So it Begins

I like to read books about exploration, especially polar exploration (hows that for a lame first line). Many men have slogged through tougher terrain than me with heavier packs and primitive gear. There is Cook and Peary on their race to the North Pole, Amundsen, Scott and Shackleton in the south. They did their exploration in the early part of the 20th Century man-hauling sledges that weighed hundreds of pounds (except for Peary who became an invalid and was dragged by Matthew Henson and then stopped the sled one day and said, "Yep, this is the North Pole" and was hailed as a hero when he returned. Cook was screwed! Although you have to give it Henson, as an African-American in the U.S. in the 1910's, he single-handedly saved the Peary expedition knowing full well he would get no credit for it. Quite the man.). Amundsen used dogs, Shackleton tried ponies, but in the end they all had to haul sleds and even boats across the snow and ice at some point. What I'm trying to do is a helluva lot easier than that! Shackleton's family seal reads "By endurance we conquer." I'm taking those words with me and whenever I start to falter, I'll think about Shackleton rallying his men when hope was nearly extinguished to carry on and persevere. Through Shackleton I conquer!

As I stand here looking and contemplating the task I have set before myself, I take pause and think about all the work that was done by countless volunteers over the last 5o plus years to make the Ice Age Trail what it is today. It's quite amazing. All those volunteers (and maybe a few paid staff here and there, but I've seen the IATA staff in action and the only people who work less are state workers) working together doing back-breaking work all in the hope that someday the Ice Age Trail will be completed. Being a part of something larger than you can be very satisfying. You don't have to work on the whole thing, all you have to do is work on your segment or region and when you combine all those segments you have something greater than the sum of its parts. That's the attitude I bring to my saunter, a single step will not complete the trail, but adding those thousands and thousands of steps together will complete the goal. All right, enough with the bloviating! Thanks for all the support! Here I go!