"An 80 mile hike over the Appalacchian Trial in North Carolina to raise awareness and funds to benefit The Place of Forsyth County"

FUNDRAISER

My name is David Bark and I currently work for AutomationDirect.com in Cumming, Georgia. I was given the name of Sandy Beaver at "The Place of Forsyth" as a great organization that we hve worked with in the past. After meeting with Sandy both of us agreed this would be a great fundraiser called "Hike for Hunger 2012".

I have already hiked 76 miles in Georgia and I plan on hiking 80 miles in North Carolina the last week of May, finishing in 7 to 8 days. During the hike I will take photographs and keep a daily journal that we will post on this site so everyone can enjoy and read how I am progressing with my adventure.

David's Hike Bio

I currently live in North Georgia, what got me into hiking was one of my bucket list items and I have been wanting to cross it off the list. It was to hike all 80 miles of the Appalachian Trail (also known as the AT) in Georgia. I knew this was going to be a lofty goal, so I began training in November 2010 for the many miles that lay ahead of me that I would section hike over the next 12 months.

Section Hikers

Section hikers are people who hike long distance trials in stages, maybe just a day hike or over the span of weekend, at a time. We are the unlucky majority that can't take a year off to hike the Apalachian Trail or many of the other fine trails in the US. But like thru-hikers, we yearn for the simplicity of life on the trail, in the outdoors, away from the world of electronic gadgets and other material possessions that take us away from everyday life.

Amicalola Falls to Bly Gap

I was now on the search for someone to hike with me on this adventure. I found the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club, this is a great organization that helps maintain the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail and several of the side trails that connect to the AT. I signed up for my first hike from Amicalola Falls to Springer Mountain. Around 5 hours later I was standing on top of Springer Mountain the southern terminus for the AT. The view was amazing, and now I was hooked.

Marker at Springer Mountain

Hiking the AT in Georgia has been one of the most challenging adventures I have done so far in my life. I have seen some amazing views, met some great people along the way and this journey has inspired me to continue my trek up the AT into North Carolina. During my planning phase for this hike, I thought since I was going to be hiking this 90 miles, that I could help someone at the same time.