A Cool Appalachian Trail Journal

For the last week or so, I've been following Ben and Lauren's Adventure on the Appalachian Trail (A.T.). (I discovered it thanks to Two-Heel Drive.)

They've been thru-hiking the 2,174-mile trail that stretches from Georgia to Maine (or Maine to Georgia, depending on your point of view) since April 30th. They have hiked roughly 20% of the trail (or 460 miles) and will reach Mt. Katahdin in mid-September, if all goes as plans.

The couple, who originally lived in Hollywood, California, sold everything they had to undertake the nearly five-month adventure. While it's one of my dreams to hike at least a portion of the Pacific Coast Trail and the A.T., I don't know if I would be willing to give up everything like they did to do it.

I think they're both incredibly brave and I applaud them for doing what was necessary to make their dreams a reality. Some people only talk about living more simply or pursuing their passion if they only could. Lauren and Ben (or Figgy and Stitch, to use their well-earned trail names) are living theirs.

Besides the usual physical and logistical challenges that every A.T. hiker faces, the couple has to confront an additional hurdle. Figgy is a Type 1 diabetic. To keep her blood sugar levels up, she has been eating 15 figs a day (hence her trail name). In her latest post (from somewhere near Damascus, Virginia), Figgy did the math and calculated that over the span of the journey, she'll eat somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 to 50 pounds of figs. That's a lot of figs. (More than I'll probably eat in my lifetime.)

Fortunately, she was able to convince a California fig company to sponsor her. The company shipped a trip's worth of figs to Maine and the couple mailed five-pound allotments to the various resupply points along the trail so Lauren would never be without her much-needed fruit.

It's a great story to follow. They've already hit a few snags (inflamed knee and shin splints, lost wallet, mailing mishaps), but I'm wishing them well and looking forward to seeing them succeed.