It was a magical moment.
From the summit of Maines Mount Bigelow, Shane Schauf, Piqua, watched the sunset gorgeous orange rays melting into pink, purple and blue as the sun dipped behind distant mountains.
Schauf then walked from the 4,145-ft. summit to the closest cowboy camp, where he and fellow hikers settled into their sleeping bags with the stars as their ceiling.
Turning to the person next to him, Schauf said, Disney couldnt write this. Thats how good it is.
As if to prove his point, a shooting star streaked across the sky, immediately chased by another.
Thats how it was for Schauf along the Appalachian Trail. One magical moment after another.
Id go to bed at night and say, That was the best day of my life. Then the next day would be better than the day before.
Schauf began his journey along the Appalachian Trail in late June. He would hike 2,190 miles across 14 states over five months.
SCHAUF cant recall what first sparked his interest in hiking the Appalachian Trail, aka The AT. Perhaps it was the book A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, a 1998 best-seller full of amusing stories of missteps and encounters with wildlife, along with history lessons about the trail and towns along the way.
But for the past 15 or 20 years, Shauf has thought about taking on the AT. Its considered one leg of the Triple Crown of U.S. hiking, along with the Pacific Crest Trail through California, Oregon and Washington, and the Continental Divide Trail from Idaho to New Mexico. Of the three, the AT is the most forgiving for beginners (But its not the easiest, Schauf said). Its also the most social, with the most access to towns and plenty of places to find water and shelter.
Im from Kansas. Im not real familiar with climbing mountains in the snow. So it was just the most accessible for my skill level, Schauf said.
Schauf has hiked before, but never anything like the AT. His previous experience mostly includes hiking trails in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas. He spent a few days hiking the Ouachita Trail, a 223-mile trail from Oklahoma to Arkansas. He remembers how much his feet swelled after walking eight hours in a two-day period on the Ouachita.
I walked something like 22 miles and thought that was terribly a lot. Well, I was walking 22 miles in one day on the AT on a regular basis, he said. Once you got comfortable with walking, you could walk quite a bit more.
HIS ADVENTURE began June 20 and ended Nov. 29, about 162 days or five-and-a-half months. Thats pretty typical for a first-time hiker on the AT, though some finish it in fewer than 100 days.
