Mark Weyer, 24, of Mohrsville, completed his thru-hike dream, hiking 2,189.2 miles of the Appalachian Trail.
“I met so many wonderful people on and off the trail, and it was great to see how helpful people still are,” said Weyer. “It was a dream I have had for several years and it was the best experience of my life so far.”
The 2009 Schuylkill Valley High graduate and auto mechanic left on April 1 to start his thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail at Amicalola Falls in Georgia on the Approach Trail to Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Over the next six and a half months he walked 2,189.2 miles to summit Mount Katahdin in Maine on Oct. 15.
Something Weyer feels strongly about is when he tells people his story, they say, “That’s awesome you did that, but I would never want to hike it.”
Weyer tells them, “It’s not about hiking the Appalachian Trail, that’s just what my thing was, but I’ve talked to plenty of people who had some other sort of dream that they never followed and that is what it is really about.”
“It’s about following your dreams, setting a goal for yourself and sticking to it until you accomplish it no matter how difficult the task. You don’t have to hike the A.T. but follow your dreams and goals because I feel it will be more valuable to find what you learn about yourself than staying in your same comfortable lifestyle all of the time.”
Weyer has gained some new philosophies.
“I feel as though a lot of people back home think you do this to find yourself, and you do to a point. I’ve learned a lot about myself and I’m still learning a lot even now that I’m home because my mind is more clear and organized,” he said.
Weyer said people will say, “What do you want to do that for” or “you can’t do that.”
“But I did do it and I feel I have a greater sense of confidence in the goals I have and life in general. However it’s crazy to think that if I haven’t figured my life out in 24 years that I’m going to have all the answers in just six months.”
While hoping to possibly find another career path on the trail, his mind was filled a lot with the day to day of hiking or when hiking with people he was exchanging stories of his past and getting to know one another.
“I’ve learned even more that it doesn’t matter what others think of you. When you come to a road and you’re sweaty and haven’t showered in three to five days and all you’re thinking about is getting to town to get a nice big burger and fries, you’re not too concerned with worrying about how people perceive you. You learn to better understand the person and not how they dress or smell that matters,” said Weyer.
When asked how this experience changed him, Weyer said he feels as though he has a different outlook.
“When you carry everything you need on your back for six months you realize the sort of things that really matter. Things like when I sleep tonight, am I going to be attacked by a bear or is a mouse going to chew a hole in my tent and if it rains am I going to be able to keep all my stuff dry,” said Weyer. “Then you get home and you realize that you don’t have to worry about those things. So when I hear people’s conversations about daily life my thoughts are often times (but not always) is this really what we’re discussing right now?”
His hiking experience prior to his thru-hike included hiking on the Appalachian Trail between Port Clinton and Hawk Mountain Road numerous times. Last year he decided to hike the Appalachian Trail through all of Pennsylvania in day hikes and weekend hikes. It was on the one and only three-day hike last summer that Weyer thought he could hike whole trail.
“Plenty of people have done it before and, yes, it will be hard, but why not me? So I made up my mind that I was going to hike it all, even Pennsylvania I would hike again because I wanted to do the entire trail in one season,” said Weyer.
Also in 2013 Weyer set a goal for himself that he wanted to stand atop the highest point in every state so prior to starting his thru-hike this year Weyer already had 17 highpoints completed. He acquired three more along the trail, with Mount Katahdin in Maine being number 20 for him.
He talked about some of the challenges along the way.
“I feel as though thru hikers make stress for themselves that really isn’t there. You may be making a long decision on which kind of snack you want for your next break on top of a beautiful overlook and we’d always say ‘the problems a thru hiker has’ sarcastically. Truthfully, however, it’s not as easy as people think it is,” he said. “The terrain changes a lot throughout 14 states. It’s not just a nice stroll in the woods. There’s a lot of times when you’re looking down so much so that you don’t trip on rocks and tree roots that you have to remind yourself to look up and enjoy the scenery.”
There were also plenty of times when he woke up in his tent and heard rain, knowing he had to get up and hike that day.
“You think to yourself ‘did I sign up for this?'”
Weyer had a stretch from New Jersey through New York and into Connecticut where he really thought, “Why am I doing this? It doesn’t even feel fun.”
“Quitting never crossed my mind and that’s the honest truth, but, yes, you beat your body down a lot and you just get tired of hiking, but I came back around in northern Massachusetts and I loved every minute of my hike right through to the end,” he said.
Another challenge was sore feet. Before he started Weyer thought his feet would get used to the hiking, that they wouldn’t hurt the whole time but they just got worse.
His favorite state was Maine. The Grayson Highlands in southern Virginia were also really nice, he said.
“I felt like I was in Scotland or something.”
Shenandoah National Park was a very scenic wooded area.
“There were nice overlooks, but what I mean is while walking through the woods where you were in heavy forest it looked really cool.”
He also really liked the Great Smoky Mountains.
“I had pretty good weather for them but friends I met on the trail that came through two days after me said it was miserable cold and wet and one of their least favorite sections.”
Seeing the wild ponies in the Grayson Highlands was awesome, he said. He saw two moose in New Hampshire and one in Maine and seven black bears.
“I loved to listen to the loons in Maine. Walking into Pennsylvania was really exciting and getting to hike the Pinnacle was a strange feeling because I already knew it so well,” said Weyer. “For over three months everything I saw was new to me and then I’m hiking a section I’ve hiked 10 or 15 times before.”
The people he met during the experience were one of the big highlights for Weyer. He has made a number of really good friends on the trail from all over the country. He already has seen two of them with plans to visit a third.
“You leave home to go be alone in the woods and you find there are so many like minded people out there doing the same thing you are and it’s nice to have that camaraderie,” said Weyer. “Everybody is friendly to you and is customary to say hi to every person you meet on the trail. It’s a really nice family and community that you don’t realize exists unless you spend time on the trail.”
Weyer said the people that give rides to thru-hikers are very helpful.
“A hiker is very grateful for them. Sometimes they can be very insightful as well. I had an older gentleman in Maine tell me that a thru hiker can go anywhere and be OK because we’re always used to adapting. The thought had never crossed my mind. He said you never know what animals you may see, what the weather will be like, who you’ll meet, and just the scenery, while it’s mostly woods, is never the same.”
The day Weyer summited Mount Katahdinin in Maine was a beautiful day and there was a part time cloud on the summit.
“It was pretty emotional thinking about what I had seen and trying to grasp what I just accomplished but it’s hard, too. I’ve been home over a month now and only bits and pieces are starting to make sense to me in terms of the goal I accomplished and all I had to overcome to get there,” said Weyer.
Weyer would like to give speeches about the hiking experience. His first will be at his alma mater Schuylkill Valley High School. To contact Mark Weyer, email him at mnw211@aol.com.
