Greg told students that compared to living in Africa for three years, hiking the trail was a piece of cake. He hiked alone, but made many friends along the way and was never lonely, he said. He shared stories about fellow hikers and the wild animals they encountered. Many unexpected things happened along his journey. While roughing it on the trail, he got his first limo ride in Newfound Gap when a local motel owner picked up hikers and offered them a ride and a bed in exchange for labor. He hiked through the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and saw wild horses in Grayson Highlands, Va. He reached the halfway point, 1,089 miles, in Pennsylvania. At Harper's Ferry, he registered at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Headquarters. Most hikers have trail names. Greg chose Toubab, which means white man in the African language of Bombara. When living in Mali, the children always chanted Toubab whenever they saw him.
Burkina Faso RPCV Greg Darr spent the past six months hiking the entire Appalachian Trail
Appalachian Trail hiker shares story of 6-month journey
November 10, 2009
Caption: Appalachian Trail by NomadicEntrepreneur Flckr Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic
Greg Darr, 27, spent the past six months hiking the entire Appalachian Trail.
The Appalachian Trail is a 2,178.3-mile footpath extending from Maine to Georgia. No one knows how many people have hiked the entire distance, but each year a couple of thousand make the attempt, with only 400 to 500 hiking the entire distance -- about 5 million steps.
In October, Greg was number 478 to complete the trail in 2009. He will receive a certificate from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy for his accomplishment.
This is Greg's second big adventure. From July 2006 to September 2008, he lived in Africa while serving in the Peace Corps.
"Why would anyone do that (hike the trail)?" was a question often heard by his parents, Bruce and Martha Darr. The truth is that Greg first put his feet on the trail when he was 8 months old, when his father, Bruce, hiked a portion of it. To date, Bruce has hiked about 700 miles with friends. Greg said he was always a little jealous when he was in school and his dad and friends took off to hike the trail.
While living in Africa, Greg decided when he returned home his first goal was to hike the Appalachian Trail. Greg, a Clyde St. Mary's alumnus and Fremont St. Joseph Central Catholic High School graduate, recently talked to students at St. Mary's School. He brought along the hat he wore and the remains of his expensive hiking books, walking sticks, sleeping bag, backpack and cooking kit. He brought his tent, which he never used because he usually slept in three-sided shelters provided along the trail.
He gave each student a small plastic bag of gorp, his end-of-the-day treat made of nuts, raisins and M&Ms. He ate oatmeal for breakfast. Lunch was two crackers, two granola bars and two Snickers bars. Dinner at 4 or 5 p.m. was Ramen noodles and instant potatoes. He carried all his gear, food and supplies in his 40-pound backpack. At night, food packs had to be suspended from trees to keep animals out of them.
Occasionally, hikers would come upon a box or a cooler full of food or other useful items left by friendly people who live along the trail. On very rare occasions, trail magic would appear -- freshly prepared food served by locals.
He said he was dirty all the time because there were no showers and no bathrooms along the way. Occasionally he would hike into a nearby town to pick up supplies or check the post office for a package of food from his parents. He carried a cell phone for emergencies, but used it sparingly.
Greg told students that compared to living in Africa for three years, hiking the trail was a piece of cake. He hiked alone, but made many friends along the way and was never lonely, he said. He shared stories about fellow hikers and the wild animals they encountered.
Many unexpected things happened along his journey. While roughing it on the trail, he got his first limo ride in Newfound Gap when a local motel owner picked up hikers and offered them a ride and a bed in exchange for labor.
He hiked through the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee and saw wild horses in Grayson Highlands, Va. He reached the halfway point, 1,089 miles, in Pennsylvania. At Harper's Ferry, he registered at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Headquarters. Most hikers have trail names. Greg chose Toubab, which means white man in the African language of Bombara. When living in Mali, the children always chanted Toubab whenever they saw him.
The state of New York had the worst trails, but he saw the Manhattan skyline at night from Bear Mountain.
When he reached the White Mountains in New Hampshire, he said, all the previous mountains crossed seemed like big hills in comparison. There he hiked above the tree lines where the trail was marked with little piles of rocks instead of white blazes on trees. He climbed to the summit of Mount Washington, 6,288 feet high, at the 1,917-mile point of the trail.
In Maine, he saw his first view of the end of the trail, Mount Katahdin. While he had sometimes traveled up to 20 to 24 miles a day, he dropped to an average of 10 to 11 miles per day here.
His mom, dad and sister, Emily, met him near the end of the trail at Millinocket, Maine. They spent the night at a hotel and got up very early to drive an hour to Katahdin Springs, where they registered for Greg's final climb. Bruce, Martha and Emily all started the climb with Greg.
After the first mile, the climb became challenging. It was so rugged that after three and a half miles, Martha knew she couldn't continue. Bruce started back down with her to help her over the spots where she probably couldn't have made it on her own.
Greg and Emily continued up two more miles to reach the summit, where Greg took step number 5 million at the end of the Appalachian Trail. Bruce and Martha arrived back at the campground at 5 p.m. and Greg and Emily arrived back at 6:30 p.m.
The family then went to the Appalachian Trail Café in Millinocket, where it is a tradition for hikers to meet after climbing Mount Katahdin. Greg attempted to eat the Summit Challenge Sundae, 14 scoops of ice cream, a piece of pie, fruit, a large Snickers bar, M&Ms, a ton of whipped cream and a dozen cherries. Later, he signed a ceiling tile.
The next day the family continued on for a family vacation, wondering where in the world Greg would go next.
