Trail: Appalachian Trail     Goal: 2200 Miles

Dates: Jun 15 2019 - Nov 15 2019

If you've found yourself here, then for one reason or another you have decided to read a little bit about me and my journey through the Appalachian Trail. My name is Eric Bastidas and I plan on Southbound hiking the AT starting early June ... more

If you've found yourself here, then for one reason or another you have decided to read a little bit about me and my journey through the Appalachian Trail. My name is Eric Bastidas and I plan on Southbound hiking the AT starting early June 2019 directly after graduating from the University of Maine. I double majored in Zoology and Wildlife Ecology so it's very clear that I love being outdoors and enjoy nature thoroughly. The very first time I heard about the AT I had already made up my mind that I would be eventually be doing it in its entirety. During my senior year of high school, I was emergency diagnosed with a JPA (juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma) brain tumor (benign) which was causing hydrocephalus, or spinal fluid buildup in the brain. Even though this was very unexpected and made my senior year of high school even more difficult than it already was, the whole experience taught me a lot about the type of person that I am and how I would like to live my life. A very humbling experience to have overall. Why would anyone live their life doing things that they don't want to do? What a waste of time. While recovering from my two surgeries, I knew that I didn't want to give up on any of my goals no matter what happened (shout out to Dr. Post for giving me the OK to go skydiving, which was AMAZING). Thankfully I recovered completely from the surgeries with no side effects thanks to all of the amazing medical developments made in these types of surgeries, and the talented doctors, nurses, and medical staff. I decided to dedicate the majority of my hike to the National Brain Tumor Society because I would like to give back to the medical community that provided me with the treatments that I needed to continue to live how I would like to. Hopefully with my small contributions I can help another person reach the goals and dreams that they have set for themselves with the time that they have in their lifetime, regardless of how long that is. Although four fifths of the hike will be donated to the National Brain Tumor Society, I have also decided to donate one fifth of the donations to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy to aid in trail maintenance which would allow for future generations to be able to enjoy the trail just as I will. Any donation of any size would be hugely appreciated and would give me even more motivation to continue on this life changing journey. less

Erin Marzella

Jul 17 2019 12:31AM

Lisa Bandler

Jul 10 2019 05:26AM