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Searching for ‘a deep breath' 
CRACKER DON: Chad Crawford, 25, former student at Hutto High School, completed a more than 2,000 mile hike through the Appalachian Trail just before Thanksgiving. The hike took him more than four months.
courtesy photo |
By Leah Fillion Former Hutto student hikes the Appalachian Trail Chad Crawford went to high school in Hutto, graduated from seminary school at Wake Forest University and became an ordained minister at the age of 25. Crawford said he needed some time outdoors after years of being cooped inside a library. It was a time of transition between seminary school and beginning his career in ministry. Crawford started his hike up Katahdin Mountain in Maine on July 2, 2007. The ascent was rugged and at times he found himself barely gripping the rocks of the highest mountain in the state. He was tired and the stress on his body was starting to get to him after only 10 miles. Alone on the first day of his hike across the Appalachian Trail, Crawford said he was beginning to worry if he would ever reach the end - over 2,000 miles away. “A good experience isn't determined by finishing; some people finish because they feel like they have to and end up a wreck the whole time. That's why I'll be out there as long as I feel like I'm having a good run at it. Hopefully, the fun will take me all the way to Georgia, but that's not my criterion for a good walk in the woods,” he said in his Web blog before starting his journey. But over 2,174 miles, 142 days of hiking through 14 states, Crawford emerged from Springer Mountain in Georgia, soles worn thin, clothes worn through and a full beard, having hiked the entire length of the Appalachian Trail. Twenty to 25 percent of those who attempt the “AT” are able to finish each year. Since the trail was finished in the 1930s, 9,483 people have completed the hike. “I laughed when I saw the statistics (of failure) but I understood when I finally got there and how hard it was - how much you had in front of you, still. It was an awakening moment.” He said it took hiking every day for one month to get his trail legs ready. After a while, he got used to being on the trail for two weeks at a time without ever leaving the woods. He lived off of peanut butter, granola bars and pasta most of the time and only stopped in nearby town every three to five days to pick up more supplies. On a typical day, Crawford woke up around 5 a.m. and started his hike around 6 to average 20 miles per day. He hiked alone for the most part and scheduled each day so he could make it to the next shelter or campsite by sundown. His goal was to make it home by Thanksgiving Along the way he met other thru-hikers at shelters - people with names like Hercules, Fire Hazard and Hedgehog. Trail names are sort of a tradition on the Appalachian Trail and most believe that their name will simply come to them “like a moment of Zen,” Crawford said. Crawford emerged from the woods on Nov. 20 not as Chad, but as Cracker Don. It was not so much a spiritual experience but a misunderstanding during a conversation with a British man along the trail. The man was surprised with Crawford's ambitious schedule and called him the “crack-of-dawn” for the pace he was keeping. “I just kept thinking he was saying Cracker Don, so I kept that.” After a while, hikers became familiar with each other and told locals from nearby towns, or trail angels, who was traveling behind them so the “angels” could mark their progress, offer their homes for shelter or a solid meal. “It's not often I enter a town I've never been to, where I don't know anybody, and someone I've never met says, ‘We've heard about you. We knew you were coming to town today,'” he said in his blog. For the most part, he kept his trips to town at a minimum, spending only eight nights off of the trail. Eventually he made his way across one state and then the next until he found himself getting closer and closer. Rob Kunisch, Crawford's step-dad, met him for the last 20 miles of the trip to celebrate his journey. “When he came over and I saw him for the first time... he looked like he was homeless,” Kunisch laughed. Crawford's beard had grown during the four months, and he was still wearing the same shoes he had strapped to his feet when he began. They walked the last 20 miles together, slowly, because Crawford said his step-dad hadn't gotten his trail legs yet so he had to take it easy on him. When they got to the end, Crawford pulled a bottle of champagne from his pack, a tradition for those that complete the journey, and then made their way back home to Texas just in time for Thanksgiving. “A lot of people think of (the hike) as a big spiritual quest... They are searching for something. For me it was more of just a deep breath,” he said. His next goal, he said, is to run a marathon. “I benefit a lot from personal challenges - from little personal goals rather than the overarching goals of life - it helps me focus and have a sense of well being,” he said.
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