Doc's (Jack) Welcome
Hey all,
To kick off the blog I thought I'd do a little introduction post to tell you what you need to know about me, Jack (Doc). I am currently attending South Dakota State University with my good friend Stephen (Prof). This winter I convinced Stephen to do something out of the ordinary which is to take a month out of his life to join me on a section hike of the Appalachian Trail. In fact, it didn't take much convincing at all! Steve was very excited to join me and thus began the long process of planning our trip. While I will leave the details of the planning portion for another post, I'd like to talk a little more about why we chose to take time out of our lives to do this sort of thing.
So why should anyone hike the AT? Well I answered that question myself when I took a 17 day, 200 mile section hike of my own last summer through the mountains of Virginia. I still have no idea how I was able to pull this sort of hike off while solo. In the end, however, I finished my hike and gained valuable insight into what it takes to plan, prepare, and complete a hike of this magnitude. So what did I gain from my struggles? First, I think I learned a great deal about myself and what motivates me to climb that next mountain (literally and figuratively). Many times a day I found myself wondering what the heck I was doing out there. I found myself repeating the phrase "the higher the mountain, the better the view" under my breath as I walked. There were countless times during the first week when I contemplated turning back and going home. Boy am I glad I didn't do that.
There are very few chances we get in life to live a more simple existence. On the AT, you become less goal oriented and by that I mean there is no destination. This makes trail life significantly easier than life at home. Your only true goal each day was to walk! The other thing that made life on the trail easier is the lack of an agenda. If I was hungry, I ate. When I was tired, I slept. When I found water, I filled my bottles. I was on no one else's schedule and that was by far the best part of my hike.
Ok, so I've been droning on for a while now and really haven't listed anything about myself. I think I'll save that for another post as I think this is a fitting introduction to what Stephen and I would like this blog to be about. I hope that a reader can take something away from our ramblings and maybe we can inspire someone else to break out of their comfort zone and do something crazy. And I'll leave you with this quote that I quite literally found carved into a fence during my first day on the AT last summer: "Go everywhere, study everything, fear nothing".
-Jack
To kick off the blog I thought I'd do a little introduction post to tell you what you need to know about me, Jack (Doc). I am currently attending South Dakota State University with my good friend Stephen (Prof). This winter I convinced Stephen to do something out of the ordinary which is to take a month out of his life to join me on a section hike of the Appalachian Trail. In fact, it didn't take much convincing at all! Steve was very excited to join me and thus began the long process of planning our trip. While I will leave the details of the planning portion for another post, I'd like to talk a little more about why we chose to take time out of our lives to do this sort of thing.
So why should anyone hike the AT? Well I answered that question myself when I took a 17 day, 200 mile section hike of my own last summer through the mountains of Virginia. I still have no idea how I was able to pull this sort of hike off while solo. In the end, however, I finished my hike and gained valuable insight into what it takes to plan, prepare, and complete a hike of this magnitude. So what did I gain from my struggles? First, I think I learned a great deal about myself and what motivates me to climb that next mountain (literally and figuratively). Many times a day I found myself wondering what the heck I was doing out there. I found myself repeating the phrase "the higher the mountain, the better the view" under my breath as I walked. There were countless times during the first week when I contemplated turning back and going home. Boy am I glad I didn't do that.
There are very few chances we get in life to live a more simple existence. On the AT, you become less goal oriented and by that I mean there is no destination. This makes trail life significantly easier than life at home. Your only true goal each day was to walk! The other thing that made life on the trail easier is the lack of an agenda. If I was hungry, I ate. When I was tired, I slept. When I found water, I filled my bottles. I was on no one else's schedule and that was by far the best part of my hike.
Ok, so I've been droning on for a while now and really haven't listed anything about myself. I think I'll save that for another post as I think this is a fitting introduction to what Stephen and I would like this blog to be about. I hope that a reader can take something away from our ramblings and maybe we can inspire someone else to break out of their comfort zone and do something crazy. And I'll leave you with this quote that I quite literally found carved into a fence during my first day on the AT last summer: "Go everywhere, study everything, fear nothing".
-Jack
Have fun enjoy! Take care of my baby boy Love Mom
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