Started this journey of hiking over a year ago. A friend once told me hiking was the most exhilarating experience and everyone should do it at least once. I remember as a child playing in the woods and loving every second of running up and down the paths created by the pitter patter of our little feet. Laughing and giggling as we discovered odd shaped trees or cleared areas that could be our camp. Being in the south we didn’t have mountains, heck we didn’t even have hills. But watching shows on tv like the Walton’s and the ponderosa, old westerns and the wilderness family sparked the desire to see the real mountains. Funny how it took me 49 1/2 years to go in search of that desire. Life then kids then work take over and we forget but for moments in time that we have these dreams that one day I’m gonna...

My day came and I made that first trail. And then another and another and another. For five straight days we got up and hit another trail then another. The higher and further we went the more exciting it became. The beast had been released.