Motivation for your thru?

[hikingshoes]

My family thinks I'm crazy.lol if I don't then-hike this yr(2015) I'll never get to do it. Friends well there very few who would understand backpacking let alone a thru-hike. Hang in there keep the faith and you'll do great. Cruise Control

[ctebeau]

I've been struggling my way through college. Starting to wonder if it's really for me. Figure i'll take off a semester and do a little soul searching. I'm most excited about meeting new people. Not just random people who you meet at a store or a bar, but people like me. People who are crazy enough to spend 5 months walking through the woods! Cant wait!

[denefi]

Few reasons: Always been something I wanted to do. Not really sure why, but I think I'm drawn to moving long distances under my own power. Things like this are challenging and at the same time so simple - just keep going. Cycled coast-to-coast after college in 2008. Planning to change career paths and see next spring as the opportune time to take this on. Also, the athletic challenge.

[superman]

I'm retired. I hate people. I'm getting fat. What else am I gonna do?

LOL, your perfect. Many a retirees said the same thing. The trail isn't as much fun as folks think. It's more of a matter of simply not wanting to be any place else.

[Jake2c]

I retire in May 2015 and intend to start my hike March 2016. I have already been getting ready and have spent time on the trail numerous times. I am going to use it to transition this life event. I would like to start earlier but May is just not a good time to start a NOBO.

[Francis Sawyer]

Retirement gift to myself. No phone ,no lights ,no motorcars . Not a single luxury.

[Old_Man]

I was commuting into my dead-end job the other day and I noticed a man and woman walking down the road with packs on their backs. They were tan and fit and smiling and had a springy, carefree gait. And there I was squeezed into my little metal box, windows up and A/C blasting. Pale, pasty, overweight, unhappy, unfulfilled. I looked in my rearview with envy as I passed and thought about the freedom of travelling by foot--the beauty of the simplicity. There are so many reasons to thru-hike for me personally. It's a life goal. A dream. The carrot at the end of the stick. A lesson in humility and simplicity and nature.

[Jake2c]

I suppose I should add that I will be retiring from many years in the Navy. By definition I have been surrounded by technology, people, and dealing with world politics and the typical dangers that accompany this type of vocation. While part of me has enjoyed it, part of me just wants to turn it all off. I have not been able to feed that second part for very long. I suppose I am looking for something, though I have yet to figure that out.

[RangerZ]

Tired of doing more with less at work. I want to try to do more (the AT) with less (just what I can carry), simplify my life for a while.

No 0500 alarm, no buses. 5M footsteps would make a different, nicer rut to be in.

I was at a campsite in a state park two weekends ago. There was nobody else there, it was quiet and peaceful. I'm not the most introspective guy but it was nice.

Future retirement gift, vacation, accomplishment.

[skinnbones]

I need this adventure. I have been waiting some 30 years and it's finally going to happen in 2015. I'm so pumped. I look forward to whatever the trail throws at me.

[BobbleheadBob]

I'ts been great getting to hear everyone's motivation, I'm so excited for next year! The only thing I can do to keep my mind off the trail is taking mini-excursions or getting lost in the gear search.

My motivation is probably much similar to most here, a life-long dream. A short documentary followed by a short read and I knew this was something that I wanted to do and although it's taking me nearly a decade to find the time, I feel like it was with good reason as timing is everything. Beyond this being a great dream and life-goal of mine, I will also be dedicating my hike to cancer research and awareness. I'm hoping our 2015 thru-hike will inspire friends and family to give to those who have fought cancer and know what's it's like to truly fight and struggle.

[skinnbones]

We have a great class of 2015 in the makings....

[Joker4ink]

Something sparked inside of me when I stepped on the trail in Georgia 2012. It was different than here in Connecticut. I can't say I have something in particular that is motivating me. It's more of something inside that is magnetizing me to it.

[Glimmer]

I've known I would do the trail since I knew about the trail. I have done a lot with my life in the first 23 years, but the past two I have felt stagnant and incomplete. I've always craved a life different from the status quo, which my family doesn't understand. I think hiking the AT will ground me and make me feel like I'm doing something.


Also, I'm not a great finisher. Barring serious injury or illness, I'm going to finish this. Just to say I finished something.


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[AvocadoCity]

Graduated college May 2014, Mechanical Engineering degree. Sick of crunching numbers, craving the simple life for a while to think, soul search, and meet some cool people!

[Farren]

I have a disability that makes it difficult to do most things so I want to prove to myself that I can accomplish something big despite my shortcomings. Ive also gotten kind of fat from living in an area where there is no hiking or sports what so ever. I love hiking so long as I don't have to keep up with other people lol.

[Wandering Deer]

What's everyone's main reason, or motivation for doing the trail next year? And what are you looking forward to the most?

Last year, I did a section of the AT from MA to NY, and around New York, I really started hitting a wall. I found that my motivation for doing it was self awareness, understanding my limits, and shattering them. When I was a kid, I had done thru-hikes of the MMM (now called the New England Trail), the Long Trail, and the AT in MA, and VT, and had no problem, but as an adult, I'm less carefree, and more plugged in, so hiking for near endless distances relying on your base senses is like stripping off all the paint on your walls, and putting up a fresh new layer. I feel as though hiking the Appalachian Trail in it's entirety would be like building a house, not just painting the walls on it's foundation.

[AmputeeHiker]

Main motivation.. I've never done it before.. 2nd motivation, nobody in my family does stuff that I do! LOL
3rd motivation. The list of amputee thru hikers is short, and I will put my name on that list in the hopes that it inspires others to add their names.

[Trainguy]

Retirement gift to myself. No phone ,no lights ,no motorcars . Not a single luxury.

Your trail name could be one of these....Skipper, Gilligan, The Professor, or Thurston. If female perhaps Ginger, Mary Ann, or Lovey? Did I miss anyone???

[dangerdave]

I'm in the retired/retiring group. January 8th, 2015 will be my last work day at the fire department after 28 years. As a civil servant, I have been "forced to conform" to a certain standard of conduct both at work and away. I'm ready to reclaim that man I always was.

I expect to find him, and have one heck of a reunion! You are welcome to come along!