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Gray Blazing the

Appalachian Trail

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."

C.S. Lewis

On April 15, 2019, John and I will embark on our adventure of attempting a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. 

When you hike the AT, you follow the white "blazes" painted on the trees and rocks along the trail. As time has gone by trail lingo created other "blazes." Blue blazes head to water, yellow blazes take you down the highway and pink blazing is chasing love on the trail. We decided that since we are both over sixty it was time to coin the phrase "gray blazing" which is hiking the trail when you're a bit more seasoned in life.  

 

We are creating a journal of our trip to share with friends and family who would like to follow our adventures and misadventures on the trail. We are starting with a few posts that attempt to explain our love of this trail and once we are out there we will try to post about once a week. But keep in mind our priority is to simply survive the trip, so documenting might take a back seat. You can sign up below if you would like to get notices when we post anything.
 

It Is Well - Safety Update

  • Writer: John & Becky
    John & Becky
  • May 13, 2019
  • 2 min read

By now some of you may have heard about the tragic incident that occurred on the Appalachian Trail this past weekend in Virginia. A couple of hikers were attacked by a mentally unstable individual who had caused problems earlier in the hiking season. He was arrested back in April for displaying menacing behavior toward other hikers and was subsequently charged and released on probation. It appears he chose at that time to return to the trail and his previous behavior, resulting this time in a horrific attack that left one hiker dead and the other seriously wounded. As the news went national we had some caring folks reach out to us to make sure we were ok. The event happened quite a bit south of us in Virginia and we are now in Pennsylvania so we were nowhere near that area of the trail.


We also want to assure everyone this event in no way characterizes the trail. We have been so amazed at the number of wonderful people we have met as well as the general sense of family you feel among those hiking and those supporting the hikers. There was an amazing outpouring of love and concern from hotels and hostels to provide shelter for hikers who had to get off the mountain when law enforcement shut down part of the trail. Our hearts are so very sad because this situation is just so tragic for all the families involved.


As a psychologist, I found myself spending a lot of mental energy this weekend pondering on how we could do better assessing these situations and providing law enforcement with better tools and legal strategies for situations such as this. Then I remembered a professor in school who said, “Sometimes it’s like those ancient maps of the world where on the edges it would be printed - beyond this place there be dragons.” At times we experience events that are simply beyond our world of knowledge. One thing I know is that when you have a large section of the country such as the Appalachian Trail, there are bound to be bad things happen just as there are anywhere in our country.


I will admit to having a difficult time getting back on the trail today. What has been an incredible journey for us was scarred by this event. And since the weather today called for 90% chance of rain and the low 40s, I thought stying here at the B&B would be a prudent thing to avoid hypothermia. (We sent our heavy rain gear home already.) But I tossed and turned all night and then woke up at 5:30 am with the decision to get out there. So we hiked 7.1 miles before we realized the rain would not stop and we were soaked to the bone and shivering. We called the shuttle driver and called it a day. But it was a good day. We did not let fear and dismay get a foothold. So, we may be a bit more vigilant than before and perhaps more wary of people we meet, but we will keep hiking.


7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.


2 Timothy 1:7 New American Standard Bible (NASB)




 
 
 

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©2019 by Gray Blazing the AT 2019. 

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