanted to be sure. I can remember asking God if his plan for me included another try at walking to Maine. As time went on I could see things falling into place that were clearing the way for me to return to the AT in the spring. Again I started to plan.
My plans have worked out so far and it is now four days until I head north from Amicalola Falls again. I am excited to go. I am not as nervous as last year. Maybe it is because I have more experience. Maybe it is because I am a year older. Probably it is because I am following someone else's plan.
Stay tuned and we will see where this goes.
Well, it is now 5:30 pm on Sunday, 26 February. It is twelve and a half hours before I have to get up on Monday morning and get ready to go. I have checked and rechecked my pack. I have basically done all I can do before I walk. I am not as nervous as last year. I am looking forward to getting started. My family is coming to see me off. That is strange for me as I am a pretty solitary guy. It seems strange to me when people pay attention to what I am doing. I don't mind it, I just think it is odd. That being said, thank you going along on this journey. I plan to try to update the blog on Sunday evening, or as close as I can get to that.
JW
