When a pilot turns sixty years old, he is forced to retire. One man, a longtime Fayette County resident, will be kicking off his retirement by hiking the Appalachian Mountain Trail. He hopes to hike all 3,200 miles in the space of eight months as a fundraiser for the Arthritis Foundation. The cause is close to his heart as his wife of 37 years this July has been dealing with Fibromyalgia, a form of arthritis that disrupts the normal muscle interaction with the underlying bones, for close to 10 years. This hiker wishes to go by his trail name of Grey Eagle until he returns from his journey, at which point he will reveal his identity and the story of his travels.

Several years ago, Grey Eagle was in the North Georgia Mountains with his wife. After seeing signs for trail crossings, they decided to hike to the top of Springer Mountain. At that point, what had once been a small idea germinating in his brain became a commitment. Grey Eagle started amassing the materials for a long term, long distance hike and training by running and jogging and also going on a series of test hikes of 50-100 miles along the Benton MacKaye Trail and the Georgia Pinhoti Trail. While he initially thought of starting at the northern end of the trail, in Quebec, Canada and working his way south, it soon became apparent that the timing wouldn’t work out. Due to severe weather and danger to hikers, the parks up north don’t open until winter is over and hiking is unsafe for months afterwards because of snow and deep freeze.

Grey Eagle will start his journey in Bulls Gap, Alabama and will work his way from the Alabama Pinhoti Trail to the Georgia Pinhoti Trail to the Benton MacKaye trail to the Appalachian Trail and finally to the International Appalachian Trail, all of which totals just over 3,200 miles. He plans on taking one break day from hiking each week and is hoping to have a car parked ahead at stops along the Alabama and Georgia Pinhoti trails so that he can home on the rest day for the first few weeks or so. After that it will just be him and his pack for the duration of his trip.

His pack is as light as possible and, until he takes off on either the 13th or 14th of February, he will continue looking for ways to get it as far under 50 pounds as he can. Inside the pack are the essentials; a tent, sleeping bag, and air mattress, as well as rain gear, a parka, an extra set of clothes, a mini stove, a cooking kit, first aid kit and shaving kit although he is toying around with the idea, much to his wife’s chagrin, of growing his beard out for the duration of the trip. Perhaps the most important thing in his pack is a water filtration system. Grey Eagle knows that he will need three liters of water a day. In addition to the filtration system and a water bag and valve that goes from the pack to a hose that he can drink from while continuing to hike, Grey Eagle will also be carrying a week’s worth of food that has been dehydrated, vacuum packed and frozen. He will be restocking his food supply via the mail at designated post offices along the way and has been stockpiling leftovers for a long time in preparation for the trip.

He also has a personal locator beacon, at the request of his wife. In the case of an emergency, the beacon can find him using satellites within a few minutes. In addition to the beacon, Grey Eagle also has a cell phone, which has had signals on most peaks and gaps, and a Pocket Mail system where he can type messages and send them through pay phones. He will be able to use this technology to keep in touch with is family at least every other day and update his trail journal, www.trailjournals.com/greyeagle. His wife is very supportive of the hike and knows that once Grey Eagle has a passion for something it is hard to deter him because of how much he enjoys a good challenge.

“This challenge is on par with completing flight school,” said Grey Eagle, who added that he is no spring chicken anymore. He is equipped to deal with the challenges though. he served in the Air Force until 1998 flying a variety of planes including the F4, while also serving as a commercial pilot for Eastern Airlines and American Airlines.

The trip is going to be long and certainly will be a test of his mental endurance as well as his physical endurance. He knows that there will be mornings where he wakes up in the rain and has to close up camp quickly and motivate himself to get in his miles for the day. Grey Eagle, who has a goal of hiking 100 miles a week, stated that the main motivation will be raising money for the arthritis foundation and not letting down any of the people who have made donations, either in lump sums or by the mile. He also admitted that he would be listening to his body and wouldn’t push himself to the point of permanent injury.

“Lots of people when they hear about this, they say, ‘Boy, I’d love to do that’ and I think, ‘No you don’t, otherwise you’d do it,’” Grey Eagle said, adding that he has considered that he might not be tough enough but will never know until he tries.

Though he hopes to reach his weekly goals and needs to reach Mt. Katahdin before Oct. 15, when they close the park for the winter, he knows it is futile to make detailed schedules. He does have numerous maps and a trail book that he has already highlighted for target stops. He also hopes that if he loses any time at the beginning of his trek, he can make it up in the middle states where the terrain isn’t as tough.

Though he has yet to take a step of this journey, Grey Eagle knows how he would like to end the journey. he will finish at Gosby, Quebec and will take a train to Montreal and then switch to Amtrak to take a trip to New York to catch up with his daughter. From New York, he will take another train to Atlanta and plans to stop in Palmetto so that he can hike the final 15 miles back to his home.

“After being on the trail, the speed of everyday life can be unnerving,” Grey Eagle said, recalling how it felt to be in a car traveling 40 miles per hour after one of his test hikes. “I kept telling my wife to slow down and then I looked over and saw the speedometer.”

As the day of his retirement draws closer, so does the beginning of a very exciting chapter in Grey Eagle’s life. He is pleased to note that donations for the Arthritis Foundation on his behalf have already started to come in. if you would like to donate to this cause, visit http://greyeagle.kintera.org. The Citizen also plans on posting updates of his journey on our web site, www.thecitizen.com.

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