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Bill Irwin Research Paper

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On November 21, 1990, the day before Thanksgiving, Bill Irwin became the last person that year to complete the entire length of the world’s longest continuously marked footpath – the Appalachian Trail. This trail spans 2,174 miles, from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine, and winds through fourteen states, eight national forests, and about sixty state parks.

Every year more than 1,000 hikers set out to hike the full length of the trail, but less than 200 actually make it. This is quite understandable. Hikers deal with suffocating heat and humidity in the dense vegetation of Great Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains, the frigid temperatures in the alpine regions of the Presidential Range and White …show more content…

There was no pavement for his dog to follow. The trail is marked only by small patches of white paint on trees, rocks, or occasional posts. No signs were in Braille, so Bill Irwin had to run his hands over their etched letters to read them. Many of the hundreds of footbridges were only twelve inches wide or less and Irwin had to cross them on his hands and knees. The trail often wound its way along steep cliffs and mountainsides. He had to contend with the continual unevenness of the trail’s rocky surface, which tore up his boots and twisted his ankles. And Bill Irwin fell literally thousands of times – fracturing several ribs on one occasion. There were no inspiring vistas that would reward all those uphill climbs. He made the journey in perpetual darkness. And although the Appalachian Trail Conference has published dozens of detailed topographical maps of the trail, they were all useless to this man who couldn’t see. How, then, could he find his …show more content…

The Scripture reminds us that “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7), thus believing and seeing do not necessarily go hand in hand. Believers essentially “walk blind” in times of trial and temptation, when life is cruel and they see no tangible evidences of God’s love and goodness. Indeed, the greatest demonstrations of faith occur in the absence of such visible proofs. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (John 20:29), said Jesus. Some preachers will tell you that if you are in poverty or in poor health, then you’re not walking in faith. But the scripture says the opposite. “God chose the poor,” said James, “that they may be rich in faith” (James 2:5). Conversely, we find that it was the materially wealthy Laodiceans who were spiritually “poor, blind, miserable, and naked” (Revelation

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