Tim Hewitt - Take a Hike! a Long Walk on the Appalachian Trail

Copyright 1998, 1999, 2016 Tim Hewitt

All rights reserved

First Edition, November 2016

With bonus chapters: The Ugalu, Pamola

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Contributing Author: David "Spotted Bear" Hewitt

Cover design by Jeanine Henning

http://jhillustration.wordpress.com

Editing by Kelly Hartigan of XterraWeb

http://editing.xterraweb.com

Created with Vellum

Dedication

T his trip would not have been possible without the support of my family. My wife, Wendy, and kids, David, Jennifer, and Thomas, were unbelievable through the whole adventure. My in-laws traveled to Maine to spend time with them and help around the house. Fairchild Semiconductor was good enough to let me take a six-month leave of absence and pursue my dream.

W ithout all of this support , I could never have made the journey. Thank you all.

T he unsung heroes of the Appalachian Trail (AT) are those who volunteer their time to maintain the footpath from Georgia to Maine. None of us could do this without the numerous chapters of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) and the countless volunteers who spend time repairing washouts, removing blow-downs, building and maintaining bridges, shelters, water bars, and other trail features.

L ast , but not least, I want to thank the trail angels who show up at the most opportune time with water, soda, cookies, food, rides to town, or anything that thru-hikers need along the trail. My hat is off to you! Without trail angels, many hikers would drop off the trail and go home before finishing. The morale boost that your little bit of trail magic gives us is often just what we needed to take another step and follow that white blaze to our next destination.

T ake a Hike ! is the story of one man's journey on the twenty-one-hundred-and-sixty-seven-mile-long Appalachian Trail in 1999. Tim Hewitt, whose trail name was Paddler, writes about trip planning and preparation and includes his daily journal for the six-month adventure. He is joined by his thirteen-year-old son David for five weeks in the summer. David's journal and perspective are also included.

This book is not intended to be an all-inclusive planning guide for your Appalachian Trail thru-hike, but it does contain information the author believes will help you to plan and succeed in your own long-distance hiking adventure.

Much of what is in the book was published on the Internet back in 1999, as Tim prepared for and then hiked the trail. Initial sections are reproduced here mostly as they were written, with the perspective of someone planning a trip, not with the hindsight of someone who completed it. Additional information has been added to this book over what was initially published online.

The Ugalu and Pamola chapters of this book are works of fiction. Characters and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is entirely coincidental. They have also been reproduced as stand-alone short stories in the book Appalachian Trail Myths: The Ugalu & Pamola.

T ake a Hike ! began as just a dream, long before I actually hiked the Appalachian Trail (AT). After a number of years of procrastination, I decided it was time to tell the story.

This is not a planning book for future thru-hikers, though there are interesting bits and pieces here that will help anyone who is thinking about the trip.

It's not intended to tell you how to hike the AT. I won't lecture you on the proper way to do something, as everyone on the trail has different needs. What works for one thru-hiker will not necessarily work for another.

What this book will do is describe the process I went through from finding out that I had permission to go, to the planning and preparation stages, then the hike itself, and finally some post-hike thoughts and perspectives.

I have also included my personal versions of two pieces of trail mythology. The first story is my version of a Cherokee Nation story of the Ugalu. This is a creation myth that describes how the balds were formed in the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The second tells a tale of Pamola, the Penobscot Nation spirit-beast who watches over Mount Katahdin in Maine. I hope you enjoy these additions as well.

O n April 20 , 1997, my wife asked me when I was going to hike the Appalachian Trail (AT). This was something I had long talked about, and the answer was always "someday."

She insisted that I either poop or get off the pot, so to speak and suggested that I go now.

"Now?" I incredulously asked.

"Well, as soon as you can plan it, and after you finish the upstairs of the house," she replied

The upstairs of the house had been unfinished for ten years by then.

After more prodding and questions to make sure she wasn't pulling my leg or getting me all worked up over something that just wasn't going to happen, the truth finally set in.

I am going to hike the AT beginning in March of 1999.

Thus begins the planning stages for A long walk on the Appalachian Trail.

My plans for the trip are simple. Start in Georgia in March and walk until I get to Maine, approximately twenty-one hundred sixty-seven miles later. I know there is more to it than that, but at twenty-two months and counting, there is little else I can say right now.

I am a geek and a nerd as well as a paddler (hey, there's an appropriate trail namePaddler) so you can expect to see updates of my trip on the web. Come to think of it, I can take a digital camera, my Apple Newton MessagePad, a cellphone, and a solar charger and update my pages directly! Way cool. Gotta add this to the list.

By the way, in case you are wondering, I asked my boss for permission to take a six-month leave of absence to hike the trail and was immediately granted permission. When I visited the CEO of the company, to have him sign my leave papers, he leaned across the desk and said in his deadpan voice, "Let me get this straight. You are going to fly to Georgia and then walk back home?" After a moment of silence, he added, "I have some extra frequent flier miles if you need them to get back." He signed the papers with a grin and wished me well on my adventure.

I really love working for Fairchild Semiconductor and feel privileged to be able to take this time off without fear of losing my job. Life is great, isn't it!