SavageLlama
06-03-2004, 11:18
Trail turns brothers in the right direction
May 30, 2004
The Knoxville News-Sentinel (javascript:NewWindow( 'FIISrcDetails','?from=article&ids=kxvl');void(0);)
When the Honicker brothers needed a good kick in the pants, they turned to the Appalachian Trail.
When Miles Honicker was 18, he dropped out of the University of Tennessee to hike the A.T. His study habits were lagging behind his ambition to be a medical doctor. The freshman was having too much fun.
"I realized that staying in school was a waste of time and money," said Miles, who is now 22 years old and works as a cardiovascular technician at the UT Medical Center. "Doing the trail helped firm up my goals."
Miles was in the White Mountains of New Hampshire when he learned of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. He had hiked 1,800 miles of the A.T., and it was time to come home.
Last year, Miles' younger brother, Nick, finished the entire 2,176-mile A.T. at 17. Like his older brother, Nick needed a life- altering adventure. It was his junior year, and Nick, who was being homeschooled and had just completed his GED, was ready to hike the trail.
It was up to his parents, Cliff Honicker and Jackie Kittrell of Knoxville, to let him go.
"What's missing in our society for young men is a coming-of-age ritual," said his mother. "A lot of kids find it by going to college, but I don't think that's the answer for everybody."
For the first 800 miles Nick was accompanied by older brother Miles. They covered as much as 40 miles a day. Sometimes they hiked until midnight and slept till noon.
"He was only 17," Miles said. "I had to keep him in line."
"My brother taught me a lot," Nick said. "We parted ways when we needed to part ways."
An estimated 6,323 thru-hikers are known to have completed the entire A.T. According to records kept by the Appalachian Trail Conference, only 2 percent of these thru-hikers are under 20 years old. Of those who hiked solo, a dozen were 17, along with two 16- year-olds and one 15-year-old.
In 2003 Nick Honicker was among 463 people who are on record with the Appalachian Trail Conference to have thru-hiked the entire A.T.
Nick said he and his older brother acquired their love of hiking and camping from Boy Scout Troop 40 in Knoxville.
"What surprised me about the A.T. hike was it was less of a wilderness experience and more of a social experience than I thought it would be," Nick said. "It was amazing how quickly the walls between people break down along the trail."
Nick said he promised himself he would quit hiking when he stopped having fun. He said that never happened, and he completed the 2,176 miles by setting small goals and not fixating on the northern terminus -- Mount Katahdin, a 5,267-foot peak in northern Maine.
After completing the trail last September, Nick landed a job with the Appalachian Mountain Club at its new Highland Center in New Hampshire. Now 18, he recently began working as a teacher at the Stone Environmental School of New England in Madison, N.H.
"The trail didn't give me clues about what I want to do, but it gave me a lot of clues about how I want to live," Nick said. "You can look at any long-distance hike as a metaphor for life. After sleeping in the rain and hiking 40 miles a day, the hardships of civilized life don't seem like such a big deal."
May 30, 2004
The Knoxville News-Sentinel (javascript:NewWindow( 'FIISrcDetails','?from=article&ids=kxvl');void(0);)
When the Honicker brothers needed a good kick in the pants, they turned to the Appalachian Trail.
When Miles Honicker was 18, he dropped out of the University of Tennessee to hike the A.T. His study habits were lagging behind his ambition to be a medical doctor. The freshman was having too much fun.
"I realized that staying in school was a waste of time and money," said Miles, who is now 22 years old and works as a cardiovascular technician at the UT Medical Center. "Doing the trail helped firm up my goals."
Miles was in the White Mountains of New Hampshire when he learned of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. He had hiked 1,800 miles of the A.T., and it was time to come home.
Last year, Miles' younger brother, Nick, finished the entire 2,176-mile A.T. at 17. Like his older brother, Nick needed a life- altering adventure. It was his junior year, and Nick, who was being homeschooled and had just completed his GED, was ready to hike the trail.
It was up to his parents, Cliff Honicker and Jackie Kittrell of Knoxville, to let him go.
"What's missing in our society for young men is a coming-of-age ritual," said his mother. "A lot of kids find it by going to college, but I don't think that's the answer for everybody."
For the first 800 miles Nick was accompanied by older brother Miles. They covered as much as 40 miles a day. Sometimes they hiked until midnight and slept till noon.
"He was only 17," Miles said. "I had to keep him in line."
"My brother taught me a lot," Nick said. "We parted ways when we needed to part ways."
An estimated 6,323 thru-hikers are known to have completed the entire A.T. According to records kept by the Appalachian Trail Conference, only 2 percent of these thru-hikers are under 20 years old. Of those who hiked solo, a dozen were 17, along with two 16- year-olds and one 15-year-old.
In 2003 Nick Honicker was among 463 people who are on record with the Appalachian Trail Conference to have thru-hiked the entire A.T.
Nick said he and his older brother acquired their love of hiking and camping from Boy Scout Troop 40 in Knoxville.
"What surprised me about the A.T. hike was it was less of a wilderness experience and more of a social experience than I thought it would be," Nick said. "It was amazing how quickly the walls between people break down along the trail."
Nick said he promised himself he would quit hiking when he stopped having fun. He said that never happened, and he completed the 2,176 miles by setting small goals and not fixating on the northern terminus -- Mount Katahdin, a 5,267-foot peak in northern Maine.
After completing the trail last September, Nick landed a job with the Appalachian Mountain Club at its new Highland Center in New Hampshire. Now 18, he recently began working as a teacher at the Stone Environmental School of New England in Madison, N.H.
"The trail didn't give me clues about what I want to do, but it gave me a lot of clues about how I want to live," Nick said. "You can look at any long-distance hike as a metaphor for life. After sleeping in the rain and hiking 40 miles a day, the hardships of civilized life don't seem like such a big deal."