20190525 A Dream Deferred: Hiking the Appalachian Trail

I grew up in western Maine. During the summer months, we would drive from Wilton to Weld to swim at Dummer’s Beach. Halfway to the Weld, the Appalachian Trail crosses US ROUTE 2.

When I was about 8 or 9 years old, I noticed people with large packs waiting to cross the road near the Appalachian Trail sign. Curious, I asked my father who they might be. He told me about the AT, that those people might have walked to Maine all the way from Georgia. In 1968, hiking the entire Appalachian Trail was still quite rare, and my father must have conveyed a certain level of respect and excitement that ignited something deep within me. I thought that hiking 2000 miles was the most fascinating thing I had ever heard of outside of a book. I hadn’t realized that ‘real people’ could have adventures like that. I decided then and there that I would hike that trail myself.

I have been a walker/hiker all my life. As a child, I would walk with unsuspecting adult relatives, who wrongly believed I would tire quickly. As a youth, I often walked ten or twelve miles a day to visit friends. As a young woman, I hiked in New England, in Germany, and in Montana. Before returning to Maine, my husband and I volunteered at Joshua Tree National Park in California, where we hiked and scrambled over boulders daily.

I always planned to hike the trail when I was 18 years old, after graduation. During and after high school, naturally, I found other diversions. Life has a way of placing obstacles in our path. I needed to work. I needed an education. I married (twice) and had children. Our military family moved many times. Life passed quickly by.

From the time I was 18 until last year when I turned 58, I became accustomed to saying: “I always thought I’d hike the Appalachian Trail when I was 18.” The trail had become a dream placed on a back shelf in a shoebox covered with dust.

Something strong and subtle moved me in May while we were hiking in Baxter State Park. A deep yearning for that “dream deferred” burst into flame. I found that box on the shelf, blew off the dust, and let the dream out.

I spent the years between 18 and 58 regretting a missed opportunity. But people in their 70s have successfully hiked the AT. Children have hiked the trail. People with varying health issues have hiked the AT. A blind man hiked the AT. In May, I realized that I still have time to realize this dream; but I need to get started while I still have the ability to walk.

What dreams have you been hiding on the shelf?

20191020 Gouldsboro, Maine

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