For my birthday last week a friend got me a copy of Where Less the Path is Worn, the hefty trail journal of M.J. Eberhart ("Nimblewill Nomad") and his incredible trek the entire length of the Eastern Continental Trail.

Huh?

The Eastern Continental Trail is a contrived long distance hiking route that connects Key West, Florida to the tip of Newfoundland.

You're kidding, right?

Nope. 5,000 miles and some change.

And Eberhart made the super-human trek over the course of 347 days in 2000-2001.

Wow!

He began on the International Appalachian Trail (IAT) at Cap Gaspe in Quebec. Hiked south to Maine and picked up the Appalachian Trail. Thru-hiked the entire 2,150-mile AT to Georgia. Then proceeded to follow the Benton McKaye Trail and Georgia-Pinhoti Trail into Alabama. Onto the Alabama Trail to connect up with the 1,000 mile long Florida Trail. And then completed this montrous hike by walking the length of the Florida Keys to Key West. He returned north to Newfoundland the following year to complete the Appalachian Mountain range through Newfoundland.

Unbelievable. I'm out of breath simply typing it all out!

Amazing.

Not only is Eberhart is an extraordinary hiker (this is his second such hike, this time including Newfoundland and the Florida Keys, too), he's quite a character and tells a pretty damn good story too.

I've only gone a short distance (and a few pages) down the trail with him, but I just know it's going to be a fun and pleasant journey.

But this is not my first exposure to M.J. "Eb" Eberhart.

I've had the pleasure of meeting Eb face-to-face twice now. First, by arrangement, here in Portland in 1998. And a couple of years later, in 2001, a chance meeting to the great surprise of both of us, at remote Gooch Gap shelter along the AT in northern Georgia.

I just love the guy, and very much admire and respect him not only for what he's accomplished, but for the style in which he's done it. He is a gracious and modest man.

I can't wait to get on with the book and follow his trail travels the length of the Eastern Seaboard.

Hope you'll pick up a copy and join me!
__________

Just for yucks, I dug up my impressions of that first meeting with Eb in Portland in late October 1998, immediately after he completed his first big hike. I thought you might enjoy it:

I got a call the other day from Dick Anderson, former Maine Conservation Commissioner and now President of the Maine Chapter of the International Appalachian Trail.

"We're having a get together downtown after work on Friday," he says. "Going to have a little celebration for a guy who just finished thru-hiking the IAT."

Sounds great, I think to myself.

"And we're going to have an international selection of beers from Maine, New Brunswick, and Quebec."

Even better.

"I'll be there!"

While we wait in Dick's office for our guest of honor to arrive, a small crowd begins to gather. Dick regales us with news of the International Appalachian Trail—a big picture of the IAT is projected onto the wall—and of the accomplishments of one M. J. Eberhart, the second person ever to have hiked the entire IAT. I learn that not only did Eberhart hike the IAT, but all of the Appalachian Trail, and the Florida Trail to boot.

Yes, that's right.

"Eb" started on January 1, 1998 in the Florida Everglades and hiked north through the Appalachian Mountains to Mount Katahdin, then on to Land's End at the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula on the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. He finished the third week of October—after 287 days and more than 4,200 miles of hiking.

Whew!

The story got even better when I learned that Eb is 60 years old!

Amazing.

Still awaiting our guest, and trying to comprehend this grand human feat, I feel compelled to sample ales from both sides of the border. Can't offend our Canadian neighbors, after all.

Finally, Eb appears through the door, fully clad in hiking garb, pack on his back, hiking sticks in hand. He has that lean and mean thru-hiker build, earned through months of sweat and toil up and over hundreds of mountains. His hair is gray and shoulder length, his beard long and shaggy. A broad smile beams across his face. He looks every bit a man who has seen and experienced things that only a long distance hiker can.

At once he is right there among us, talking with us, reciting woodsy poetry, and preaching the glories of journeying along the IAT, the AT, the Appalachians—hands waving, fingers pointing and feet stomping.

I notice a familiar look in Eb's eyes. I know that look. I have seen it in the faces of other thru-hikers, have seen it in my own mirror. It is a look of distance—of far away summits, lonely trails, deep forests. He is back from the trail, yes, but he will never fully return. Changed forever by an experience that is almost unfathomable to most of us, he cannot return entirely. It is the direct result of great adventure, and both a curse and a blessing.

My hat is off to you Nimblewill Nomad (his trail name). Thank you for sharing your incredible odyssey with us. Thank you for your inspiration. You are living proof that life is, indeed, the greatest adventure.
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The Spirits of Sagamook
by Nimblewill Nomad

The summit of ol' Sagamook,
Isn't all that high,
But, as I climb, I pass right through the sky.

And as I part this sanctity,
A bit of me will stay. To rest in God's eternal peace,
That's present here today.

Eb, you rock!