Why do I want to hike alone for 6 months??

Why am I doing this??

The main question people ask me when I tell them I’m going to walk through the Appalachian mountains on my own for six months is ‘why?’ And my answer isn’t simple.

Dreams of the trail started around 3 years ago when I read Cheryl Strayed’s ‘Wild’; her account of leaving her troubled life to walk the Pacific Crest Trail – another of America’s three long distance hiking trails. Strayed had struggled through the death of her mother and a period of heroin addiction before deciding to ditch it all and be ‘wild’. She doesn’t romanticise how challenging, both physically and mentally, long distance hiking is but her story was magical to me – ever since reading her book I feel as if I have been ‘bitten by the hiking bug’.

Cheryl Strayed's book and movie cover, starring Reese Witherspoon

Cheryl Strayed on the Pacific Crest Trail

When I was 15 I got my first taste of hiking and wild camping through the Cairngorms in the Scottish highlands. Since then I have spent a week doing winter mountaineering; walked the Lairig Ghru – a high mountain pass in the Cairngorms – and walked the West Highland Way – a 96 mile trail passing by Loch Lomond – in aid of Marie Curie UK. These trips were wonderful yes, but they have not satisfied my need for adventure in the way I had hoped.

The last two years have seen me leave high school, work a crappy customer service job, drop out of university and then go back to another customer service job. While there is nothing wrong with the job I do or leaving university, I feel as if I have spent the last two years WAITING for something to happen TO ME rather than taking action and MAKING something happen FOR ME.

Maybe walking 2000 miles on my own is an extreme way of doing it but my theory is that if I don’t do this now – when I am more physically and financially able than I will ever be again – then when will I?

I’m doing this because, fundamentally I CAN. But I’m also doing it to challenge myself, this will be the hardest thing I have ever done and I need that. I need to stop relying on the safety net of being comfortable and actually push myself. I’m doing this because I need some perspective and I’m hoping that I will gain understanding of myself by discovering what I can really do.

So why am I walking the Appalachian Trail?

Short answer; why not.

Thanks for reading.
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