{"id":1680,"date":"2015-12-12T01:27:55","date_gmt":"2015-12-12T09:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/?p=1680"},"modified":"2015-12-05T17:41:03","modified_gmt":"2015-12-06T01:41:03","slug":"through-hiking-the-appalachian-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explore.globalcreations.com\/theblog\/featured\/through-hiking-the-appalachian-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"Through-Hiking the Appalachian Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Backpacking<\/p>\n

Last February<\/a> I aimed you at\u00a0Kerry \u201cCyndi Loppers\u201d Stewart’s blog “Cat’s Don’t Camp<\/a>“. \u00a0At that time she was planning to through-hike the Appalachian Trail. \u00a0If you have been following our weekly newsletter<\/a>, \u00a0you saw a couple of updates on her hiking progress. \u00a0Well, \u00a0she successfully hiked the trail from Georgia to Maine (March 19 to October 6) covering 2,189.2 miles! \u00a0Truly an outstanding accomplishment.<\/p>\n

From Cyndy back to Kerry<\/h1>\n

\"West<\/a>

West Baldpate Mountain as seen from East Baldpate Mountain.
By Jscottcc\u00a0[CC BY-SA 3.0]<\/p><\/div>Upon finishing the hike she writes: “I finished my hike without another hiker in sight. I hitched to town, got a room at a B&B, and went straight to the local pub for lobster. A guy at the bar saw me looking at photos on my phone and asked about my hike. The word spread and the entire bar congratulated me. I felt like a rock star.”<\/p>\n

She is back home in Texas and readjusting to the “real” world. \u00a0It seems that spending several months on the trail and sleeping in a tent bends the psyche in peculiar ways. \u00a0She notes, “Over night, I went from the majority of people I was around knowing that I was a thru-hiker to pretty much nobody knowing I was a thru-hiker. Even if I wasn\u2019t on the Trail, people saw my backpack and knew what I was. I\u2019ve shaken strangers\u2019 hands in grocery stores. I\u2019ve gotten a standing ovation at a pub. I\u2019ve been honked at and given enthusiastic thumbs up. I\u2019ve had to respectfully decline wads of cash from strangers in motel lobbies. I never felt like I\u00a0deserved any of these things but I admit that I simply got used to them happening. I was a thru-hiker\u2026 occasionally mistaken for a homeless person\u2026 but still a thru-hiker.”<\/p>\n

Clearly, the trail defined her for those months. \u00a0Many through-hikers go through a period of depression as they rediscover who they are. \u00a0As Cyndi Loppers eases back into her old life as Kerry Stewart, a cat lover and much more, her hike will remain a defining period of her life.<\/p>\n

You Can Do It Too<\/h1>\n

Cyndy\/Kerry is not alone in taking on these kinds of larger than life adventures. \u00a0You can do it too, but NOW<\/strong> is the time to begin preparing for an adventure like this if you want to do it next summer. \u00a0The first step is to starting reading Cyndy’s trail diary<\/a>. \u00a0It starts six months before she hit the trail and will give you a great idea of her thought processes and preparations. \u00a0Next, you will need to decide upon your adventure. \u00a0The Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails are the big two in the U.S., but there are a lot of other options including:<\/p>\n