JIMarx.com
Hiking the Appalachian Trail

The Finish |  October 10, 2008

Hi from Harpers Ferry, West Virginia,

The Appalachian Trail journey is complete.  Harpers Ferry is the termination of my 2008 thru hike of the Appalachian Trail, all 2,174 miles of it.  And I feel great about it.  I am so happy to get it over with successfully.  Of course I did not achieve this alone, it took a lot of support from many people.  I appreciate your interest in following along with my hike.  Knowing so many people were interested, kept me motivated at those times I felt I should quit.  So thank you for your support, it really helped me along the six month journey.  

     I need to thank my support team.  My oldest son Ben offered his excellent coaching.  He also hiked along with me for the last four days.  Nick, my youngest son provided the technical support for this website.  If you have not checked it out, and rely solely on my trip reports by email, you are missing a lot. I suggest you check it out.  Kris supplied emergency shipments when needed; and Andrea supplied local support in Jackson.  Thanks team!!!   Also, my neighbors the Van Wagonners took care of my home while I was gone as well as my mail.  Thanks!!!

     Along the way I met a lot of people on the trail that presented a great social experience, moral support and encouragement, as well as help whenever it was needed.  My best experiences were meeting the people along the way.  These will be the fondest memories I have of the trail.  Two of them that I hiked with in Maine and forded streams together with, “Strider” and “Red” live near the trail in Pennsylvania.  When I got to Hwy 94 just a few days ago, they picked me up, offered a hot shower, a great dinner, a comfortable bed, a great breakfast, and finally, a ride back to the trail in the morning.  I realized while there that it was the first time I had been in a house since I left mine to begin the second half of this journey in July.  

     Even though most of them will never read this, I want to thank all the Trail Angels along the way.  So many times trail magic appeared exactly when I needed it most.  The best was from Brain and Sean.  Thanks so much for all you did for me and all the another hikers along the way.

     A final story is about the last night on the trail.  Ben and I were in Gathland State Park, four miles from the shelter we planned to stay at for the night which is in itself seven miles out of Harpers Ferry.  There was a guy selling frozen steaks out of a truck, so we bought a box of eight frozen steaks, and he threw in a large bag of frozen shrimp.  Earlier in the day we met a hiker called "Chef" who said he was planning on staying at the same shelter we planned to, so we thought we would ask him to cook the steaks for us.  When we arrived at the shelter, we started a fire and waited for "Chef".  It turns out "Chef" is a world class culinary chef who has cooked at the White House.  He's also a friend of Cheap Trick and cooks for them on the road.  He has even cooked for Aerosmith and Alice Cooper.  Two other hikers showed up and we accordingly shared our steaks and shrimp with everyone.  "Skyline" called his friends who could not believe he was having shrimp and steak for dinner on the trail.  It was a fun last evening on the Appalachian Trail.

     After I have had some time to reflect on the experiences of this journey I will write a final trail report.

     Thanks again for your support, and Happy Trails,

     Happy Trails,

     “Izzy”  Jim

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