Trails and tribulations: Lessons learned on a six-month hike along the Appalachian Trail | National Post

Trails and tribulations: Lessons learned on a six-month hike along the Appalachian Trail | National Post:

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The sun beat down on the narrow wooden boardwalk. On either side, lush, impenetrable foliage hummed with insects and birdsong. It was sweltering — a cloying, sultry, sticky heat more appropriate for primordial jungles than for Western Massachusetts. And yet I was wearing almost every stitch of clothing I had: sports bra, tank top, fleece pullover, hooded raincoat, running tights, tall socks, trail runners.

As sweat and hysterical tears ran down my cheeks, I contemplated the life choices that had brought me to this moment, this pivotal moment, in which I had no option but to run through a swarm of yellow jackets.

A few months earlier, my fiance, Clif, and I had decided that what our life was really missing was a walk from Georgia to Maine. In undertaking a “thru-hike” of the 3,523.2-kilometre (2,189.2-mile) Appalachian Trail — that is, end-to-end, rather than in sections — we were called upon to risk life and limb over treacherous mountains, slippery rock scrambles and you-name-it-infested everythings.

By the time we’d reached Massachusetts, I had become a person.............. cont.