When I first sat down to write my Appalachian Trail memoir, I assumed I was writing one book.
After all, it was one eleven-year journey on the Appalachian Trail.
But as the manuscript grew, it became clear that the story wasn’t simply getting longer—it was becoming deeper. Different seasons of the journey carried different lessons, different struggles, and different ways that God was shaping my life.
My northeast hiking partner, Rick, and I had been hiking together for four years. We typically only got to hike with each other once a year, so when we did, we always had a lot of catching up to do.
In October 2023, we were hiking what I thought would be our last section together before I finished the Trail the following summer. We were making our way through Massachusetts, and I still vividly remember that beautiful autumn day and the conversation we had as we shuffled through the dried leaves that had already fallen.
I told Rick that I had recently sat down to write a book about my Appalachian Trail adventures. I was trying to figure out what to include—and what I might have to leave out. There was so much to write about! After all, by the time I finished, my journey would span more than eleven years. There were a lot of adventures to share.
Rick is about twenty years younger than I am and sometimes offers a perspective that is a little different from my own. He is also a good businessman who appreciates the old adage, “Work smarter, not harder.”
As we tossed ideas back and forth and I shared all the things I hoped to capture in the book, he said something that completely changed the direction of my writing.
He suggested that this story needed to be more than one book about backpacking.
It needed to become a memoir—a trilogy.
The more I prayed about it, the more I realized he was right.
Book One became the beginning—the dreams, the fears, and the first faithful steps.
Book Two became the heart of the journey, where the mountains grew steeper and God continued teaching me through rain, fog, rocks, and countless Plan Bs.
Book Three became the final miles, but even more than that, it became a reminder that every ending is also the beginning of something new.
Looking back now, I’m so grateful Rick helped me see what I couldn’t yet see. What I thought was one story was actually three distinct chapters of one remarkable journey.
Sometimes God gives us friends who can see farther down the trail than we can. Rick was one of those friends for me.
I have also been blessed with other hiking partners, as well as family and friends, who have helped me see things from a perspective different from my own—sometimes opening my eyes to a bigger picture that I couldn’t see by myself.
It’s easy to forget that God doesn’t expect any one of us to know it all or see it all. His Word reminds us that “we know in part” (1 Corinthians 13:9) and that “the body does not consist of one member but of many” (1 Corinthians 12:14).
In other words, God created us to live in community with one another, each of us bringing different gifts and perspectives to the table of life.
But God is the ultimate Gift Giver, and most of the time He doesn’t reveal the whole trail of life at once.
Sometimes He simply asks us to take the next faithful step—and lets the bigger picture unfold one section at a time.
Want to explore the journey behind the trilogy?
Discover the Facing Fear Through Faith Appalachian Trail trilogy.
Want to see the places that inspired the stories?
Visit the accompanying Appalachian Trail Photo Journals.