Appalachian Trail Hike by Chapter24

Kyle and Claudia grew up together and to others they might seem like good friends. But sometimes friendship only goes one way. He was very tall and muscular, the better to bully other guys and his numerous girlfriends too. He was very good looking and charming when meeting a new potential conquest. This helped him get into a new girlfriend’s pants quickly, so he could quickly dump her after he grew bored of her, moving onto the next girl. He was actually fairly smart, but he was lazy with his schoolwork and spent most of his time on sports teams, chasing girls and hanging out with his equally obnoxious friends.

Claudia was a very petite and shy girl, who was very smart and very kind, but she had one fault. She was totally enamored of Kyle and dreamed of him being her boyfriend, and hopefully someday her husband. Claudia was a good friend to Kyle, helping him with his homework and anything else he asked her to do, like drive him in her car, since he was too lazy to get a driver’s license.

She tried to do anything to please him and get him to notice her, but he would just treat her like one of the guys. She would even try to hint around that she wanted to be more than just a friend to him, but he never picked up on it, since he was oblivious to subtlety. She even listened to him talk about his girlfriends and every time he broke up with one he would describe to Claudia why it was the girl’s fault, and expect her sympathy.

Kyle was from a wealthy local family who owned a small manufacturing company. Kyle’s parents, George and Melinda really liked Claudia and wished Kyle would take a romantic interest in her but were concerned about his track record of manipulating women to just get what he wanted, then break their heart. Many women were attracted to his “bad boy” reputation and thought they could change him, but they were all unsuccessful.

Kyle and Claudia were graduating college that spring, and George and Melinda were going to have Kyle join the company, but they also wanted Claudia to join, as they knew she was very smart and ambitious. Claudia was not into team sports, as she preferred more solitary sports such as running, weightlifting and other sports that challenged not just the body, but also the mind. They met with Kyle and Claudia in February to discuss their future plans.

“We are so happy you are going to both be joining our company,” George said cheerfully. “We know that you and Claudia will be a great asset to the company. What is your schedule for graduating and when can you start?”

Kyle replied, “we are completing the semester in May, but I want to spend the summer with my friends, so I don’t want to start until September.”

Claudia answered, “I have always loved hiking and it is my dream to hike the Appalachian Trail by myself, so it is more of a challenge. I know I probably can’t complete the whole trail but would like to try to complete as much as I can between May and Labor Day, but I can start work right after that.”

George looked at her with concern. “I think that is an admirable goal, but it might be dangerous for you to hike alone.”

Claudia was only 5’-1” tall and barely weighed 100 pounds, but her body was solid muscle from her exercise program, not that Kyle even noticed her body and how buff she was. She had somewhat small but actual real breasts, so she was automatically disqualified to be one of Kyle’s bimbo girlfriends, who usually had fake boobs and would never stay in less than a five-star hotel, forget about hiking or any type of sports.

“Kyle, you should be Claudia’s ‘trail buddy,’ so you can help her with the gear and provide her protection.” Kyle looked at his parents with a pout on his face.

“But I am planning to spend the summer with my buddies. Claudia can do this alone. She doesn’t need any help.”

Melinda looked at Kyle with consternation. “Claudia has always helped you and how would you know if she ever needed help? You’ve never once asked her. This is not a request, this is a requirement for employment here, as it will build your character, and heaven knows you need some character building.”

Claudia looked down and her face turned bright red. Kyle looked at her with disgust, blaming her for wanting to spend the summer hiking, and giving his parents the idea that he should accompany her on her quest.

“Okay, I guess I don’t have a choice. Maybe I’ll meet some hot girls on the trail or some guys I can hang around with and drink.”

George looked at Kyle with a quizzical look and realized how clueless he was. “Kyle, I don’t think the cheerleader types you date go hiking and guys who hike the AT aren’t usually the partying type. Alcohol also adds unnecessary weight to your backpack.”

Kyle looked for another way out. “Claudia doesn’t have any money. How is she going to pay for her half of the expenses? We will need to get food along the way, and sometimes hotel rooms to shower.”

