�I have backpacked from Georgia to Maine. I�ve seen the highest point and the lowest point on the trail. I�ve seen the Smoky Mountains, the southern balds, the Virginia highlands, the Shenandoahs, the Pennsylvania rocks, the Green Mountains, the Whites, the Presidentials, and the mountains of Maine. I�ve followed the seasons from spring wildflowers to brilliant autumn leaves. I�ve experienced cold, heat, snow, wind, rain, thunderstorms, and drought. I�ve been thrilled by awesome vistas and bored by the �long green tunnel.� I�ve met wonderful people on the trail and in trail towns. I�ve spent nearly six months of my life on the trail. I am a thru-hiker.�
At the age of 41, and having never backpacked more than thirty miles in her life, Nancy Shepherd set off to hike the 2,168 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Along the way she grew from an inexperienced hiker into a confident long-distance backpacker, a status earned through mental, as well as physical, struggles. Lessons learned on the trail helped form her new self and gave her the strength to go beyond the perceived �rules� of the trail and end her hike on her own terms. |
