For those of you that don’t already know, the Appalachian Trail was completed in 1937 and is a unit of the National Park Service. The AT houses more than 2,000 occurrences of rare, threatened, endangered, and sensitive plant and animal species. The Trail crosses six national parks, traverses eight national forests, and crosses numerous state and local forests and parks. It is located from 124 feet to 6,625 feet in elevation. It takes approximately 5 million footsteps to walk the entire length of the Trail, and more than 9,000 people have reported hiking the length of the Trail. And I was determined to see it all.

At first glance, a thru-hike of the AT seems like a daunting task with averages like these: 6 months away from home, 12 miles a day, a 40 lbs. backpack, 72 lbs. of mac-n-cheese, and 250 Snickers bars. I had to remind myself each and every day that the only way to eat an elephant is…And to focus on the here and now, I would consult my trusty “Appalachian Trail Data Book 1997”, pictured here. The Data Book is the thru-hiker’s Bible and provides those mini-goals that every hiker needs – next water source, next road crossing, next shelter, and so on. On March 12, 1997, I had completed 41.3 miles from Springer Mountain, Ga. and I had passed more creeks, stamps, tops, shelters, gaps, roads, and “mountains” than I could count. I didn’t think about Maine or even the Smokey Mountains – each landmark was a goal and I was taking this one step at a time.

Yes, my trail name was an early issue. An excerpt from Larry Luxenberg’s book, Walking the Appalachian Trail, explains the trail name well: “As part of their pilgrimage, most thru-hikers assume a new identity—a trail name. Trail names on the A.T. go back at least to the early seventies, but they caught on in the late seventies, when the number of hikers increased dramatically. Now trail names are almost mandatory. Some fit so well that after a while it's hard to recall the hikers' given names. Trail names reflect a sort of split personality, in which one's trail identity is far removed from one's other life in, say, the corporate world. Trail names are so widespread that one can hike with someone for weeks and not know the name his parents would use. ‘It's dropping one persona and taking on another,’ said Leonard ‘Habitual Hiker’ Adkins. ‘In high school and college, people get nicknames. Trail names show that you are being accepted into the club. You're freer to become someone you always wanted to be.’ Greg ‘Pooh’ Knoettner, assistant ATC field representative in New England, earned his trail name when he left the A.T. in 1989 to attend his sister's college graduation in upstate New York. On his way back to the trail, he was waiting for a train at Pennsylvania Station in New York City. He set his pack down too hard and a big glass jar of honey inside the pack shattered. The honey went over everything, Greg recounted. ‘So I'm sitting on the ground in my grungy thru-hiker clothes in Pennsylvania Station, taking things out and licking them off and putting them down next to me. I felt like a derelict. Then some guy, faking a foreign accent, came up to me and said 'Rockefeller Station. How do I get to Rockefeller Station?' I knew from my days living right across the river in New Jersey so I started explaining to him. Then he said, 'No. Write down.' I wrote it down and gave it to him. Then he said 'thank you' and disappeared. I looked down and my camera equipment was gone. My jacket was gone. I'd been scammed. He and somebody else had robbed me and it was all because of this stupid jar of honey.’ Like Winnie, Greg the Pooh is now known for his love of honey.”

So, for these first days, I was known as Brad. Folks would say “Which Brad are you?...The whiskey drinking Brad, the pilot Brad, the speedy hiker Brad, or the tall, skinny, blonde Brad from Nashville?” So I’d say, “Yea, that last one is me.” And they would frown and lament my lack of a trail name, and say “Nice to meet you, BRAD.” I needed a trail name. Here are a couple of journal entries that show a glimpse of my frustration: “3.9.97 It was another beautiful day, today, and rain is in the forecast. Right now I am looking forward to meeting these guys [Jaded and Chameleon] and making it to Neels Gap. Jaded gave me the name “Bones” – I don’t think I like it. 3.10.97 Today was not too bad, but it seems Georgia just goes up and down. Those two guys had planned on staying were I am now – Jarrard Gap – but I guess they couldn’t quite make it. It was more difficult that I expected also. My feet are starting to hurt a little, and my sleeping bag is too hot [since temperatures were in the 70s and I had a 0-degree sleeping bag at the time], and I can’t get may pack adjusted JUST right, but other than [those things], everything is great. I hope this beautiful weather lasts. I am still thinking hard for a trail name.”