Published: September 18, 2007 10:52 am      

Goshen man hikes Appalachian trail

Sam Nice of Goshen recently finished a journey of more than 2,000 miles — using his two feet.

Nice hiked the Appalachian Trail, a continuously marked foot path that goes from the Springer Mountain in Georgia to Katahdin in Maine.

His journey began on April 1 and concluded Sept. 4.

While some might do extensive training prior to setting off on such a trip, Nice did only a little running.

“The best way to get in shape is to go out and do it,” he said.

During the course of the trip — in which he often lugged a pack weighing 40 to 45 pounds on his back — he lost 15 to 20 pounds. While getting in shape was one of his goals, he said there were other reasons he chose to do the hike.

“There was the adventure of it and getting away from things to think,” he said.

Nice hiked with a friend for the first two weeks and then hiked with another guy he met on the trail for about four weeks. The rest of the time he hiked alone.

The Appalachian Trail is home to thousands of plant and animal species, including the American black bear.

“I did see black bears a couple times, but they didn’t get too close,” Nice said. He also saw moose in New Hampshire and Maine and was close enough to hear the rattle of a rattlesnake in Pennsylvania.

“You think about nature and keeping it nice and the impact you have on it,” he said of spending so much time outdoors.

Most evenings, Nice would sleep in a shelter along the trail. The shelters were very basic, with three walls, a roof and a floor.

“Basically, it just got you out of the rain,” he said.

The weather made for some interesting evenings during his trip. One night during the first week of his trip he and his friend were in a hail storm.

“Some nights were down in the 20s and we saw snow,” he said. Other times, such as in New Jersey, the temperatures were in the 90s.

While Nice was determined to finish the trail, he was cautious about telling others that he would accomplish the feat.

“Most of the trip when people asked me if I was a through hiker (a hiker doing the entire trail), I said that was the plan.” There was one point in the trip — when he was at the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia — that he considered quitting and going home.

“But I got some encouragement from other hikers and I also thought about what was ahead,” Nice said.

Hikers often go by “trail names,” and Nice was called “Marked” which is short for “Marked by the hand of God.” Sometimes other hikers come up with the name, but Nice came up with his name himself after attending a church service during the trip.

“I decided to give myself a trail name before someone else gave me a dumb one,” he said.

Arriving in Maine at the finishing point was bittersweet, Nice said. The trip was a lot of fun but now he would have to go back to work. On the other hand, “It was nice to go home and see family and friends,” he said.

Nice is a graduate of Bethany Christian High School and Hesston College in Hesston, Kan. He will soon begin working at Little Eden Camp in Michigan.

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tara.layne@goshennews.com