Becoming Odyssa - Jennifer Pharr Davis [1]
David Horton, Ph.D.
Endurance Runner, Former Appalachian Trail Speed Record Holder
Professor of Kinesiology, Liberty University
INTRODUCTION
The Appalachian Trail is a simple, slender thread of individual freedom flowing between Springer Mountain in northern Georgia and Katahdin in central Maine. That such a footpath even exists in our modern cyber world is a testament to the visionary who conceived it in the early twentieth century and the thousands of volunteer trail builders working tirelessly over the last eight decades, along with the dedicated trail maintainers of today.
It is our nation’s premier long-distance hiking trail, emulated and modeled worldwide. It is as significant to our nation’s health as our interstate, national park, and Social Security systems, and at very little cost to the taxpayer. It provides the peaceful and beautiful green to offset the sometimes chaotic, dehumanizing gray of our daily existence. Those who tread this path for a morning, afternoon, dusk, dawn, weeks, or several months are more likely to feel better about themselves, and each other, after they have taken their respective trail sojourns.
The pilgrimage is an important part of many cultures. We need to get away from the familiar and explore not only what is around the next bend but also discover the strength and beauty that we have within us. A walk-about helps us to realize that we were just conditioned and trained in school, and with this realization we can take our first steps toward freedom and self-actualization. We develop our critical thinking abilities, rediscover being curious, and find ourselves asking questions again. We begin to more closely define what is real and what is trivial to us. We become more awake to beauty and truth, right and wrong. We rediscover a childlike sense of wonder at the essence of the natural environment.
The trail is a teacher like no other. It has no required reading, assignments, projects, or grades. It has no expectations. It has no prejudice or discrimination. It doesn’t care about your socioeconomic class, age, gender, religious affiliation, race, ethnicity, education level, occupation, family name, the clothes you wear, or the car you drive. What a fantastic place for an individual to find out who she really is!
Over the past thirty-seven years, I have traversed the entire Appalachian Trail sixteen times. I have observed hundreds of people before and after their thru-hikes. In most cases, the trail has caused positive changes for these pilgrims. They are physically, mentally, and spiritually stronger and more confident about their abilities and capacities. They are more content, flexible, tolerant, patient, and adventurous.
However, it is troubling that not all those who set out on a thru-hike complete their journey. Estimates of the potential thru-hikers who drop out range from seventy-five to eighty percent. Why? Based on the eight groups of people I have led up the entire At, with phenomenal completion rates, I offer these thirteen snippets of accumulated wisdom:
• Walking the entire Appalachian Trail is not recreation. It is an education and a job.
• Walking the entire Appalachian Trail is not “going on a hike.” It is a challenging task—a journey with deeper ramifications. Are you willing to accept them and learn from them?
• Don’t fight the Trail. You have to flow with it. Be cooperative with the Trail, neither competitive nor combative.
• Don’t expect the Trail to respect or to be sensitive to your comfort level and desire to control your environment. In your avoidance of discomfort, you may become more uncomfortable. Fear is weight.
• Time, distance, terrain, weather, and the Trail itself cannot be changed. You have to change. Don’t waste any of your energy complaining about things you have no control over. Instead, look at yourself and adapt you mind, heart, body, and soul to the Trail. Remember, you will be a guest