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The New Lenox Patriot | November 8, 2018 | 5
(10) trails less travelled in Nature Hike Challenge
According to one official
O’Connell spoke with about
getting a patch or some other
souvenir for his effort, no
one had documented completing
the hike that quickly.
“One of my dreams in life
has been to walk the Appalachian
Trail,” O’Connell
said. “Just financially, timewise,
health and a little bit
of other things, I don’t know
if it’ll happen. It’s still one
of my goals. And I’m like,
‘I’m going to do that in 14
days.’ So, I set off on July 5
or 6, and from Illinois made
it down to Georgia and 14
days later hiked my last one
in Maine.”
O’Connell said he met a
lot of hikers along the way.
“People of all ages, from
high school kids all the way
up to 70, 80 year olds, so it
was kind of neat.”
Two of those other hikers
joined O’Connell later in the
roughly 2,200-mile trek.
“It was really fun. It was
really fun,” O’Connell said.
“For all but the last couple of
states, then I had my brother
[Rory O’Connell, a coach
and teacher in Lockport] and
cousin [Katie O’Connell,
a coach and teacher in Arlington
Heights] come out,
and we did New Hampshire
— actually, Vermont, New
Hampshire and Maine together.
So it was pretty fun.”
O’Connell prepared for
the Appalachian Trail hike
by reading 10 books about
the trail before setting out,
so he knew a lot about the
trail before ever laying
eyes or feet on it.
“[Joe Regan, fitness
trainer at Fitness Premier
in Manhattan] worked me
out pretty good,“ O’Connell
said. “… Within a day I had
a route picked out and my
map nerdiness kicked in,
and I was ready to go.”
Forward march
Having conquered the
Appalachian Trail over the
summer, O’Connell was
ready for his next challenge:
the Forest Preserve trail
hike.
The challenge would take
him through 10 of the preserve’s
trails. In order, they
were Plum Creek, Thorn
Creek, Hickory Creek,
Messenger Woods, Isle a la
Cache, Vermont Cemetery,
Lake Renwick, McKinley
Woods, Rock Run Greenway
and Wauponsee Glacial
Trail.
O’Connell started out just
after dawn, at about 6:45
a.m. on Oct. 14. By the time
he finished, near 11 p.m., he
had walked approximately
29 miles, or, according to his
step tracker, about 60,000
steps.
He saw a lot of sights
along the way, as one can
well imagine.
At Plum Creek: “If you
got out there in the next
week or so with the leaves
changing, it’s just gorgeous.
Absolutely gorgeous.”
At Thorn Creek: “It reminded
me — besides not
having the hills and the
mountains — it reminded
me kind of more of the Appalachian
Trail, with regard
that it had a quarter-mile
boardwalk and just some
beautiful pine trees.
“By far [Thorn Creek] is
my favorite.”
At McKinley Woods,
where it started to get dark:
“I did have a flashlight, but
the owls started going off
and — I wouldn’t say I was
nervous because I wasn’t
expecting anyone to be hiding
just waiting for a random
person to come walking by,
but it was a little scary.”
O’Connell said his biggest
challenge wasn’t the
hiking, but, rather, the race
against the sun as daylight
started to fade into dusk.
“All of a sudden, I’m like,
‘Oh my gosh! I gotta have
to move it a little quicker
now,’” he said.
Because O’Connell is a
diabetic he had to closely
monitor his blood sugar
throughout the day; however,
all that walking meant
his body was burning off insulin
faster, so there were no
complications related to the
diabetes.
“To be honest, I unhooked
my pump from the insulin
for the majority of the day,
except when I ate, because I
was burning it on my own,”
he said. “... When you work
out, sometimes you naturally
don’t need the insulin
because you’re just burning
it up.”
Setting the bar
Now that O’Connell has
had time to reflect on his
one-day journey across Will
County, he’s got some advice
for anyone else wishing
to attempt the hike.
“I would say, at this point
in the year, wait until the
one that comes out next
year and do it when there’s
more light,” O’Connell advised.
“That was the stressful
part of it. Do it as soon as
it comes out — I think this
year’s came out in August or
maybe even July — get out
there when the weather’s
good, if you want to do all
10. Or, break it up and do
five and five over a weekend,
if you want the challenge…
And if you can’t do
that, do one a week.”
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