top of page

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.
 

Search

Trail Legs

  • Writer: John & Becky
    John & Becky
  • Apr 3, 2019
  • 2 min read

ree

I can’t even begin to describe what it felt like to be left alone on Springer mountain in the early morning darkness on our first section hike. We were excited but also a bit nervous about our hiking ability and finding our way to the rendezvous point. We also felt an exhilarating sense of adventure as we took those first steps. As our children were growing up, John kept a family tradition of telling Daniel Boone adventure stories at bedtime. The kids were allowed to help create the story as he told it and I felt we were about to live one of those stories as we embarked on this journey. This trip was also the one that would solidify our love for this trail. We had perfect fall weather and the scenery reflected Georgia in all its autumn glory. But this trip was also a painful learning experience. As I look back, I cannot believe we chose not to use hiking poles. And then there were the miles. We hiked far too many of them in the short time we had on the mountain – at least I certainly did. It is estimated that around 25% of the folks who quit the trail, do so before they even get out of Georgia. Although it’s not the most difficult part of the trail, it will certainly challenge your resolve. One beautiful moonlit evening we camped on the bald of a mountain. I got up to go the bathroom in the middle of the night and as I tried to step out of the tent, I realized with horror my legs were simply not functional. The result was an awkward face first flop into the grass outside the tent. John quickly followed when he jumped up and tried to help but realized his legs were no more cooperative than mine. We both ended up rolling around the grass like a couple of wounded animals and I laughed so hard I wet my pants. By the end of the hike though, one of my knees had given out entirely and refused to continue the hike without immediate attention. My hero and ex-coach husband did a great job bandaging with duct tape and we carried on. We ended up finishing our section hike and headed back to our “real lives.” But it was not long though before the “AT bug” struck again and we were back planning our next section hike adventure.


 
 
 

Comments

©2019 by Gray Blazing the AT 2019. 

bottom of page