ANDOVER- On a clear and beautiful September 27, Clay and Lindsay Smith of Andover made their final summit to Katahdin after their five month, three day journey along the Appalachian Trail from Georgia.
“For the last week through the 100 Mile Wilderness the topic of discussion throughout our group was if we were in Groundhog Day, the movie, would we be happy to do this all over again,” noted Lindsay.

Her answer, a simple no. While it was an adventure, it wasn’t what they had envisioned after reading so many books about it. It wasn’t the wilderness experience they were expecting.

“If you want the wilderness experience,” noted Clay. “Then you should just make a life of hiking the 100 Mile Wilderness. That was the one section that was true to the idea that Benton McKaye stated on the plaque at Springer, “A path for those who seek fellowship with the wilderness.”

The couple noted that you could access a town every five to ten miles by hitching out a dirt, or often paved road intersecting the trail.

Everyone hikes the trail for different reasons and one of the most popular, is to be one with the woods and figure out where life is going. The Smiths stated that the last week of conversation centered around where life was going to take them all.

“Some were looking for that moment,” stated Lindsay. “The moment of clarity when it all just came together.”

“It really wasn’t like that for anyone we hiked with,” added Clay. “They were telling themselves to just wait for that time, that moment. It’s something that can’t be forced. Nobody really had any one moment.”

For Clay and Lindsay, they have plans for more adventure. Lindsay is going to work through the winter and be Clay’s “sugar momma” while he works on writing a book of their time on the AT, and next summer they’ve been invited to India for a friend’s wedding and will do some backpacking over there.
The couple began their hike of the AT on the approach trail on April 23, with day one of hiking the AT being April 24. Their goal was to end on September 30.

The Fat Kids got their name early on due to their knowledge of having the right foods on the trail and not succumbing to pop tarts, candy bars and Ramen. They found friends who generally hiked the same pace and stuck with them.

When Lindsay got hurt on May 11 after slipping on their way down from watching the sunrise from Clingman’s Dome, they thought they were done and didn’t really know if they would make their goal.

“I dislocated my tailbone and we spent eight days off trail letting some healing take place before we started back up again,” noted Lindsay.

It was during that time that Clay’s parents arrived with their dog, Hunter.

When they got back to the trail, Lindsay took it easy only carrying about 20 pounds, while Clay took on the excess weight that she couldn’t carry, bringing his pack up to 60-plus pounds.

“We went with the flow and did our own thing,” stated Lindsay. “Our friends who we were hiking with before I fell moved on ahead of us.”
“Our hike was not about hitting every white blaze,” noted Clay. “At a certain point it becomes work. Wake up, eat, walk, build your house at the end of each day, and then get up, take down your house and do it all over again for five months.”

“There are days you don’t want to move and just want to sit and take a break,” noted Lindsay. “Sometimes you can, but there are days when it’s raining and you’ve been in camp for two days already and you need to move or you’ll never make your goal.”

The Smiths agreed that you need the bad experience to be sure you appreciate the good experiences.

One of their more harrowing experiences on the trail was when they had to take shelter from a storm near a river they had just aqua blazed.
“One of our friends yelled to us to get out of our tent immediately,” stated Clay. “It was less than 30 seconds after Lindsay cleared the tent that a 90-pound branch came crashing down right on top. It was the scariest thing! Our boats had been torn away from where we tied them up and we couldn’t find one of our friends, who we later realized was off gathering the boats back up. The storm only lasted about 30 minutes, but it was intense.”
Hunter stayed with them until Pennsylvania, but then they sent him home because they didn’t want to risk his paws being torn up on the rocks.

Throughout their hike, Clay and Lindsay remained true to the phrase Hike Your Own Hike (HYOH). As a matter of fact, they decided to switch their hike up a bit and came home to get their car when they got to New York so they could slack pack with some friends for about 230 miles. They slacked through New York, Connecticut and Mass.

When they got to Vermont they reunited with Hunter and he remained with them until the base of Katahdin.
Looking back over their adventure, Lindsay noted, “The prettiest place along the trail was a 30-mile stretch through a New York park. It was gorgeous. The worst part was, and Clay agrees, was the six miles of dirt road we had to walk through Pennsylvania.”

When asked about the people and personalities they encountered, Clay shared, “One of the hardest things to cope with from the very beginning, is people building up tribulations for themselves that end up being greater than reality.”

“From the moment you step on the trail, hikers are talking about how scary the Smokies are going to be and once you’re through the not-so-scary Smokies, all anyone can talk about is how flat and easy Virginia is going to be. By the way, it’s not flat…or easy,” noted Clay.

Clay continued that no matter where they were on the trail someone was fearing some part of it ahead. Whether it be the rocks through Pennsylvania, the mud and roots of Vermont or the “treacherous” Whites. “People just went on and on,” stated Clay.

“Nobody talks about the Mahoosucs. Once you hit the Mahoosucs, then you’re getting into the best part of the entire AT.”

Lindsay added, “The key to the AT being a great experience is to really enjoy those good days so that when the bad days come, you don’t dislike it quite so much. When the trail is hot, dusty and rocky, and your feet are killing you, it really isn’t any fun. But, when we got to Vermont and I got to play in the mud, I was like a little kid. It’s all in your perspective.”

If you’re interested in reading about Clay and Lindsay’s entire journey on the Appalachian Trail, please visit their blog, bootstobirks.com. And, be watching for their book in 2015.