Auburn graduate Ricky Dean and College of Business senior, Brandon McMath, began a journey March 1 to hike the Appalachian Trail. The AT starts at Springer Mountain in Georgia and ends at Katalin Mountain in Maine.
These young men made a practice hike up part of the Bartman trail in north Georgia Feb. 19-20.
The purpose of this hike was to test their equipment and make sure they were ready for the trip. The practice trip was about eight miles both ways.
“I have always wanted to do this, but I always just put
it off,” McMath said. “Then, a buddy of mine said he wanted to do it,
so we decided to do it when we were at the Auburn-Georgia game last
fall.”
“He has wanted to do this for so many years, so it was not
really a surprise,” said Sandy McMath, McMath’s mother. “I was just
really excited that he planned it and made something that he really
wanted to do happen.”
After months of preparation, Dean and McMath were ready to begin the 2,174-mile hike.
“We all went to send them off,” said John McMath, McMath’s father. “We sent them off with scripture and prayer.”
Dean’s mom hiked the first day with them to make sure things were off to a good start.
The first couple of days, they experienced straight rain and snow around the start of North Carolina. They were also overwhelmed with wind.
However, this was just preparation for the rain and storms to come.
Dean and McMath lucked out for Easter when they ran into the “AT
Angels” who offered them food and invited them to church Easter Sunday.
These run-ins are also called “trail magic,” which is for thru-hikers.
This is unexpected goodwill that is along the trail where hikers
can find food, warmth and everything they could want along the way.
“They run into this stuff called ‘trail magic,’ and some of it
is just real neat,” John McMath said. “In Franklin, N.C., there is a
guy that sets up a dome tent for about a month because it is so cold.
He has a little wood burning heater in it and brings the hikers in out
of the cold.”
Many times, these bits of trail magic are from former
thru-hikers who come back to help fellow thru-hikers accomplish their
goals.
“Once you are a thru-hiker, you start to kind of help others
out,” John McMath said. “It’s kind of a benevolent type of society that
they are in.”
Along the trail there can be many worries from Lyme disease and wild animals to poisonous snakes and plants.
“I do worry, and I do stay awake at night, and the worries came
from bears to freezing to all the crazy things that can happen,” Sandy
McMath said. “I usually just say a prayer and go back to sleep.”
Although the trip started off as just Dean and McMath, many friends have been made along the way.
“It was just us two, but you meet a lot of hikers along the
way.” McMath said. “However, Ricky had to get off a little bit after
half way, so I have been doing it by myself for about 600 miles.”
Hikers often earn a nickname or “trail name” as part of their
journey. McMath earned the name “Trill” and Dean was named
“Roundhouse.”These names are how everyone on the trail refers to each other.
Harper’s Ferry, W. Va., is the biggest city near the halfway
point. When Dean and McMath met this mark, John McMath joined them for
a week of hiking.
“It was great,” John McMath said. “I really got into the
community of the trail and how the hikers get to know each other and
leave messages at the shelters for each other and how they all keep up
with each other. I didn’t always hike with the boys because they hike
much faster than I do, but when I would run into other hikers they
would go ‘Yeah, I know Trill and Roundhouse,’ it was just kind of neat
doing that.”
“I was excited for John to join them because he got the
opportunity to do that with Brandon,” Sandy McMath said. “I felt better
when John got home because he had a feel for how they did everything
every day, and he had a lot of the details that Brandon doesn’t tell
me. John got to see how they do everything first hand, and it made me
worry less.”
Prior to the trip, aside from planning out the time of their
trip, Dean and McMath also planned out several “mail drops” where they
could stop at certain post offices and receive letters and packages.
They also had the opportunity to mail back unneeded supplies to lighten their backpacks.
“I was jealous when Brandon first said he was doing this,” John
McMath said. “It’s something I always wanted to do. I was a little bit
nervous for him, but I wanted to help him with the planning part of it.
I was more interested in that than Brandon was. He just wanted to go
and kind of wing it, which has worked out fine, but I’m more of a
planner.”
In today’s society, a majority of the people cannot go a single
day without technology. Everyone seems to be on a daily schedule.
“Every day is different here. Nothing is ever the same. You just
track your way up north and meet new people and make new friends,”
McMath said. “Your whole life gets simplified. You are carrying
everything you need to live and you walk and eat what food you have.
You pretty much do what you want every day. I don’t even carry a watch,
so I don’t know what time it is 99 percent of the time.”
“The biggest thing is you have to plan ahead. It has been four
days since I have been to a place where I could get food, so I knew how
much food I had to buy or how much I have to hike, like how fast at a
certain speed to get there at a certain day.” McMath said.
“Today I’m having to buy four days of food, and I have to make it to
another town in four days. So I have really learned a lot about
planning.”
He is on the last stretch of his adventure with less than 550 miles to go.
Once he has finished, McMath is planning on hitchhiking back to
Portland, Maine, and then flying back to Atlanta when he has completed
the trail.
“I hopefully will finish late July and move back into Auburn,
and I have a job waiting for me,” McMath said. “I have an awesome boss,
and she is holding my job for me for when I get back.”
“It has been fun for the whole family,” Sandy McMath said.
“We’re all following it and sending him goodies at different mail
stops.”
“I will graduate in December, so I figured this was the best
time, since I have no responsibilities really or pressure to do
anything,” McMath said. “I guess I just wanted to stick around for
another football season.”
For more information on McMath’s trip and to keep an update on him, visit www.AUontheAT.com
