I am a class of 2017 Appalachian Trail thru hiker. My background in camping, hiking and backpacking is through scouts. As a youth I spent five summers backpacking in the mountains of New Mexico at Philmont Scout Ranch, two of which were spent teaching others how to do so as a Ranger. As an adult I have continued my love of the outdoors, and have been back to Philmont four times as an adult leader and have led two groups for week long adventures to Isle Royale. It will be amazing to see some of the changes that take place in others on the trail, but I am especially interested to see what I can learn from the trail. The longest I have ever been out at one time is three weeks, and that was over 30 years ago. Hopefully I can convince my wife, Leslie, to write a couple of blog posts about what it is like for those that are left behind as we pursue our dreams of a thru hike. Happy trails......