Don’t tell Newman to take a hike — he will
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Such was the journey of Ben Newman, who for six months earlier this year hiked from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail.
Newman, 24, the son of Robert and Marsha Newman, said the idea for his epic trek came after hiking several sections of the famous trail while on breaks from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where he was a student. Having enjoyed these hikes and having talked on the trail with many “thruhikers,” as hikers who attempt the entire trail are known, he thought the challenge of the famed trail would be the adventure of a lifetime.
“My brother Wes and I hiked 300 miles on the trail one month and I had a great time. It was then I decided I’d like the challenge of the entire trail. It was something I wanted to do before I entered the real world. It would allow me to see the East Coast in a way most people don’t, and to meet a lot of cool people along the way,” he said.
Upon graduating from UT last December, he found he had the perfect opportunity to undertake the momentous challenge.
“I was in a transition period, which was why I was able to do it. Because it takes such a long time you can’t have a job, a family or a lot of bills. It helps to be young or retired and single,” he said.
After minimal time spent in preparation, on March 8 Newman was dropped off at trail’s southern terminus at Springer Mountain, in North Georgia, with nothing but a 28-pound backpack containing four days worth of food, two quarts of water, a sleeping bag and pad, a hammock, a rain suit, a toothbrush, two T-shirts, a pair of shorts, two pairs of socks, a map, a book, a journal, a digital camera and a cell phone.
Hiking an average 15 to 20 miles a day, he said it took him about three weeks to get in “pretty good” hiking shape, “pretty good” meaning he could walk non-stop straight up a mountain without having to stop to catch his breath.
Though in good shape, it didn’t take long for Mother Nature to test his long-range hiking resolve. Not long after crossing into Tennessee, he woke up one morning to discover subzero temperatures and a foot of snow on the ground – snow which made the hiking slow and his feet feel like icicles.
And not long after the snow finally began to melt away and he made his way in to Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains in May, it began to rain. And it kept raining.
“It rained 28 out of 30 days,” he said. “Virginia was beautiful, but it was the hardest time for me. You’d wake up wet – wet shoes, wet socks, wet pack – everything I had was wet and stayed wet. There was nothing you could do about it. A lot of people quit their thruhikes because of it.”
As daunting as the challenge of a thruhike seemed at times – and he did say there were times he doubted the trail would ever end – Newman was able to periodically escape the rigors of the trail and recharge. The Appalachian Trail, while very remote in some parts, also runs very near, and sometimes straight through, patches of civilization. When near a town, he said, he would hike or hitchhike in to resupply on food and, if possible, find s motel room or hostel with a bed and shower. He would also use this time to eat some “real food.”
After subsisting on a diet composed of Lipton noodles, Pop Tarts, tuna and crackers and the like, Newman said he and his fellow hikers, upon descending on a town, could eat everything in sight.
“I would each eat four cheeseburgers or a whole large pizza at one sitting. Because we were burning so much energy hiking, we could eat so much and whatever we wanted. We really loved all-you-can-eat buffets. We’d shut them down,” he said with a laugh.
He spent these so-called zero days, when he did not hike a single mile, in towns big and small, from Gatlinburg to Harpers Ferry, W.Va., to New York City. In these cities he would often meet his parents and/or his girlfriend Kate Medley. He even returned home in June to attend the Bonnaroo festival in neighboring Coffee County.
While on the trail he said he spent a good amount of time hiking alone, but he would also hike with other thruhikers from time to time. He was even joined for some time by friend Trevor Galligan, who accompanied him on the trail through Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. He was also joined by his father while hiking in Massachusetts.
When he completed his 2,000-plus-mile journey at Mt. Katahdin, Me., the Appalachian Trail’s northern terminus, on Sept. 21, Newman entered hiking’s elite. Of the approximately 2,000 hikers who begin thruhikes every year, only between 200 and 400 actually complete the grueling trek.
“It was a very big sense of accomplishment,” he said. “It was tough at times but it was something I wanted to do and I was going to stick to it. It was a wonderful experience. I’m just glad I was in the physical shape to do it.”
From the rocky trails of Pennsylvania to White Mountains of New Hampshire to the bears he saw in the Blue Ridge Mountains and moose in the ponds of New England to the beautiful sunrises and sunsets, these are memories he said he will carry forever.
“I learned so much when I was out there. I learned a lot about my limitations. I learned to depend on myself and how to depend on nature to survive,” he said. “I also learned that civilization and the progress mankind has made is an awesome thing.”