Last winter, we received an email from M’Lynn Markel. Her late husband, Paul, had a dream to hike the Appalachian Trail. He never made it to the AT–but, M’Lynn thought, maybe his boots could?
Maybe they could serve as a reminder for all of us to live our dreams while we can. Maybe they could go one step further and literally pull someone off the couch and onto the trail.
We asked you, our community, to help us make that dream a reality. More than 400 emails poured in, from seasoned thru-hikers to first-time backpackers. We heard a resounding, ‘Let me know how I can help’. We knew we were part of an incredible community, but damn. We’re floored.
Today, we bring you an update on the journey the boots have made over the past nine months, introduce you to some of the hikers who carried Paul’s boots and hear M’Lynn’s reaction.
Listen to the first Paul’s Boots episode.
Transcript
Back in January we asked you all a favor. We want to get Paul’s boots down the entirety of the Appalachian Trail.
We need your help.
What we’re going to do is put together an Olympic Torch style relay of people to wear or carry Paul’s boots down the AT.
If you’re planning to hike the AT this year, if you’ve ever thought of hiking a part of the AT, even if this is the first time you’ve ever heard of the Appalachian Trail, let’s make this happen.
Drop us a line. Hit us up on social media. Send an email. Give us a call. Let us know. Let’s make this happen together.
Quotes From Paul’s Protectors Submission:
My father is turning 70 this year and the thought of losing him at this stage in my life is very, very difficult. There are many things I want him to see me do before he’s gone, like walk me down the aisle at my wedding, or seeing my future children and teaching them the same things he taught me.
A little over 6 years ago I rescued a puppy from Arkansas, with his inspiration I was able to finally quite smoking, lose about 15 pounds and rediscover my love of hiking. I was devastated to lose him to cancer at just 4 years old.
He might not be able to see those things happen, which would be sad.
I stopped hiking for a bit, and even though I got another dog I couldn’t quite get my moo back.
Hiking a portion of the Appalachian Trail along with accomplishing a bigger task than myself carrying Paul’s boots would be extraordinary to have him with us.
Paul’s boots hitting the trail is what I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself.
I need to do this. My original story was one of desperation and depression. I was lost and sad so I took my four kids and I headed out.
I am a REI employee and an avid backpacker my story involves lost faith, lost friends and a layout that nearly crushed me.
My daughters became the first Chinese born persons to through hike the HA.
I’m training for a through hike with my son in 2019 to celebrate his high school graduation. When he thinks of me, he’ll have 2100 miles of memories.
It changed our lives and saved us.
I’m writing this application on behalf of my boyfriend Doug Beleskey. Doug has contemplated hiking the AT for sometime now. Like Paul, Doug is the type of person who inherently prioritizes others above himself.
I don’t have a miraculous story, I’m 51 years old, a physician’s assistant and have been a single mom my whole life.
I was an outdoor educator for more than a decade, but eventually found myself in a corner office on the 35th floor of the Empire State Building.
Now that daughter is old enough to stay home alone, I’ve decided it’s time to start living out my dream an passion for hiking one step at a time.
I like to hike with my husband, who returns from deployment in Afghanistan in June.
My hope is that if Doug gets elected to hike with Paul’s boots he will do is exactly what M’Lynn is hoping for he will get off his ass and finally commit to hiking part of the AT.
I know what these boots will do for Paul’s family. The generous culture of the trail will become apparent and help in their healing just like it did for my family.
Anyway I can help to make Paul’s journey a success and M’Lynn’s dream a reality, please let me know. It would be an honor.
Let me know how I can help.
I’d be happy to fill in any gaps along the trail, wherever I’m needed.
We have always known that we belong to an incredible community, but damn really guys that was incredible.
You made us laugh. You made us cry. You exceeded our expectations in every way possible.
All told over 400 of you wrote to say you wanted to carry these boots to help Paul live out his dream to hike the Appalachian Trail. We were floored.
REI stepped forward to make sure we had the ability to make this happen, with more than just funding. When we had an issue, they helped us fix it. They even loaned up man power to help us sift through all of the responses. Thanks Anders, you’re the man.
Everybody worked to make this happen as a community and it was plain awesome.
Mid January the postman showed up at the duct tape and beer office. He was carrying three very large shoe sized boxes with an Australian return address.
The boots first hit the trail on March 23rd.
Quotes From Paul’s Protectors On Trail
All right, whenever you’re ready.
I was born ready Bro.
All right, we’ve got Paul strapped to my back. We’re going to do this.
Paul’s boots going into West Virginia here we go.
Hey guys it’s Daddy Long-legs and Paul here.
We’ve got some good views this morning Paul. What do you think of that man?
We’ve got about a 30 mile day ahead of us. I don’t know if you’re up for it, but you don’t get a choice.
WooHoo!
We’re getting up to the Grayson Highlands today, which ….
Ponies!
Mason Dixon Line underwhelming sign in the woods.
It’s noon and it’s freezing cold. I can’t feel my fingers right now, but we just got some trail magic.
We get to go through the guillotine. They call it the guillotine because as you can see this rock is just lodged. If it decided to drop, right now well Paul maybe somebody would be carrying my boots one day.
We got to the War Correspondents Memorial Arch just before we started getting pissed on again.
Mt. Washington we made it! Woohoo!
Guess where we are? We are at Fontana Dam, we made it! Me and Paul made it.
If I could tell M’Lynn one thing right now, I’d say thank you for sharing Paul’s story and his dream with the rest of the world. The AT community loves Paul and they’re very glad he’s out here hiking the trail.
