Jeff Daniels of Evergreen became the first Conecuh County resident to ever “thru-hike” the world famous Appalachian Trail when he completed the 2,181-mile trek on Monday.Daniels, 53, reached the peak of 5,268-foot-tall Mount Katahdin in Maine on Monday at around 9:45 a.m., officially setting foot on the terminus of the trail, which begins over 2,000 miles away in Springer Mountain, Ga.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Daniels told The Courant in a phone interview from Maine on Tuesday morning. “But I’ve just got this ‘wow’ feeling that it’s finally over with, something that I’ve always wanted to do.”
Daniels noted that his final day on the trail was one of the toughest with a long climb to the frosty top of Mount Katahdin.
“It was cold with strong winds,” he said. “And the top was enshrouded with clouds. It’s was pretty cold too, somewhere between 38 and 40 degrees. I definitely needed to put on my down jacket once we got above the tree line.”
Daniels began his trip on March 13 and said he was pleased to finish on Sept. 12, which means he’ll always be able to say that he finished the trip in less than six months.
The trail, commonly referred to as the “AT,” is arguably the most famous hiking trail in the world. The trail passes through 14 states, including Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Daniels said that he planned to take it easy before his flight tomorrow (Friday) from Bangor, Maine to Mobile. He noted that he’s lost over 30 pounds during the trip, with his body weight now down to around 150 pounds, so more than a few big meals are in his plans for the coming days.
When Daniels arrives in Mobile Friday, he plans to put off his trip back home to Evergreen for a few more hours, so that he can travel to Selma to watch his son play in the Sparta Academy-Ellwood Christian game on Friday night.
“And on Saturday, I plan to enjoy watching Auburn play football from the comfort of my own home and then go watch my younger sons play youth football that day too.”
He’s already been asked to speak at several civic club meetings as well as to local schools about his trip, and he has thought about writing a book about his AT hike.
“Writing a book about it is still in the back of my mind,” he said. “But that will come later. Mostly I’m just looking forward to getting back home and getting back in the groove.”
When asked about any future plans to tackle any of the nation’s other long-distance hiking trails, such as the Continental Divide Trail and Pacific Crest Trail, Daniels couldn’t help but laugh.
“I have to admit that I’ve thought about it,” he said. “But I just don’t see myself being away from my family for that long again, that is, unless I were to do it with one of my sons. Of course, there are always a lot of shorter trails, and I might do some of those later.”
Daniels said that “his next great adventure” will probably be a trip in which he would float on the Sepulga River all the way to Pensacola Bay.
“Depending on the water levels, that would probably take about a month,” he said.
(Daniels kept an online journal of his trip, and it can be read at www.trailjournals.com/moondoggie.)
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