Epilogue

Kim and I dreamed of this hike one afternoon while standing in the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s office in Harpers Ferry. We just thought, wouldn’t that be something cool to do someday?

She knew this would be my dream. It wasn't something she wanted to do. In that moment, though, she committed to making it happen for me.

I think she knew better than I did how much this hike would mean to me.

The more we thought about it, the more we realized a thru-hike was possible. We just needed to find the time when it could happen when it was best for both of us.

That time didn't come until nearly 15 years later. We had other dreams to work on. We wanted to make sure both of our sons were on their own and had successfully started their careers. We wanted to make improvements to our home. And we wanted to wind down our own careers in a financially secure way.

In all of that, we never lost sight of the dream of a thru-hike. Before long, the dream became real.

I always knew I had support from Kim, our sons, other family members, and many friends. As I began my hike, however, I began to realize that encouragement was coming from many more people, most of whom were complete strangers.

I met trail volunteers who had put countless hours into making the trail safer and more enjoyable. They were putting in this time because of their love of the trail, but they were also doing this so that I could be successful.

Then I came upon people who weren’t directly involved in the trail but still wanted to do what they could so that I would reach my goal. For some, this was a simple gesture, like handing me a snack bar or cold drink. For others, there was even greater generosity, serving me meals or letting me stay in their home.

Even other hikers, who had their own goal of hiking the entire trail, found ways to encourage me and make sure I was able to achieve my goal.

For some, this simple, shared interest formed the basis of lifelong friendships.

When I started my hike, I had no idea how difficult it would be. The videos I watched on YouTube never showed when rain fell day after day. They made no mention of places on the trail where you couldn’t tell where your next footstep should go, only that somehow you needed to scale up the side of a rock face or down a precipitous ledge.

Bloggers I followed rarely mentioned how utterly tiring it is to hike all day long. They didn’t explain that somehow I would recover enough strength overnight to do the whole thing over again the next day.

Sometimes that recovery wasn’t enough. Sometimes a Snickers bar couldn’t give enough of an energy boost.

These were times when I purposefully thought about “Box of Rain." I wanted it to play in my head. These were times when the trail was especially difficult or I was feeling worn down and I needed motivation.

This hike began as a dream Kim and I shared. Now that the hike is over, it remains like a dream. It's now a collection of memories.

I know that as I grow older my memories will fade. I just hope that the last of my memories are the ones of when our dream became real.