Taking it One Step at a Time: Why I Hike and a Special Thank You

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Why I Hike and a Special Thank You

Hiking is spiritual, physical, and mental. Most often I find that people forget or underestimate how mentally challenging a hike can become. A hike can easily be hampered when negative thoughts begin to occupy the mind. I always try to view situations from a positive standpoint and find that it helps even during difficult or painful situations, which was very evident during my Long Trail End to End.

A hike is also what you make it.

Hiking comes with a level of individualized freedom that I thrive on. I have to walk up and down mountains. I have to carry my pack filled with my gear. I have to cook my dinner, set up my tent, and wash my dishes. I have to get myself up in the morning, pack up, and head up the trail. I get to enjoy beautiful vistas, cool streams, and unforgettable experiences. Other times, I have to get out of my dry bag, put on my wet clothes, and hike out in the rain. Regardless of the situations, I must do these things. No one else can do these things for me nor can I blame anyone else for what I choose to do while I hike. All responsibilities fall on me: the freedom to hike.

I want to take a moment to thank everyone I met along this journey that allowed me the opportunity to have this freedom.

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I would like to share my journey with you not only through this journal but my photos as well.

Long Trail End-to-End Pictures and Videos

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How to describe myself… I can do it in three words: teacher, farmer, and backpacker.

This past fall marked 10 years that I have been teaching college level introductory biology. Honestly, it doesn’t feel like it’s been quite that long. I never saw myself as a teacher during my younger years. I always thought I’d be a field technician of some sort. I was forced into teaching during graduate school and I LOVE IT! It felt natural and rewarding. I think everyone should be as passionately interested as I am in biology from the food you eat to the climate you live in.

Having an intimate relationship with the food that I eat was developed from birth. My parents were farmers, my parents’ parents were farmers, and so on. Simple concepts, such as, the joy and satisfaction of knowing exactly where my food came from, the labor that went into it, and the sacrifices made for meat instill a sense of appreciation for farming. I am a farmer. Even after I left my childhood farm, I continued to find ways to farm. In college, I worked at a cow dairy farm and in graduate school I worked at a goat dairy farm. Recently, I have had the opportunity to raise chickens and garden. I currently have herbs growing in windowsill containers. It’s in my blood…

…so is backpacking! My father carried me on his back through the Great Smoky Mountains before I could even walk. He taught me everything I know about backpacking in a time when external frame packs were the norm and base weights were well over double digits. He is also responsible for the obsession I have for the Appalachian Trail. I was fortunate to hike this entire trail in 2009. He followed along with me through my online trail journals. He passed unexpectedly in 2012, but his passion for the outdoors is still alive within me. I will continue to backpack. Backpacking, especially over long distances, provides me with a ruler to measure “life” and puts things in perspective. I now approach life like I do with backpacking: I take each day one step at a time.