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Throughout its existence, the Appalachian Trail has been a path for dreamers and doers, men and women, thru hikers and section hikers and day hikers. It is a path for runners and walkers, casual recreationalists and record setters. It is a path for those who are hurting and looking for healing. It is a trail that exists because Benton MacKaye had a vision and Myron Avery had a relentless work ethic. It has a story that is told by Brian King and a legacy that is carried on by Warren Doyle. It is a line in the dirt that does not divide us but connects us with one another—and our history.
Endurance isn’t the ability to overcome pain; it is the ability to embrace it with no end in sight.
There is no guarantee that things are ever going to get better, but the trail has taught me that if you continue long enough, they usually do.
“Lord, thank you for the heat, the hills, and the rocks. Thank you for the good days and the bad days, for the shin splints, the quad pain, and everything else. Thank you for all the help you’ve given me in allowing me to live out my dream.”
Horton has shown me that you don’t have to overcome your insecurity to realize your potential. As with the unending hurt of an FKT, you can strap it on your back, take it with you, and not let it prevent you from pursuing your dreams.
Hikers have two primary teachers: nature and other hikers.
sometimes endurance isn’t defined by success, but is composed of failures. Scott’s personal tragedies and hiking setbacks would be enough to make most folks give up: give up on hope, give up on humanity, and give up on hiking. When it feels as if you are constantly losing and everything good is slipping away, it is difficult to muster the strength to keep trying again and again. But endurance is the ability to continue despite past results and with disregard for future outcomes.
“Positive self-talk can help you focus on what you need to do,” he says. “If you’re constantly focusing on the negatives of past or future events it can keep you from performing to your ability. A mantra can help you overcome that, to trust yourself, control the situation, stay in the present, and work through obstacles. It is a very powerful mechanism.”
Every trail I’ve hiked has a different feel, a distinct aura. The Appalachian Trail emits wisdom. There is a palpable maturity that wafts through the ancient granite and the exposed, gnarled roots of the spruce trees. It’s like the loving embrace of a wrinkled grandmother, and on several occasions, that enduring force gave me an energy I couldn’t find within myself.
Control is one of four building blocks for optimal performance as defined by practitioners of sports psychology. The “four Cs” are control, commitment, concentration, and confidence.
When I couldn’t affect my environment or circumstances on the trail, I seized the one thing I could control: my response. In other words, I couldn’t change my reality but I could change how I thought about it.
What I want is to continue to take risks and put myself out there. It might be in relationships at work, or even through a hobby, but I want to always be in a position where I might fail.
The thing about a long, grueling journey is that it strips away who you’re not and allows you to discover what’s left—or who’s left. One damn good reason to pursue endurance—and choose suffering—is to get to know yourself inside and out. When you reach that moment where you gave more than you thought you had and accomplished more than you thought you could, it’s clear who you are.
“People get so freakin’ defeated and deflated by stuff,” he said. “I understand that mental illness is a real thing. I don’t need to go too far down that road. But like, okay, here’s a bad life . . . your toddler being killed in Syria. Okay? That’s called a bad life, all right? “We’ve got it made. But stuff still happens; this is life. Things are gonna go bad. You’re gonna pop a tire on your car, you’re gonna turn the key one morning and the car’s not going to start. That’s everyday stuff. You deal with it. Drink some water. Go for a run. Have an attitude adjustment and stop thinking so
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If you are a life lover, you love it all, you take it all. You hike through that five-hour rainstorm when your hands are so freakin’ numb that you can’t operate your zipper because you know when that sucker’s over, the sun’s gonna come out and when it does you’re gonna be sucking up all that warmth. And you’re gonna be like, ‘While that rainstorm was raging hell for five hours, I just hiked twenty miles. And now, I’ve come out the other end and I’m good to go.’”
“Hiking is not escapism; it’s realism. The people who choose to spend time outdoors are not running away from anything; we are returning to where we belong.”
One of the most important lessons the trail taught me is that I need vision and want direction. It doesn’t matter how hard you are working if you are walking the wrong way.
There is power to be found in taking a next step. The fact that my body could keep hiking down the trail gave me hope that my thoughts and emotions would be able to move forward as well.
What’s worse: failure or regret? Regret.
It had taken letting go of the record to put it within reach.
Endurance is not measured by someone’s first steps; it is measured by her last step.
When you try to make everyone else happy you become immobilized. When you accept that you can’t, you’re able to move forward.
Long-distance trails are affordable for everyone. You hop on and hop off the Appalachian Trail and Pacific Crest Trail in most sections without incurring any type of fee. You can picnic at the trailhead and head home or you can go as far as you want as fast as you want.
There is an invisible force that pulls individuals of varying interests and pursuits back into the wild. Our existence has been tied to the natural environment since the beginning of humanity. Yet in an effort to protect ourselves from the elements we have walled ourselves off, not just from storms, but also from sunsets. We have protected ourselves from unsavory individuals, as well as friends and neighbors. And we have found a way to stay healthy by sanitizing our society and synthesizing our food and drugs. This is not natural, or safe, or healthy.
Do not let the news channels inform your opinion of other people. The democratic ideals of America are represented by long trails and libraries and liberty for all, not fear mongering and stereotyping. Whenever an issue is portrayed as us versus them, no one will win. Go outside, take a walk with someone who is different from you. You might not agree with him or her, but you will learn to respect that person. We must protect and appreciate our common ground.
you are accomplishing a purpose that your body was designed to achieve.
Don’t be afraid of failure. Endurance is failure, after failure, after failure.
Endurance is consistently telling yourself that it is going to be okay regardless of the immediate circumstances and past events. It is okay to fall short, it is okay to let people down, it is okay to hurt and suffer, it is okay to stop when you can’t go any farther. But don’t give up on yourself, your goals, or the people around you.
We might all go farther if we end each day with a cold beer and a good friend.
My main motive in caring for the environment is not to protect and preserve the earth for the sake of the earth, but to do it for the sake of people. I’ve come to the conclusion that Mother Nature wins. We can’t outmuscle her, control her, or outlast her. She is the ultimate endurance athlete.
For each individual, the greatest feat of endurance comes in uncovering his or her talents and applying them in a way that makes his or her life—and world—a more beautiful, compassionate, and daring adventure.
On the longest journeys and the longest records, differences disappear. Gender, age, diet, and ideology lose their distinction—and we are stripped down to creatures of struggle and imperfection and resilience; we are stripped down to that which binds us together.
