Hiking The Appalachian Trail

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Last year I was confined to a wheelchair after I lost my right leg and had complications; it goes without saying that it was one of the most depressing things I had to go through. One thing that kept me focused on my physical therapy was planning my trek on the Appalachian Trail. It is a 2,200K mile hike that runs from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine. You can hike it NOBO (northbound) or SOBO (southbound) but there are times when parts of the trail are closed because of weather. Because I am a bilateral amputee I face some interesting (and I am sure comical) hurdles; gravel, wet leaves, sticks and uneven surfaces can really throw you for a loop if you aren't paying attention but the upside is I won't have to worry about scaring a snake and having it strike out and bite me. All he will end up with is a mouth full of metal (titanium to be exact). My tentative start date is April 11 but with all of the fighting between my prosthetic fabrication, the new test sockets from another company and my insurance company that date is up in the air. I will be doing about 50% of the hike by myself but will be joined on the trail by friends that live near the areas I will be in. I have no idea if I will be able to do the entire trail but my biggest concern is skin breakdown from wearing the prosthetics for 12 hours at a time while being in almost constant motion. There have been amputees that have done section hiking on the AT (where you do smaller hikes but eventually manage to cover the entire trail) but Niki Rellon is doing an average of 15 to 20 miles a day. She started off doing 5 miles and gradually bumped it up. She does have an extensive background in extreme sports (she lost her left in a devastating climbing accident).