Three pairs of boots have bounced around from one section of trail to another for the last five months. Forty people from age 8 to 70 have helped carry Paul’s boots through every state on the AT. As the boots started getting closer to the end of the trail, we realized that something was missing.
When we first talked to M’Lynn about this project we asked if she would be a part of it. To meet the hikers, to see the boots on the trail.
She refused flatly. She didn’t think her health would allow her to make the long haul flight from Australia. She hadn’t returned to the States in 18 years.
But as the letters and the photographs and the videos from the trail began to flood in, she had a change of heart.
M’Lynn: I went to my doctors and I said, “You have to help me make this happen, because I’m not staying home. I’m going to the U.S. I have to do this.”
At the end of August M’Lynn arrived in Maine with Paul’s brother Arthur. Arthur hoped to hike a pair of the boots in the final stretch of the AT to the top of Mount Katahdin, but in the spirit of the project Arthur was not alone on the trail. David King and his kids, Mariah and Michael, carried another pair of boots toward the northern end of the trail. Duct Tape and Beer sent Fitz and Isaiah to provide cameras and company.
Fitz Cahall: And Thomas Gatmen, AKA Java, AKA The Real Hiking Viking our first hiker to carry Paul’s boots on the AT left the PCT to finish the last section of the AT he hadn’t completed yet. Here’s Thomas.
Fitz Cahall: Where are we going? Well, we’re going to Mount Katahdin. The northern termanice of the Appalachian Trail and our objective, our goal, the mission, this whole project mission comes to a head and we try to assault the top of the mountain to finish the objective. Get Paul to the top, the end of the trail.
M’Lynn: I wish I could have been there at the end of everybody’s trail. I wish I could have been there to get the boots from everybody as they brought them in. I wish I could have hiked part of the trail. I wish I could have hiked all of the trail, but my health isn’t going to let me do that. So I’m just really grateful for the time I did get out there. I at least got to get to the base of Katahdin. I at least got to put my feet on the ground and hug people as they came off.
Fitz Cahall: What’s it been like knowing that 450 people volunteered to take these boots and like 28 people ended up carrying them? How does that make you feel? How did you react knowing how many people reached out to help realize your wish?
M’Lynn: I am in awe of the number of people who have become involved with this. They’ve seen his boots. They’ve carried his boots around as if the boots were actually him. They’ve taken him to dinner. They’ve introduced him to friends. They’ve taken photos as if he’s still in them, in the boots. I watch the amount of fun that people are having with his boots, it blows me away the number of people who have said to me, “Oh those are Paul’s boots,” just from out of nowhere. The fact that my Australian husband’s hiking boots are so recognizable on the Appalachian Trail right now, that’s mind blowing to me. The hikers are just incredible, all of them.
Fitz Cahall: What do you want to say to those hikers? What do you want to say?
M’Lynn: Oh, I want to say absolutely each, and first of all I want to hug each and everyone of them I really do. I want to give each one of them the biggest hug ever. I want them each to know I am so grateful for taking part, for taking good care of my husband’s boots, for taking such good care of me out on the trail. I want them to know that I appreciate their efforts. I know from watching how hard that trail is, that I know each one of them gets the whole point of the boots that they’ve treated them with respect. I can’t use the word “appreciate” enough.
It’s just been incredible, it’s just been a magnificent experience for me.
Fitz Cahall: Thank you for making this trip.
M’Lynn: Thank you for making it happen. Really.
Fitz Cahall: Coolest project I’ve ever worked on. Wish I didn’t have to work on it.
M’Lynn: I know.
Fitz Cahall: That’s what I say all of them time.
M’Lynn: I know.
Fitz Cahall: I think that there was never any illusion that we could make things right with what has happened. I heard in your letter the ability to make things right in other’s lives …
M’Lynn: Yep.
Fitz Cahall: And I think that we’ve done that.
M’Lynn: They’re not just boots anymore and they’re not just my husband’s boots anymore. They’re just a whole new thing. There’s always going to be another dish to wash, or a bed to make or laundry to do but your time with people is short and it’s limited. Our time here is limited and I lost sight of that with Paul. We both did. So yeah if I could say anything to anybody on following your dreams, it’s really important to get out there and do the stuff that feeds your soul, that feeds your brain, that makes you feel this is what life is all about. I think that’s the thing that I always saw in everyone of the campers faces in everyone of the photos is that kind of flush that you get, that pink cheek flush that you get when you’re out there doing something you really love doing. That’s important.
Fitz Cahall: Is there anything else that you want to say M’Lynn?
M’Lynn: Never underestimate the power of a letter. All I did was write a letter and there are so many times we don’t write those letters. We don’t reach out. We don’t ask for help. We need to because it’s that one little letter that reaches somebody, that reaches somebody else, that reaches somebody else that starts the ball rolling to make things happen.
Fitz Cahall: So if you don’t know we have also spent the last nine months working on making a film about this project. We are in the midst of editing, it’s crazy it’s coming out in a few weeks so keep your eyes out on social media. Keep your ears peeled. The film launches October 10th, check it out at REI.com. I know we said this before but this project would truly not have been possible without the incredible support of REI. From the moment we came to them with M’Lynn’s first letter they stepped up and asked how they could help. We truly couldn’t ask for a better partner to make this happen. A huge thanks to M’Lynn, to everyone of the hikers and to everyone who volunteered to help make this project a reality. We all help each other achieve dreams. Thank you so much for helping us achieve ours.
Head to Paul’s Boots for more information about the film.
Happy hiking. #PaulWalksOn