The Basics: Why do I want to hike the trail?

Appalachian Trail Map.
About 2,200 miles.

I think while growing up I just always knew what the Appalachian Trail was.  There was never any big revelation- no "ah-ha!" moment when I was introduced, or when I was awed and determined to someday hike it.  My family (on my dad's side) is Appalachian in heritage, and several family members have day- or section-hiked the trail.  So I don't really know when my fascination began.  All I know is that it has always been in the back of my mind, and sometime after college, it became a goal I had to realize.

The trail itself has was created in the late '30s, and only really gained popularity about thirty years after that.  The first man to hike from end to end (thru-hike, as it's known) said he did it to "walk the war out" of him.  And, true, a lot of people choose to hike at a transitionary time in their lives: after graduation, between jobs, etc.  Well, I'm not going to hike anything out of me, nor am I hiking to gain anything.  This is not a spiritual journey of any sorts, though I know it will indeed be very emotional.  I'm hiking because I love the outdoors.  I'm going because I feel there's a difference between the way I'm living now and the way I want to be living.  I'm going to walk myself up to Maine because I do not believe that dreams are things that just sound nice in theory.  And for some reason, spending six months of my life hiking an average of 15 miles a day through snow and rain and mud and paths strewn with snakes and stones and holes only to end up spending each night huddled and cold with only the blue flame of a propane stove to keep me company as I wolf down soggy ramen noodles before submitting myself to the unguarded whims of a nighttime in the howling wilderness has become a dream of mine.

Just kidding.  But you get the idea. 

Not my picture, but I hope to take on like it someday.

When I was young, the sun would set behind our house and fall into a shallow valley filled with dense green forest.  Many evenings of standing out in the fields and watching the sunset filled me with a wonderment at what might be down in that valley, or over the furthest tree tops.  It looked so pristine and unexplored.  A few years ago while I sat visiting with my grandparents in their home, my grandpa said something very interesting about his childhood in West Virginia.  Standing on top of a wooded hill, he'd stare off into the distance and wonder what was over the next ridge.  So he'd walk over to that ridge, stare off into the distance, and wonder what lay behind the next hill.  So he'd walk hike over to the next hill, and so on.  It sounded exactly like the same feelings I'd had when I was young.  And so I'll have to blame some of my draw to Appalachia, to the allure of the unknown mountain valleys and peaks, on GENES!  Ha!

Speaking of genes, I seem to have definitely inherited the wanderlust of the Harbert family. My grandpa set off from home at age 16.  My dad famously (in our family, at least) hitch-hiked across the country in his 20s.  And here I go, taking my turn now, at the (nearly elderly!) age of 29.  So, in honor of family heritage, and the drive that seems to keep us Harberts wondering what lies over the next hill, I've chosen "Eugene" to be my trail name while out on the AT.  Being both my grandpa and my dad's middle name, it will be a way for me to honor that heritage and also take a part of them with me on a hike I know they'd both like to do themselves.