Posted by Anne Decker on Jul 19, 2018
John Hill achieved his dream of hiking the Appalachian Trail.
The Appalachian Trail is the longest marked footpath in the world, stretching 2,189 miles between Georgia and Maine. John Hill, a member of the Vermillion Rotary Club hiked the trail in sections over eleven years. He brought his backpack to show us how he lived on the trail. He told us he packed as light as possible. That meant he had one pot that he both cooked with and ate from, a tiny stove, one spork, a tent that was just large enough to accommodate his body lying down. He even took apart his map and carried only the pages for the sections of trail he was hiking. John had a lot of adventures, including an encounter with a bear who wanted his vegetable lasagna. During his trip, John climbed 300 mountains, the highest one with an elevation of 6,625 feet, and walked six million steps. John said Jesus was his inspiration as he hiked, and on top of one of the mountains, he was amazed to see the shadow of a cross projected across the valley. For John, hiking the Appalachian Trail was the culmination of a dream.