I think almost every thru hiker, especially if they have more than one long trail under their feet, have moments of wondering why they continue on. There are days of inclement weather when it is physically painful to be outside. Sometimes rocky, wet or scary trail conditions make hikers wonder why they’re bothering. Loneliness is another factor causing hikers to think about quitting.

I have a motto never to quit on a bad day. I’ve hiked enough to know that eventually a better day is apt to come. When that day arrives, if I still want to quit, I’ll think about throwing in the towel. But first I might take a day or two off and look for ways to change the way I’m hiking, which usually means lightening the load I carry. Even if I do eventually quit, which only happened once for me in 20,000 miles of backpacking, I’d rather endure a few extra uncomfortable days than know I quit something I wanted to do before I really gave it my all.

I was surprised recently to learn that the tipping point is not 51%. According Malcolm Gladwell, when 1/3 of a group of people believe a certain way, group dynamics start to shift. Learning this gave me hope for today’s world.

In his book Revenge of the Tipping Point, Gladwell gives a number of examples in which one person’s actions created a ripple effect that eventually had huge impacts in things such as number of opioid deaths in a given state, acknowledgement that the Holocaust happened and acceptance of gay marriage.

It might seem that the tipping point for quitting the Florida Trail would have come when I first broke my foot. But ironically, in order to keep myself from despair I leaned into the situation. I could not change the facts and took it on as a new challenge. I had not been looking forward to the long, paved road walks the Florida trail has. Yet after I broke my foot I almost looked forward to those road walks. I knew I could do them on crutches because I had hiked a paved road walk on the CDT in the great basin of Wyoming on crutches. Seeing the road walks as a challenge to do on crutches, left me motivated and inspired to continue on. Once I had done 25 miles of pavement on crutches, I was quite sure I could continue on the off pavement sections. While it was difficult and exhausting at times I did not think of quitting.

It was only much later on when I was struggling to coordinate the shuttles that I began to think about quitting. I had gotten used to hiking with crutches and my upper body felt incredibly strong. But my right SI joint and lower back were beginning to hurt, causing me to give up the crutches a little sooner than I wanted to. For about 200 miles I hiked with pain in both my foot and back, struggling every day to find the shuttles I needed. At the end of each day I returned to my car exhausted and hungry, but with no motivation to pull out my stove and cook. I was seldom eating a good meal and that is when I came close to the tipping point of quitting.

I took a day off and the Trail provided. I lucked into a cancellation with a chiropractor near White Springs. Years ago he had competed in the decathlon in the Olympics, so he understood my drive to find a way to hike the Florida Trail with a broken foot. He spent over an hour with me, working on my body, taping my foot and giving me exercises to stretch and strengthen the muscles in my legs.

I made a point of spending what little money I had to buy premade food. I also was blessed to encounter some trail angels who provided food for me. Being in places with electricity made it easier for me to look more in-depth at the trail. I saw a few high water routes I could take around some of the more difficult swamp areas, allowing me to connect my steps on the Florida Trail without struggling to get through water that was up to my chin after a large rainstorm.

I reminded myself on the hard days to look around and focus on things I was grateful for. Every time I was able to take some pain-free steps, I celebrated, reminding myself of other injuries I’ve had and the slow healing process that some of then took. Eventually I noticed I was able to walk for most of the day without being focused on pain in my body. I began to walk with a more normal heel-to-toe gait. I still had to be careful not to overdo it, but I could tell that improvement was really happening.

A major tipping point for me occured when I got beyond Bradwell Bay, which is a section some hikers think is harder than the swamps in the Everglades. I passed a few enjoyable days hiking with Trail Angel Liz Sparks, who not only shuttled me, but also invited me to her house one night and then walked with me for two more days, camping with me for a night at Camel Lake.

I had a lovely stay at the Hillcrest Baptist Church, arriving on a night a fundraising church dinner was happening. I and the three other hikers there were treated to a delicious dinner and given leftovers to eat later on. From the church, I finished up another extensive road walk and connected with Christina and Ken Doucette, who I had first met at the Florida Trail Fest. They had done the same Suwanee River paddle I had done and told me when I got further up in the panhandle, they would be able to help. I was thrilled when they offered to help me for multiple days along a 50 plus mile stretch of trail through the lovely Ecofina and Pine Log sections of trail. I also was shuttled and hiked some by Gaia, who I met when we both hiked the Continental Divide Trail a few years back.

The seesaw really tipped when I met Trail Angels Deb Hazen and her partner Tommie Gipson. Deb had been cheering me on through Facebook for many many miles. I was happy to finally meet her. She told me she could take me about 100 miles up the trail and then possibly connect me with other Trail Angels. After staying with her for a few days, she informed me that she and Tommie had decided they could take me all the way through to the end. Deb looked at the Trail app and figured out places each day where I could park my car to have them shuttle me around each day. And when the shuttles were too long, she figured where they could drop me and pick me up at the end of the day. They helped me navigate the confusion of Eglin Air Force Base, which is the largest Air Force Base in the country. After watching a few videos and signing up for an online account, thru hikers are allowed to get a weeklong pass to walk the FloridaTrail through the base, but they need to check every day on what’s known as a PAM map to make sure the sections of trail they’re going through aren’t closed that day due to practice military operations.

I still have a week of about 15 mile days to hike in order to finish the trail but I no longer wonder if I’ll continue. I’ve crossed a major tipping point. If I had to, I would even go back to walking on crutches in order to get to the end!

While it was Deb and Tommie who pushed me over the tipping point, I know every single person who has helped me on this trail has contributed to tipping the scales in my favor. Thanks to the accumulation of kindness, I no longer think about quitting as a possibility. I hope I can always remember to choose kindness even when it seems like a small and insignificant gesture, because I know how each meal, every shuttle and all words of encouragement have helped me do something a lot of people thought was not possible.

When enough people, motivated by kindness, pull together for a common cause great things can and do happen.

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