Book Description

When Terry Croteau was twelve years old, tromping around the woods on family outings, looking under leaves for frogs and salamanders, and relieving herself behind trees, she had no idea she’d end up spending over half year doing the same thing from Georgia to Maine. . . in her fifties! What causes a midlife baby boomer to leave her job, sell the house, farm out the furniture and cram all the leftovers in a ten by ten foot storage unit and carry thirty-five plus pounds on her back over 2174 miles? Well, your guess is as good as mine, but that’s what she did. Join Terry, (trail name ‘Bluebird’) as she prepares, then walks, crawls, trips, and falls her way up the Appalachian Trail, (AT) from Springer Mountain, GA to Baxter Park’s Katahdin, in ME. Allow yourself the experience of hiking the AT by living vicariously through Bluebird’s journal entries and reflections. Experience the routine and the totally unexpected, in the life of a long distance thru hiker. Learn where a good sense of humor, sweat, tears and a ‘Don’t give up!’ attitude might take you. Realize how success can be measured more keenly by your attitude than by your accomplishments, that believing in ‘you’ is half the battle, the other half is putting one foot in front of the other. According to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, approximately 1,150 northbound thru hikers began their trek in 2006 (GA to ME) of the 1,150 hikers, 659 individuals, a little over half, made it to Harpers Ferry, W.Va. (Bluebird was number 501) Maine’s Katahdin greeted 30% of the original 1,150 hikers, with a total of 349 completions in 2006. You will connect with some of those people in Terry’s journal. It doesn’t matter if you’re young, old, male or female, you will appreciate what you find between the cover pages of this book. The author reminds us that, “Life isn’t over till your six foot under and if you’re on this side of the dirt and breathing, you’re alive! So, for God sake and your own, live!”