Overview

Hike to Alive strives to capture and share a childhood stricken with trauma, transforming wounded brokenness by physical and sexual abuse into a lifetime healing journey. This is an extraordinary 10-year section hike on the 2090-mile Appalachian Trail running from Maine to Georgia.Seeds of this journey began when the author was 3, and his father lifted him to the bedroom window in the dark of night and said: ""Look at the full moon reflection on the water. See the sturgeon jump out of the moon and splash back into the river."" That early experience planted unsprouted ""soul seeds"" within his son. When the ""seeds"" began to break out of their skin, they eventually led to a firm conviction that ""All Life is Sacred,"" which in turn led to the telling of this amazing transformative tale. The story begins on the challenging knife edge where the ""green"" hiker has a panic attack and falls between four chunks of granite as if a tomb: ""Is this my time to die?"" he asks himself. Sensing a presence above him, he sees a Crow almost within reach. They engage each other's eyes. Crow touches him and feels different inside. The experience is beautifully mysterious. When our hiker gets out of his ""tomb"", he feels reborn and dances to the summit void of fear. This military and seminary-trained hiker found himself discovering ""How signs, symbols, meanings of Human nature and Animal nature are connected...is hard to say.'""Joined by a seminary classmate annually, these two mid-life men create a strong, trusting relationship that continues today. Each one has their own story. Each one is a Witness to the other Divine Mystery as the natural and ineffable worlds illumine individuals but different journeys together. This Epic Poem grounds the author/poet's understanding of the interplay between human and natural world psychodynamics and relationships.The enclosed poems combine to express struggle, pain, friendship, and joyful triumph. They reflect spiritual depth, walking with God in the extraordinary power of creation.From an airplane window, he sees the Appalachian ridgeline in the distance. He writes: ""That ridgeline holds my AT story.I'm finished!Melancholy? Yes.I soar in Glory!

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Rev. Dr. Gary E. Wehrwein is a retired ordained United Church of Christ minister. He lives in Keene, NH and Denia, Spain with his wife, Pilar. Their family is blended. Some family live in other parts of the world. Gary is a former pastor of rural churches in Vt and NH. His doctoral training led him to become a Licensed Clinical Pastoral Psychotherapist with Maps Counseling Service. There, he served as Clinical Director. His professional service included Hospice Chaplaincy, Community Counselor at a life-care center, and various consultancies with area churches.Gary cares for and restores land. Stone wall building and restoration, brush clearing, selective tree thinning, bringing back over-grown fields, and a blueberry patch. Making new space for new gardens are all part of his commitment to care for the earth on which he lives.Wehrwein now writes poetry. Gary and Pilar have hiked many New England trails including all NH 4000' footers. The Camino de Santiago in Spain, Camino de Inca in Peru, and other trails in North and South America are on their ""finished"" list.

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