Altered State

I had a mild run-in with the health police over the last couple of days, so this blog post mildly circles around that time frame. Initially Hudson Health Center here in Athens, Ohio thought that I was a diabetic, after sending me to the Emergency Room at O'Blenness, it was quickly discovered that my appendix was the culprit, and I was immediately given morphine to help with the pain.

In my outrageous drug-induced state of weirdness, I sat and pondered my blog of all things. To begin with, I feel that delving into the background of the Appalachian Trail was due quite some time ago.

The Bricks to Bears blog will from henceforth take a new direction, one that is more informative and investigative in content. I feel that the topic of backpacking is one that can be much more analyzed, and you as readers deserve to know the ins and outs of the trail.

So for this post I will be giving you a background on the Appalachian Trail to start anew with the Bricks to Bears blog. I hope that you guys will take interest, for it is a topic that in many ways can define our history as a nation.

The trail, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, is 2,175 miles in length, stretching from Georgia all the way up to Maine. Benton McKaye brought up the idea of the trail in 1921 as a way for Americans to enjoy the outdoors of America from the top of our country to the bottom.

The trail is privately managed through the national parks of the United States, and crosses over six of our national parks. The trail touches fourteen states, houses more than 2,000 occurrences of rare, threatened, endangered, and sensitive plant and animal species at about 535 sites.

Nearly thirty trail clubs care for the Appalachian Trail, with the majority of the care coming from volunteers.

As of right now, approximately 10,000 people have reported finishing the trail, with the record of time being 48 days 20 hours and 11 minutes.

I hope that this can be just the start of many interesting blog posts. For more information regarding fun facts, or other information check out the conservancy!

Hope that all is well, but for now the medicine is kicking in and I need to get some rest!

Best Travels,
Matthew