I met a man at The Cabin named Michael McLaughlin. He goes by Standing Bear. He is 31 years old. We sat next to each other at dinner and we exchanged stories, me telling about my last year and then hiking in Maine, him telling about hiking to Maine from Georgia, and about how his wife joined him for a section of the trail. He is a Certified Public Accountant and lives in St. Louis, but grew up in Chicago. He is afraid of heights and was not a hiker before this trip, so I asked him about his motivation for hiking. He is hiking the entire Appalachian Trail, as well as the Ozarks Trail, to raise awareness of and money for kids who have been abused or neglected by their parents. His message to the kids is that they didn't choose to be in their situation, but they can choose how to move forward. Michael was a foster kid in Chicago when he was a teenager. Now he works with The Family Resource Center in St. Louis and regularly talks with kids there. He was cool. He is keeping a trail journal blog, and I read the whole thing in one sitting the day after I met him. He is a talented writer and made me laugh with many of his entries; I would recommend checking it out.
You can find his website here and his blog here.
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