Prep Entry #1

This is a ridiculous idea; what other explanation can there be for choosing to spend my last months of commitment- and loan-free existence hiking in the winter alone across North Carolina? I mean, seriously. Half of the trail isn’t even off-road. Only 12 people have thru-hiked or thru-hiked/biked the route Ever. Kind of ominous, my sister Amelia goads me. My Malian bro-in-law Salam likes to remind me that it is too cold to go hiking much less sleep outside. My parents have been surprisingly enthusiastic about this last-minute change of plans (from getting a job to unemployed hiker bum status). I haven’t told a lot of people about this hike, actually. I’m not hiding it, exactly. I have a blog online practically advertising it (Want to be my wealthy benefactor, so I never have to get a real job?). But I am approaching the subject with wariness, I think partially scared that I might not be able to finish the trail and will blemish my hiking resume.

I have a pretty good idea about why I like hiking so much. I like being physically active. I love natural areas. I like to meet new people and learn about why things are the way they are. I think more clearly and more creatively when I am hiking (I blame it on accidental-meditation), making the trail an ideal place to study for the GREs, write something substantial and non-fiction, and finally read Guns, Germs, and Steel. What better way to mine ideas than feast on a buffet of things that make me happy. Amelia thinks that I am fond of hiking because it allows me to eat as much chocolate as I want. And alas, there is a Type A personality deep inside of me (I try to quell it) that wants to be the 13th person to through-hike the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.














Without further ado, I introduce you to the trail I’m lusting after: the Mountains-to-Sea Trail from The Outer Banks to Clingman’s Dome.
Over 40 miles of beach walkin’,
the highest dune on the Atlantic coast,
3 ferry rides,
a 2.5 mile long bridge,
a swamp (yessir, a goddamn swamp),
the potentially dull Piedmont,
the Linvale gorge,
Boone,
the Blue Ridge mountains and snow,
Mt. Mitchell (highest peak east of the Mississippi!!),
Asheville,
and the Smokies in late February when will be doubtlessly be hiking adventures abound.
Nine-hundred miles.

This may be crazy. Or totally brilliant. I'm banking on the latter.