It’s a trait (some would say a flaw) inherent in human nature. We want to push our bodies, souls, and minds farther than they’ve ever been pushed. We’re driven to test boundaries and break rules, particularly those we’ve set up for ourselves. It’s that drive that has led countless men and women up Mount Everest’s peaks and across the frigid English Channel.

It’s that drive that led Dwight “Ike” Stevenson to northern Georgia’s Amicalola Falls State Park in February 2007, determined to hike the Appalachian Trail…all 2,174 miles of it.

Fewer than 10,000 people have completed this feat—to hike the trail, from Amicalola Falls to Mount Katahdin in Maine’s Baxter State Park—since 1936. Fewer still are the number of “thru-hikers,” ambitious sorts who made the 14-state journey in a single attempt. That’s the sort of challenge Stevenson had in mind.

Raised in Van but now residing in Ocala, Florida, Stevenson wasn’t exactly what you’d call a “mountain man.” He never spent much time in the woods growing up, he never hunted.

His outdoor adventures were limited to fishing (he frequented the Greenbrier and New Rivers) and catching night crawlers and horny heads by the railroad tracks as a kid.

Still, Stevenson likes a challenge, and as a veteran runner with two Boston Marathons under his belt (and another coming up in 2009), challenges are nothing new. So, inspired by a trip to the Grand Tetons with his wife, Lynn, a visit to his hiker nephew-in-law in Idaho, and a running buddy who had already hiked the Appalachian Trail, Stevenson went to a local Bass Pro Shop and geared up.

With the wrong gear.

Unlike camping gear, hiking gear has to be extremely lightweight because everything—tent, food, maps, clothes, sleeping bag, and stove—has to be carried in a backpack and the heavier the backpack, the harder the hike.

The equipment Stevenson purchased was far too heavy to lug from Amicalola Falls all the way to Baxter State Park, in Maine. Unfortunately, he didn’t keep the receipt and had to repurchase everything.

“If you know anybody that needs some heavy hiking gear,” he now laughs, “let me know.”

Once properly equipped, Stevenson and his hiking partner “Caterpillar” (a handle given on the trail because of the way he inched his way along before he got his “trail legs”) headed to North Carolina and Northern Georgia to train and try out their newly-acquired gear.

He also made preparations at home.

In order to get enough time off to complete his hike, Stevenson, a model employee for over 14 years with only a handful of missed days to his name, knew he would have to quit his job and he knew he would need his wife’s approval.

“I told her a couple years ahead of time so it’d sink in gradually,” he said. It did sink in, and when it came time for Stevenson to leave, he had his wife’s blessing and cooperation. She would send care packages to her husband along the way, allowing him to replenish his food supply and keep some contact with the life-as-usual.

“There was a lot of work on her end as far as errands go, running to the post office and shipping the mail-drops and putting a lot of TLC in the packages, whether it be a letter or a picture or a special treat of some kind,“ he said.

So, with all things set in order, the 50-year-old set out on the adventure of his lifetime.

According to Stevenson, about 2,000 people attempt to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail every year, but 85 percent do not make it. About one-third drop out just 38 miles in at Neal’s Gap…where they find the first phone and hard road home. The admittedly stubborn Stevenson (known as “Cottontop” on the trail) was determined to be among that victorious 15 percent.

The first part of the journey went rather well for Stevenson and Caterpillar, though they were faced with extremely cold weather. The two spent many nights in sub-freezing temperatures, and on one particular February night in North Carolina, the mercury dipped to just 9 degrees.

“It’s not that bad,” Stevenson said, “It’s just cold when you have to get up and do your business in the morning. You dig your cat hole and you’ve just got to suck it up and go out and do it.”

To help guard against hypothermia, the men kept a dry change of clothes in their packs. They’d change when turning in after a long day of hiking and occasionally when they’d rest throughout the day, but the comfort didn’t last forever.

“You still have to put the wet [clothes] back on, no matter how cold they are,” Stevenson said.

As the seasons changed, so did the hike. Stevenson’s brother picked up the duo in Virginia for what Appalachian Trail hikers call a “zero day” at his mother’s house in Van. After eating little but Ramen noodles, instant mashed potatoes, and dehydrated pasta on the trail, the biscuits and gravy and vegetable soup served Cottontop and Caterpillar in Boone County were a welcome treat.

Stevenson counts the Mountain State as a favorite part of his trail experience for another reason as well.

Though only about four miles of the footpath are within West Virginia’s borders, Harper’s Ferry is the “psychological midpoint,” headquarters of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and a sight to see, according to Stevenson.

“It’s beautiful because it’s right there at the Potomac River and the Shenandoah where they come together, one of the most beautiful spots I saw,” he said.

By the time Stevenson and his partner hit New Hampshire, the hiking became significantly less pleasant again. They had come 1,800 miles from Amicalola Falls and were stepping high. “We thought we were invincible,” Stevenson said.

The two met a man on the trail who asked them which way they were headed. When they told the stranger they were headed for the White Mountains, he looked at the hikers and said bluntly, ‘Your life is about to change.’

“He was right,” Stevenson said. “We pretty much got body-slammed when we got to New Hampshire. We had to change our hiking approach completely.”

In the South, mountain trails are feature switchbacks (the trails zigzag to help climbers ascend more easily). Now that they were in New England, Stevenson and Caterpillar found the terrain nearly vertical. The men had been averaging 20 miles a day up to that point. Now, they were hiking only 12.

It would only get worse. The two found the swampy, bog and root-ridden Green Mountains of Vermont even worse than their cousins in New Hampshire. Just over three thousand miles from their destination, the hikers considered giving up.

“For a while we were getting up in the morning asking ourselves ‘Why are we doing this?’” Stevenson said, adding, “But, I’m kinda stubborn.”

In Maine, the trail got even more painful, literally, for Stevenson. He tripped over some roots and fell forward onto his hiking poles, cracking a couple of his ribs.

“I took some Advil for about two weeks everyday just to get me through it,” he said. Though Cottontop and Caterpillar were drawing closer and closer to Baxter State Park, the journey was wearing on them.

Finally, on August 2, 2007, the two hikers reached their destination, the peak of Mount Katahdin—the trail’s northern terminus and the end of their odyssey.

Taking in the scenery that has made Mount Katahdin a thrilling last hurrah for hikers, Stevenson and his partner posed with the giant wooden sign that marked their completion of the Appalachian Trail. Despite all their trials and tribulations, they had finished it. The men parted ways, returning home to their wives and former lives.

Stevenson got his old job back and resumed life as usual…but that’s not exactly the way he wants it.

“I would love to quit right now and do it all over,” Stevenson said. “It’s very difficult and challenging but extremely rewarding. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t reflect back on the trail.”

“Looking back, I realize now that ‘wonderful,’ ‘difficult,’ and ‘unpleasant’ can be used in the same sentence. It was difficult and unpleasant at times, but I had a wonderful experience. I would definitely encourage anyone, if they can just quit their jobs, to go hike the Appalachian Trail from one end to the other,” he said.

Contact Staff Writer Zack Harold at 304-369-1165.