So I have heard many stories about people quitting the trail, up until today the worst one I heard was a woman fgom this year who had been preparing for over 1year and she quit on day one at Mt. Kathadin, she decided she just couldn’t do it.
However, I met some people today and they told me they ran across a school principal from a small town who they met on the approach trail to Springer Mountain in GA. Basically, he had a dream to hike the AT, the town threw him a parade and wished him well, and they ran across him about halfway up the approach trail (it’s about 8 miles long and mostly uphill). He was sitting on a rock crying, he basically told them he just couldn’t do it, that it was too hard, but since the town threw him a parade, he didn’t have a “home” to return to…ouch!
For me, this is by far the hardest fun I’ve ever had, every day I see spectacular views, see all kinds of cool animals and insects (I discovered paw paw fruit today) and this is the first adventure I’ve ever had where I get to meet real ‘Mericans! And as a side benefit, I get to eat as much chocolate and ice cream as my heart desires and I’m still losing weight:-)
It’s not the destination that matters, it’s the journey, and so far this journey has been super groovy!