Hiking as Therapy - Student Choice (Adam Stillabower)

     I have always known about hiking in general, but before this course, I never really thought about it as a therapeutic experience. What really piqued my interest were the stories that Dr. Redick told about military members and veterans braving the Appalachian Trail. It reminded me of a story that my girlfriend told me about having an interaction with a veteran on the trail. She is from northern Virginia and would frequent Three Ridges Loop in the Shenandoah Valley quite frequently. There are several trails there that intersect with the AT and that is where her interaction took place. In her senior year of high school, she would take every chance she could take to get out and hike a trail. On this particular day, she chose a trail that had a section shared with the AT. As she walked upon it, she met a through hiker making his way north. They walked together for a long while and he talked about his reasons for trying to hike the trail. He was just released from a combat deployment to a country in the Middle East. He, unfortunately, lost a large number of his unit to IED’s. He explained that he was hiking in remembrance of them, as an attempt to truly come to grips with their absence.  Me now, about to commission, thinking about this gives more and more validity to the notion that hiking through the wilderness is a therapeutic action. It allows us time to think, reflect, and escape the troubles that torment us in our everyday lives. Reaching a place where you can truly decenter yourself and take in all that’s around you seem so very appealing with all that has been going on these past several months. I truly wish to, especially next summer and the warmer months, make more of a concentrated effort to find trails to hike on.