Life-changing adventure : ‘Copperhead’ to strike the Appalachian Trail again next month
Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008
She said it affects everyone differently. The Appalachian Trail had a deep, profound effect on Deb Bartholomew. She even gained a new name, Copperhead, on her journey. The gifts she received from the trail changed her life forever and are her cherished treasures. "For about six years before I actually began, the idea of hiking the AT possessed me," Bartholomew explained. "I knew it was something I wanted to do. The trail is a 2, 200-mile-long wilderness footpath. When I began it, I started in Georgia on March 24, 2007, and planned to go to the end of the trail in Katahdin, Maine. I hiked 1, 500 of those miles, mostly alone, camping in the woods at night, living out of my backpack and taking in stride whatever nature sent my way. I learned many lessons, and, over time, I be-By Tonya McKiever gan to realize that my whole outlook on life had begun to shift."
That new way of seeing the world and herself is the gift given to her by the trail. Bartholomew said she's particularly aware of changes in three areas of her life. When she began the AT, she was always anxious and filled with stress. Now, she said, the anxiety has been replaced by a sense of calmness. Before the trail, Bartholomew said she was extremely critical of herself and others. She feels much more tolerant and accepting now. Calling herself "lost"before the AT experience, she said she "found"herself during the months of hiking.
Recognizing that she didn't really require much to be safe and happy, she developed a new, simpler way to gauge her needs. Life for Bartholomew became much simpler mile after mile. She realized on the trail that everything she needed seemed to appear at just the right time - and often, from the least likely places.
Medical reasons, especially asthma, forced Bartholomew off the trail on Aug. 9, 2007, more than 600 miles short of completing her journey. That's why she's flying to Connecticut next month. She'll hike from where she was forced to give up completing her goal - Salisbury, Conn. - to the AT's finish line in Maine. Bartholomew vowed to herself when she had to leave that she would be back. Bartholomew can't wait to become Copperhead again and get back to the trail.
"I can't imagine anyone hiking the trail without help," Bartholomew said. "I had several people assisting me. My sister Patz insisted on driving me to the trailhead in Georgia. She also took on the huge job of mailing my food resupply boxes every few days for six months. My mother baked many batches of special dense bread that keeps well. We lost my dad last March, but when I was on the AT, he did some dog-sitting of my best friend Gidgit, a schnauzer. My sister Lin created a Web site and kept it updated with photos and journal entries I sent her from the trail. So many others gave gifts and support and plenty of encouragement. It would have been an impossible undertaking without all the help."
Bartholomew had countless memorable moments on the trail, but one she's fairly certain to remember involved a bear.
"A couple of hikers were taking a break," Bartholomew said. "When I walked by them, they told me there was a bear up ahead and I might want to wait awhile with them. I had been wanting to see a bear the whole trip. Everyone I talked to along the trail had seen one, but I hadn't. I kept walking, and the couple joined me. Sure enough, it wasn't long until we were facing the bear. And it was clear to us that the bear was not happy.
"It was a mama bear, and she started loudly clacking her teeth together. That's when I started clicking my hiking poles together, and the couple started yelling. About that time, we saw one of her cubs run up a tree, and the bear lost interest in us. She was just protecting her cubs. It was scary at the time, but I finally got to see a bear along the trail."
Giving up her seven-year gig as a truck driver to hike the AT, Bartholomew believes the trail was a pivotal point in her life.
"It's difficult to explain," she said," but the trail becomes more than a place to walk through the wilderness. To me, it became another entity. As I said, I'm not the same person I was before I hiked the trail. I'm much more relaxed and less critical nowadays. I feel that I finally know exactly who I am. I learned a lot about me on the trail. And I met six people on the AT who will be friends for life. It would be hard to ask for much more. Come on June 5, I'm ready to get back to the trail."
To follow Bartholomew's (Copperhead's ) upcoming hike, her pictures and journal entries will be posted at webpub. allegheny. edu / employee / l / lsutley / deb.
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