David Rough's Blog - Posts Tagged "appalachian-trail"

My first book was a direct result of a life-changing experience in 2014. I had the opportunity to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. It covers 14 states from Georgia to Maine. The tale of the tape is 2,186 miles and it took me a full five months to walk from Springer Mountain, Georgia, (start date: April 26) to Mount Katahdin, Maine (finish date: September 24).

I kept a journal every day during my adventure and knew that I needed to write a book when I returned to the Miami Valley near Dayton, Ohio. I wrote the book primarily for myself and my family. I wanted to try to capture the adventure, the people, the fun, the adversity, and the spiritual blessings of the hike.

It took several months and many revisions to settle on the final copy. I wanted it to be different from many of the trail books that I read before taking my hike. I planned to make it more than just my journal (although a condensed version of the journal is included). So, I included chapters on trail names (mine was Rowdy), trail jargon (there is a thru-hiker language unique to the long trail like Zero-day, MUDS and PUDS, Webwalking, the Bubble, and Vitamin I), hostels, wildlife, and gear.

I have had many opportunities to talk about the Appalachian Trail and my thru-hike of 2014. It has been five years since I climbed to the top of Mount Katahdin, but rarely a day goes by when I did not think about the trail, the people I met, and the faithfulness of God along my journey.