I saw this bingo card the other day for thru hikers. It’s funny because it’s true. It’s not like the weather, when you talk about a long hike there is almost zero potential common ground and most folks will vacillate between disbelief and an uninformed attempt at humor.

But then there are those that want to know the “Why?” of it. Why do you want to hike thousands of miles? What possible motive could you have for doing something like this given modernity’s many comforts and conveniences. I...