Hiking Matt

Every now and then, people ask where this whole “AT thing” started. The story starts wayyy back in High School with a schoolmate named Ed Wren. He was in the grade above me and our group (mishmash of both grades) was always out having fun, seeing concerts like the Violent Femmes in Springfield, Ohio and whoever was playing at Bogarts in Cincinnati. Anyway, the last I heard (in 1994) he took off to work the fishing boats in Alaska. This blew my mind. For years I’d read those little advertisements in the back of numerous magazines about how you can make a lot of money in two months and not have to work the rest of the year. It’s always been intriguing to me.. still is.. you can actually live vicariously through those that put their lives on the line catching those King Crabs on DVD called “Deadliest Catch” from Discovery (it’s a great program, they re-air it every now and then, TiVo or NetFlix it). It was during this period of wanderlust that I had heard about the AT.

Many years past, and while I occasionally heard the words, Appalachian Trail and AT, there was no real connection. Then, when I moved to Washington DC in March of 1999, I drove from Ohio with my car loaded… and I passed the AT bridge.

that’s US40 (National Road) and in the distance is the AT Bridge.

Appalachian Trail bridge at 75mph on Interstate 70.

Ever since I read that very sign in the photo above, I’ve been almost obsessed with wanting to hike the trail. The more I dabbled, the more I wanted to go. Like a lot of people, work came before everything, then school then this and that and everything else we think could (and may) be important. Now I don’t usually think along those lines, but I was caught up in it.

So, this is where it all started. This is where I first ‘connected’ with the AT, and I look forward to streaking across this bridge (AT tradition) when MY time comes.

Cheers!

mattbob

.. and so it has begun.

On Tuesday morning, I had my first dream about the AT (Appalachian Trail). Now, I’m not one who likes to just to rationalize or interpret dreams, but I think that my subconscious is really trying to get a message to me. Here’s why.

My dream begins with me sitting inside a lodge in Amicalola Falls State Park in GA, with numerous people sitting about a long table eating breakfast. Seemingly the same breakfast that everyone will be eating for months to come. While sitting there, I noticed a guy at my 2 o’clock that looked rather familiar. It took a second and I finally realized that he was one of the hikers in the AT movie, TREK. I asked if he was the guy and he said ‘yes.’

What impressed me in this dream, was that I was able to age him appropriately.. interesting.. story continues.

I pointed him out to my family and said that he was the guy from the third AT movie. They disappeared as fast as they appeared. Everyone was beginning to mosey out to make their way up Springer Mountain to the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, some eight miles from where we stood.

As I was grabbing my bag, which is my LowePro Camera Backpack (don’t ask, that’s what I was thru-hiking with) and was about to step outside, I saw it was raining. It occurred to me at this moment that, i didn’t have any rain gear what-so-ever!! As I sat there and contemplated whether I could continue on, I decided that I would wait the rain out. Some time later (who knows, it was sandman time) I looked out the window and saw a clearing with a creek and the sun just lighting up the darkest shadows along the banks. As I was heading out once again, I realized that I didn’t have a sleeping bag… that’s okay because… oh shit, I don’t have a tent either! I look around in the the ‘lobby’ like area and find an old tent that I used as a boy scout. These are the heavy, long, and awkward. I also had no where to put it, so I had to carry it in my hand because, apparently, I didn’t bring my Lekis either!! I knew that without a sleeping bag, it would be a very uncomfortable trekking experience, so, I thought that my best option would be to hike directly to Neels Gap and the Walasi-Yi Center to purchase what i didn’t have. As this dilemma played out, my brother, Jeremiah, who was filming the beginning part of my hike was talking to people all around saying, ‘I was betting that he would go the whole way.’ While reflecting back to my x-hike this summer (24 hr continuous hike) and whether or not I could make it, without knowing he terrain…..

I woke up.

I actually woke up in a panic! This rarely happens to me. How weird.

This is a wake up call to me to get my act together, to be sure. There is exactly 45 days until I will be happily unemployed, sorta, and I have a ton of loose ends to wrap up. Only those who are trying to hide from the government or those who are going to let everything go before hiking the AT, know what needs to be done. This is a completely insane undertaking. I’ll post more about this process later. Lucky you.
There is so much that I want to do, but I have to do this one thing first,

Matt

mattbob