Did YOU know?

The Appalachian Trail as envisioned by Benton MacKaye in the early 1920's would be a scenic trail weaving through the Appalachian Mountains to provide “an opportunity for the average person to experience not only the health benefits of the clean mountain air, but to witness America's natural beauty” (History of the Appalachian Trail). This National Scenic Trail, designated in 1968, also escapes "the high powered tension of the economic scramble", as written by Benton MacKaye in An Appalachian Trail; A Project in Regional Planning.

Many hikers seek out life on the Appalachian trail for many different reasons. Completing a “thru-hike”, a continuous hike from the Northern terminus to the Southern terminus or vice versa, will take approximatly 6 months. During those 6 months it provides refuge from monotonous daily tasks that include paying bills, full time jobs, sitting in traffic, you name it. It’s also a daunting physical challenge irresistible by confident hikers dreaming of the notable accomplishment.

Unfortunatly, over the last several decades as travel on the AT has increased the wilderness corridor that travels through 14 states, 8 National Forests, and 2 National Parks has experienced some negative repercussions. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy and Appalachian Mountain Club contend with pressures from commercial developers for housing projects, declining air quality, threats to endangered plant and animal life, climate change, erosion, and an ever increasing number of hikers and campers. (To learn more: click here)

“The ATC is working to expand its public outreach in the hopes of creating greater awareness of the trail’s ecological and aesthetic value, as well as fostering grassroots advocacy for its protection.”

That’s where we plan to contribute!

Did you know that the Appalachian Trail is maintained completely by volunteers? Thousands of volunteers contribute roughly 200,000 hours to the trail every year!


Did you know that on average about 3 million people hike a portion of the AT every year? In some high-use areas that estimate is 4 million people yearly.


Did you know that there are more than 2,000 occurrences of threatened and endangered species along the AT? (To learn more: click here)

“We have forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the earth as its other creatures do”

Barbara Ward, Only One Earth, 1972

Training...

Given the serious tone of my last post, I figured I'd lighten the mood a bit with a picture:

Here, Maura is pictured from last summer. She knew that long ago that this was her dream...to hike the AT! Combine that with my desire to remove trash and you get this complementary couple who seek to attempt change within themselves, as well as the world around them.

Here's to continual training (with or without putt putt sticks).
Cheers,
Al

Trash: A Call to Caring!

It is quite difficult this day in age to go anywhere without seeing trash on the ground. On the streets of our towns, the sidewalks of our cities, and strewn along our highways without a care. Why? When did we stop caring about how the environment looked? When did trash become as normal as sunrise and sunset?

Too many questions and not enough answers. Simply put, there are those that care, but they are far outnumbered by those that do not. Should everyone pick up trash? I feel there is a moral duty intermixed with that question. What one chooses to do is their prerogative. There does exist, however, opportunities that we should not simply....well, discard. For example, you drop you car keys in the parking lot and are within an easy reach of a piece of trash. Sure, it's not your trash, but it's trash that needs someone to pick it up!

Some would argue that:
"I don't pay taxes so I can pick up someone else's trash [dammit], that's why they pay that guy." (points at the public works employee picking up trash).

This is true. We DO pay taxes so that municipalities, etc. clean up after us as slobs, but why does it have to be someone's job to follow lazy us around, waiting for an accidental or intentional discard to fall to the ground? Perhaps it's like this: one man's trash is another man's treasure. If so, then I'm gonna be rich spending other people's trash like it's going out of style!

 *****

I had a friend tell me of a story that happened to him the other day out in Durango. He was running on a trail near town and came across something that did not belong: trash. As a good steward of the earth and person with an accurate moral compass bearing, he picked up the trash. Not going more than few steps later he was surprised to find a shiny 2007 penny! Had he not been looking down for spot the not, perhaps he would not have seen the thanks waiting a few steps later. Think he'll look down more often now?

*****

Often while driving, I am distracted by the trash that lines are highways and byways. Sometimes, it looks quite out of place when you are driving through a forested area, for example. Other times, there is such a quantity of discarded items that you cannot help but notice the lack of green grass disguised by the amassed trash. So, where am I going with all of this trash nonsense...?

This is some sort of call to caring. There are many of you out there that care about trash resting undisturbed on the ground. Some of you may bend down to pick up that piece of trash and feel better about your part of the human equation; some of you may support organizations that remove trash from green spaces; and possibly some of you may not have thought this far into it yet. Regardless of where you find yourself, this is your 1st wake-up call. (*the alarm cannot be turned off at this point*)

Find a way to get-involved. Supporting this blog and the cause we are striving for is one way, but it can be even more organic (i.e., easy) and localized than that. Next time you go for a walk in your city, town or neighborhood, spot the not and give it a new home: a trash or recycling receptacle. Surely there is a receptacle within a few hundred strides of where the item is found. Whether it is 1 item of trash, or 1 ton of trash it matters not: think of it like counting your pennies and watching as your dollars count themselves.

Start a trend, a personal goal, to remove 1 displaced piece of trash from near where you pass on a daily basis. Encourage your children, or grandchildren, to assist in their part as well. After all, they are the ones to inherit what we have or have not done with this orbiting ball known as Earth.

This I challenge you in love and care. We have to begin to wake up, even if it is not comfortable nor easy. We already see what happens when we let uncommon occurrences (i.e., trash) build-up. Seemingly, there always exists an excuse as to 'why not,' but go beyond the common, over-used statement and seek to perceive the other side of the equation: trash awareness and removal. The unborn children of this world will thank you vicariously.

In love and support for you as a person in life,
Al

(Trash and recycling clean-up effort: Project Big Green Tree, Fall 2010 - Appalachian State University.)

