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First-Year Completes Dream Hike For Immediate Release: 
Tory Smith stands on top of Spy Rock while hiking the Appalachian Trail in Virginia earlier this year. RICHMOND, Ind. — First-year student Tory Smith loves the bed in his Earlham College residence hall. For the five months prior to his arrival at Earlham, Smith's bedding consisted of a sleeping bag and hammock while he hiked the length of the Appalachian Trail. "It was a huge learning experience," Smith says. "It was a great time for self-reflection, and it was the hardest thing I have ever done." After graduating in 2007 from the Scattergood Friends School in West Branch, Iowa, Smith spent nine months working to finance and prepare for the 2,175-mile trek, which attracts thousands every year. Previously, Smith had completed two- and three-week hikes on parts of the Appalachian Trail and had done shorter bike tours, but for years he had wanted to complete a thru-hike, the term used to describe the traversal of a long-distance trail from end to end. "I like the reality of it all," Smith says. "Life is so structured, but when you are hiking, doing long distance travel, you sleep when you are tired and eat when you are hungry. I didn't know what time it was or even what day it was for weeks at a time." According to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, only about 25 percent of those who begin a thru-hike finish the trail. The average length of time spent to complete the thru-hike is six months. Smith completed the trail in about five months, leaving Springer Mountain, Ga., on March 16 and reaching the trail's end at Mt. Katahdin, Maine, on August 22. "Even though it was Georgia, in March it was cold," he says about the Southern start of his trip. "I don't ever remember being warm between March and April. I got up a little later to catch the warmer late afternoon sun." In Pennsylvania, however, where he encountered the hottest temperatures of the journey, he began hiking as early as 4 a.m. Although the terrain and elevation often affected his pace, Smith hiked eight to 10 miles per day at the beginning of his journey. By the halfway point, he was completing about 15 miles a day. In order to complete the thru-hike and arrive in Richmond in time for classes at Earlham, Smith endured five consecutive days of 20-mile treks. A personal best was an impressive 37-mile day that saw Smith beginning the day's footslog at 3 a.m. The Appalachian Trail, often a narrow dirt path through steep, rocky wilderness areas, is very strenuous, and the weather can become a hiker's worst enemy. Smith endured freezing rain, snow, 100-plus degree temperatures, mosquitoes, and even a 10-day battle with a brood of 17-year cicadas in Pennsylvania. "There were certainly times when I asked myself why I was doing this and why I was putting my body through this," he says. "There was always some part of your body that hurt, but eventually you build up calluses and your tolerance for pain increases." "It's amazing how the human body has the incredible ability to adapt to new situations," says Smith, who is still waiting for nerve endings in his feet to begin working properly again. "You build muscle at a tremendous rate. You are much more alert to your surroundings. You are quicker on your feet, and you notice you walk differently by taking larger strides." Keeping his gear to a minimum, Smith carried a backpack, sleeping bag, hammock, soda can stove, money, a change of clothes and shoes, and a two- or three-day supply of food. When he exhausted his food supply, he would leave the trail and hike or hitchhike to nearby towns for supplies. Food was a major issue throughout the hike. Smith relates countless tales of "trail magic and trail angels," people who stock coolers with drinks and snacks and leave them along the trail for the hikers, and others who live near the trail who open their homes to the hikers to shower, rest and eat. "You are always hungry," he says. "There was rarely a time that I wasn't eating or thinking about eating." In fact, the already lithe Smith went from 127 pounds to 117 pounds and was ordered by a doctor to increase his fat intake. "When you are hiking so much, your calorie consumption has to go way up," he says. "Mine went from 2,000 to 6,300 per day. I tried to eat a lot of fatty foods. I did a lot with butter and oil, and I added a lot more meat in my diet." Smith says the thru-hike was a transforming experience. "You become a different person out there," he says. "I used to talk a lot, and all the stuff I used to stress about, I now know that I don't have to stress over. I also realize that a lot of the stuff I considered important before are things I don't need to live with — like I don't need a car and I don't need a bed. "But there were a few isolated stretches where you begin to miss the convenience of civilization — things like refrigerators, pillows, couches and Gatorade," he says. "And beds." — EC — Contact:
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Earlham
College · 801 National Road West · Richmond,
Indiana 47374-4095 |