Wow, this is a big one! Several years ago, I heard about “walking vacations” that people take through the English Lake Country, it sounded charming and invigorating and appealing in many ways. Then I read this New York Times piece about hiking the Appalacian trail, specifically in around Connecticut and Massachusetts. I cut out that article and looked at it many times for inspiration, as something that, by god, some people accomplish and so could I! I began to think seriously about it about two years ago, seriously enough to recognize that I was nowhere, nowhere near prepared to undertake this. I wasn’t fit enough, didn’t have the outdoor sklls, was not emotionally prepared enough to even get my mind around what this was. So this goal is a long, long way off, so far off that putting it here is like making a longterm commitment to 43things, but I hope to make progress each year toward preparing myself. I want to gain more experience on rougher terrain, I want to condition myself to carry loads, I need to acquire and practice outdoorsmanship skills. The funny thing is, I want to do this, but I’m not even much of a camper. A few years ago, being an all-or-nothing type gal, I thought I wanted to do a thru hike; now I think I’d be satisfied and happy with covering different parts of the trail, sequentially, over time. This accomplishing of this goal is pretty self-evident, it’s done when it’s done; it will be a long time before I officially start, but right now, the readiness is all.
