Sharing the hero's journey: blog posts from the Appalachian Trail.

Abstract This chapter focuses on a hiking choice that, like the hero's journey, embraces difficulty. The researchers studied online blogs posted by thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail (the AT). The term thru-hike describes a typically long-distance hike that traverses an acknowledged 'trail' from end-to-end. Thru-hiking the 2190 mile (3525 km) AT requires months of planning and effort and thousands of dollars to pay for related expenses. More than that, participants expect to undergo extensive physical and emotional hardship. The trail is challenging, often dangerous and fraught with uncertainty. It demands much of its participants, yet hikers are both willing and even eager to undertake those demands. Over 2000 hikers attempt a thru-hike on the AT annually (Littlefield and Siudzinski, 2012).