The Big C -- The plan -- The narrow path -- The narrow way -- My new life -- A cold, rainy, miserable mess -- Butterflies -- The smoky mountains -- Let's go left -- Words have meaning -- Instead, I'm happy -- Choices and consequences -- It is what it is -- Chasing dreams -- The storm -- Pilgrim's progress -- Summer solstice -- The pharmacy shelter -- Kindness and courage -- The path to freedom -- Golden days -- The white mountains -- The Maine event -- Trials and tears.

After Paul Stutzman lost his wife to breast cancer, he sensed a tug on his heart-the call to a challenge, the call to pursue a dream. Paul left his stable career, traveled to Georgia, and took his first steps on the Appalachian Trail. What he learned during the next four and a half months changed his life-and will change readers' lives as well. In Hiking Through, readers will join Paul on his remarkable 2,176-mile hike through fourteen states in search of peace and a renewed sense of purpose, meeting fascinating and funny people along the way. They'll discover that every choice we make along the path has consequences for the journey and will come away with a new understanding of God's grace and guidance. Nature-lovers, armchair adventurers, and those grieving a loss may not be able to hike the AT themselves, but they can go on this spiritual pilgrimage with a truly humble and sympathetic guide.