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Ivy Creek Valley – August 2018 Shenandoah NP Shakedown Hike

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.“

– Henry David Thoreau

2019 Hike year ended with something around 1200 miles on the Appalachian Trail. Not knowing whether we would last an hour, a day or a week…90 days or so in the wilderness was a great tonic.

There was no way to adequately size-up the scale of the challenge in advance, and it’s hard to describe after the fact. Just about every day was a grind, both physically and mentally, and the toll was cumulative. But each day was sprinkled with brilliant moments that fill volumes of pages. And, in the end, those moments are what fill the soul.

Click on “Photos” for a multi-volume photo tour of the first 1256 miles.

On June 1, 2022 we return to the back country and resume the journey for about a month. Daughter Lydia is joining us for the first week or so. Excellent!!