It’s a beautiful day in Ellijay.

The calm before the storm

I’m sitting in a hotel room in East Ellijay with three of my best friends reflecting on so many different things. See also: rfv12. Today is my last day with my friends and family before I am dropped off at Amicalola Falls tomorrow morning, marking the start of my attempted northbound Appalachian Trail hike. Naturally, my mind is racing: I’m thinking about everything that’s happened to get me to where I am now: every decision, every doubt, every walk, every «are you sure I can do this?» I’ve been trying to figure out exactly what I want to say about my impending trip and most of my friends have recommended that I talk about my why. I agree that it’s a fantastic starting point and I thought I’d talk a little about who, what, where and when too.

My five questions:

WHO?

My name is Rowyn! I grew up in North Florida until I was 21, when I moved to Brooklyn. I spent summers camping in western North Carolina, where I fell in love with the Appalachian Mountains. It has always been a dream of mine to hike the AT, and I was planning to try it in the next few years. A lot has happened in my life over the past 10 months and the stars very kindly aligned for me to embark on this journey ahead of schedule.

That?

At the risk of sounding redundant (after all, you are reading this on a blog intended for hikers to document their travels), I’ll keep this brief: I’m beginning my trek north along the Appalachian Trail.

Where?

To please my parents’ friends, who admittedly know very little about what I am about to do, I will give you a brief description of the trail. The Appalachian Trail extends approximately 2,195 miles from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine. It passes through 14 states and takes approximately 6 months to complete. I’ll be starting on the approach trail at Amicalola Falls State Park, so technically my first day of hiking won’t count as “hiking the Appalachian Trail,” but I absolutely think it’s worth it.

When?

I decided to start in March mainly because that’s when the timing worked for me: I needed time between leaving Brooklyn and starting the trail, and that meant starting my hike in March!

Because?

I feel like this question has haunted me. What could someone possess to voluntarily spend six months hiking in the mountains? If I wanted to answer this question in its entirety, we’d be here for hours while I wax poetic about failed relationships and daily dissatisfaction with the general direction of my life, but I’d hate to take up all your time, so I’ll settle for the following list of bullet points:

• I’ve wanted to show the world that I can have my cake and eat it too, and this is a testament to that.
• I am stubborn and resentment can feed me for quite a long time; all it really took was someone I admired to seriously doubt my ability to do this for me to feel more confident in myself than I had ever felt before in my life.
• I have tried to start making decisions as if I were 10 years old and sitting in the next chair, benefiting and also suffering the consequences of any choice I make. This mode of thinking has completely reshaped the decisions I’ve made over the past year, which completely influenced my commitment to finally do this hike.
• I’ve spent the better part of four years working on my need for control and I think there’s no better place to put all that work to the test than on the trail.
• I really want to prove that I can do it. Yes, to my friends and family, but more importantly to myself. I want to push myself, I want to take the good with the bad, I want to do difficult things.
• I don’t want to regret it! I’ve had to deal with a lot of loss and pain over the last decade, and I’m constantly reminded that tomorrow is not promised, which is why I want to pursue my dreams as soon as I can.
• I want people in my hometown to say, «Rowyn? Isn’t that the person who hiked the entire Appalachian Trail?»
• Why not!

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