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The Strong Survive - U.S. Marine Hikes Appalachian Trail
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Before and after photo of Gary Sizer- a US Marine veteran that hiked the Appalachian Trail
Five months, and 2000 miles, a United States Marine Veteran hiked the Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine.
Gary Sizer is a United States Marine veteran. Last spring, he decided to undertake a life changing journey. Gary decided to hike the Appalachian Trail. Not a day hike, not a week, the Marine Vet set out to hike the entire trail, 2000 plus miles.
Sizer quit his job, setting off from Georgia on May 4th. He completed the trek, arriving in Maine on October 9th.
Possibly the most famous hiking trail in the world, the 2,174 mile long trail runs from Maine in the north to Georgia in the south. The trail follows the ridgeline of the Appalachian Mountains, crossing many of its highest peaks, and running, with only a few exceptions, almost continuously through wilderness.
The trail is protected along more than 99 percent of its course by federal or state ownership of the land or by right-of-way. More than 4,000 volunteers help maintain the trail each year.
Since the Appalachian Trail was explicitly designed to be hiked, it includes resources to facilitate hikers. Some are common to trails throughout North America, while some are unique to the Appalachian Trail. The trail is much more frequently hiked south to north. Hikers typically begin in March or April and finish in late summer or early to late fall of that particular year.
On average he completed 13 miles per day. Sizer kept a diary of his journey, complete with photos of his physical transformation during the 5 month ordeal. He plans to write a book chronicling his adventure.
Sizer’s physical appearance before the trip is almost unrecognizable to that at the end. His countenance displays the deep lines and gaunt appearance typical of ‘thru hikers.’
Maintaining his nutrition was difficult. Sizer wrote of his diet,
My nutrition was atrocious. It was a five month cycle between starvation and binge eating. On the trail, I’d typically have:
Breakfast: Two pop tarts and an instant coffee with a Carnation Instant Breakfast mixed in.
All Day: I was continuously eating clif bars, snickers, twix, cheetos, trail mix and beef jerky. And I coated it all with peanut butter or Nutella whenever possible.
Dinner: Usually some version of the Knorr pasta side with a package of tuna and a few ounces of instant mashed potatoes mixed in to thicken the gruel. I’d pair that with a whole wheat tortilla onto which I had smeared a thick coating of cream cheese, mayonnaise, or both. Sometimes I’d eat a few ounces of Gouda or cheddar, but all that stuff’s heavy.
I’d get all this stuff while in town. The AT takes you near a small town every 3-5 days, and generally I’d hitchhike to the nearest grocery store or gas station and get as much of those things as I could. If I was “zeroing” (staying in town, doing zero miles that day) I’d have the biggest, most calorie rich meals I could find. Cheeseburgers, beer, ice cream, fries, wings, pancakes… all in absurd quantities. I was burning 5000-6000 calories per day.
Possibly because being in Maine meant he was coming to the end of the trek, Sizer enjoyed that state the best. He wrote:
The high was, hands-down, the entire state of Maine, especially the Hundred Mile Wilderness and Mount Katahdin. I only got home yesterday, so I still owe a lot more detail on that last section. I’ve given myself a deadline of the end of this week to finish that part. Then I’ll relax a bit and start full time on the book Monday. The blog represents at best 10% of what happened out there.
Trail hikers who attempt to complete the entire trail in a single season are called “thru-hikers;” those who traverse the trail during a series of separate trips are known as “section-hikers,. Rugged terrain, weather extremes, illness, injury, and the time and effort required make thru-hiking difficult to accomplish.
The current speed record for a self-supported (meaning no vehicle or crew support) thru-hike was set by Matthew Kirk in 2013, at 58 days, 9 hours, and 40 minutes. Kirk’s hike was completed in a southbound direction from mid June to early August.
Marine Through and Through
Sizer wasn’t out to set a speed record. He set out to accomplish a personal dream and reach his goal. He did that. Like all Marines, he lives a code of honor emboldened in the Marine Corps motto, Semper Fidelis – Always Faithful. Marines are always faithful to God, Country and Corps, in that order. Keeping the faith, he never quit, he never surrendered, he accomplished his goal.
Semper Fi, Brother. Once a Marine, ALWAYS a Marine.
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