Melinda grinned at him. “We will pay all of the costs. It will be like a signing bonus for Claudia. There will be no more discussion about this.”

Claudia was beaming inside. Maybe she could get close to Kyle and he would become attracted to her on the long hike. She was a beautiful girl, but wore very plain clothes, with no makeup; a ‘girl next door’ type. She was the type of girl you would see on the cover of a hiking magazine, standing next to a practical car that could carry a lot of outdoor gear. Claudia was a virgin but hoped by the end of the trip Kyle would change that. She planned to get on birth control before they left for the trip.

Kyle was steaming inside. He couldn’t believe he was stuck with Claudia all summer, doing an activity that he thought was only for nerdy ‘save the environment’ types. He begrudgingly started planning the trip with Claudia.

Right after college ended, they started their hike on the Appalachian Trail in Georgia, heading North. On the first day Claudia giggled, “Kyle it is a tradition for hikers to have trail names.”

“Why do they do that?”

“The tradition actually started on the Appalachian Trail. So many people were hiking it and it was easier to keep people straight if they were called by a nickname specific to them. Most hikers feel that their trail name says something about their personality or history that their given name doesn’t describe. What do you think our trail names should be?”

Kyle looked at her for brief moment and slyly answered, “well you are kind of small and mousy looking, so maybe you should be called Mouse.”

Claudia found the name kind of insulting but didn’t care. She had Kyle with her and was happy, so it didn’t matter to her what he called her. “Okay, but what trail name do you think you should use?”

“Well people think I am a pretty cool cat. Maybe I should call myself Cat. You better be careful, maybe the Cat will eat the Mouse on this trip.”

She found this comment kind of odd. Maybe there would be romance on this trip or maybe he was just trying to funny?

“Claudia, how many miles per day do we need to hike?”

“Most hikers hike 8 – 10 miles each day at the beginning of their hike, then slowly work up to 12 – 16 miles per day. Most hikers will eventually do 20 – 25 miles on some days.”

Kyle looked at her with a smugness and undeserved self-confidence. “That sounds pretty easy. I do a lot running and weightlifting like you, but I am much bigger than you, so I will help push you along so we can get this stupid trip done more quickly.”

Kyle had no idea what he was talking about. Running or walking on flat ground is not the same as hiking up and down steep and rocky mountain trails. Also, big guys like Kyle need more calories every day and often have short term strength and speed, but not long-term endurance. Kyle lifted heavy weights with few repetitions per set and did short interval runs at high speed. Claudia lifted light weights, but with many repetitions per set, and she did long slow runs to build great endurance.

When they started their journey, Kyle saw how Claudia’s backpack was almost as large as her and her body was dwarfed by it.

“Claudia how are you going to carry that backpack on such a long hike every day? I might have to help you keep up the pace and even carry your pack sometimes.”

“I will be fine Kyle. I joined a hiking club and have been doing some day hikes to get ready.”

He shook his head in disbelief, but with her lightweight shorts and sleeveless top he noticed for the first time how lean she was, with muscular calves and thighs and sinewy arms and shoulders. She actually looked kind of cute to him in a little sister kind of way because she wasn’t really her type. He still looked at her as a convenient friend he could dominate, and he had no ability to appreciate her for her kindness.

They started their hike and had brought small one person tents. Kyle was exhausted by the end of each day and constantly complained of muscle cramps and that he didn’t have enough food to eat to avoid being ravenously hungry. Claudia had no problems hiking many miles per day and actually took the lead. He had trouble keeping up with her pace and the total miles of hiking per day. She was so considerate that she even gave him some of her food rations so he wouldn’t be hungry, while she was willing to be a little hungry every day in order to help Kyle.

He started feeling a little guilty about it, but never refused her help. He was also clumsy trying to handle the gear and setting up and breaking camp, so she did the bulk of that work too. Sometimes they were able to use one of the shelters that had been built along the trail for hikers. The shelters only had wooden bunk beds. He always whined about how uncomfortable the beds were with just sleeping bags to cushion them.