-Thanks to the students and staff who helped make a difference on-campus! We'll be back at it near Earth Day, April 2012.

An Outstanding Response

I would like to send out a big THANK YOU to the many Appalachian Trail Conference clubs who have shown their much appreciated support:

Berkshire Chapter Appalachian Mountain Club

New York- New Jersey Trail Conference

Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club

York Hiking Club

Potomac Appalachian Trail Club

Tidewater Appalachian Trail Club

Piedmont Appalachian Trail Hikers

Mount Rogers Appalachian Trail Club

Smoky Mountains Hiking Club

Tennessee Eastman Hiking Club

Nantahala Hiking Club

We look forward to keeping in touch and working with you in 2012!

"The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders."

-Edward Abbey

Thanks again!

Maura

PS, "Follow" our site to stay up with the goings-on (email link below, or "Join this site", on the right sidebar).

Why this Experience?

Surely this challenge ahead is a tad crazy; perhaps off the deep-end to some, but to us, this is the challenge we've been preparing for in life. Through our formative years in K-12 we are taught to memorize and grow and become independent. This gain in self is most certainly tested in our college years (should we choose that route). For those of us that didn't figure it out in college, our mid to late 20s is a time when we continue to try different things and see what sticks and what slides. For me, this has been graduate school at Appalachian State studying College Student Development, concentrating in College Outdoor Program Administration.

In my time so far, with 1 semester remaining till freedom, I glean my excitement for the light at the end of the tunnel. While I have gained much in the form of education and a vast array of new and different experiences, I have felt commonplace and reduced. I, in ways, have had to relinquish my desires to be outside, to follow non-existent policies about wearing shoes while on-campus, and to complete tasks assigned to me by supervisors that do not share my passion in life: self-discovery and growth. In this, I have learned patience and appreciation for the subtle, sometimes long and challenging, process known as life.

To me, my schooling has been an incubation period. Not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life ate at me until I realized a few short years ago that life isn't about me. With that, an idea began forming under the surface. This idea was quite basic and hard to interpret at the time - even to me; but, it was the only thing I had to go on. The notion that life leads us where we need to be brings me to a place of acceptance and appreciation for the incubation period. As I near the implementation of an idea still forming, I grow anxious. To remain focused and on-task I write, talk with Maura about it, and prepare myself  for the journey ahead. In this, there exists many elements that I am used to: patience and appreciation for things out of my control.

So, as we near the end of 2011, I focus my attention on the here and now to complete what it is that I enlisted for; yet, I have my golden egg nearing its break-the-shell moment. This brings me to a place beyond excitement. To take our idea and put it into play is going to require a lot of help, but in this, we will discover a better, truer sense of self. Much like learning to ride a bicycle, once you learn and discover this truer sense of self, and what you are capable of,  you never forget. From this position anything ahead in life seems possible! This is what I love most about life. To see the obstacles of my formative years through a different lens reminds me that as I grow, I become a better human being - not for myself, but for the better of all sharing this space, this planet.

Looking forward to the help of many on this experience.

Much love,
Al

Volunteer Contacts

Letters in e-mail formation were sent out this afternoon to the contact persons listed on the Appalachian Trail Conservancy website for each Appalachian Trail Maintenance organization. Our mission was thoroughly explained along with a very brief background of each of us. Here's to hoping they don't think that we are nuts! I am looking forward to any feedback in response to my inquiries about volunteer service for the Summer and Fall of 2012.

~maura

A shared growth and love for life...

I have been writing and reflecting a lot lately. As Maura and I approach the end of 2011, we are gearing up mentally, and physically, for our experience ahead. It has already been challenging, especially as we continue to progress forward in different physical spaces. Maura in Brevard and I in Boone. One element that gives me a smile, after the challenge has passed, is that this will be inherent in our times ahead.

Already we have received a few comments to the effect that we are biting off more than we can chew. While that statement isn't entirely representative, it illustrates that this task ahead of her and I is going to be arduous. But, such is the responsibility of those that want to make a difference.

Mother says that life ain't easy, and this task, this experience, surely will not be either. One thing that pulls me through, though, is the effect it will potentially have on others; not to mention the affect it will have on me as I grow and learn in life.

As Sir Edumund Hillary once wrote:

"It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves."

This thought, amongst others about betterment of self, will continually echo in the folds and creases of my mind as Maura and I plan for the trail. As we take our message of commitment to leaving spaces better than we found it, we ask that others join too with a level of engagement that is most comfortable to them. Please consider the underlying cause of why we do as we do: to preserve what it is that is beautiful and free: the outdoors.

I look forward to writing more as the time continues to tick down to our departure.

Cheers,
Al

How did this begin exactly?

Al and I have been talking about thru-hiking in 2012 for a couple of months now. We are both interested in backpacking, as well as sustainability, and giving back to the wild places that we frequent. I have wanted to thru-hike for many years now and I am very excited that I have finally found someone who is willing to join me for this adventure! During college I was a member of the ASU Trail Crew, we volunteered along the AT with the Tennessee Eastman Hiking club, which is an ATC trail maintenance club for the AT in TN and NC. I really loved the hard work, getting dirty, and giving back to the trail to prevent erosion and increase sustainability of highly traveled areas. Throughout this experience it occurred to me that every year there are hundreds of people who attempt to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, but how many of those hikers are really concerned with the cleanliness, beauty and longevity of the AT? When I pitched the idea to Al that while we are thru-hiking we should give back to the trail in any way possible, he was 100% on board. We discussed carrying an extra trash bag to pick up litter left behind by other hikers, and volunteering whenever possible with trail maintenance clubs along the trail from Maine to Georgia. We have created this blog for our friends, family, and potential sponsors to track our progress during the planning stages and of course the hike itself! Check back soon for more!

~maura