LOVE LIFE !
| "A World of Possibilities" has aired a radio program featuring discussion between Mark Sommers and myself: "HEARTS BROKEN OPEN" |
Natioal Public Radio's "Hearing Voices" program has aired my story:
PLEASE VISIT
STEVE FUGATE STORY
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Please visit www.lovelifefilm.com for stills and clips from the ongoing production of a documentary of Love Life walks. |
Trail Therapy is the term I feel best describes what brought about the changes in my life after walking over 26,000 miles of the United States.
I have hiked the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain in North Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. A distance of 2,167.3 miles.
In 2001, I walked the American Discovery Trail from Point Reyes National Seashore on the Pacific Ocean in California to Cape Henlopen State Park at the Atlantic Ocean in Delaware, 4,858 miles.
March 8, 2003 I left from the northern edge of the Everglades at the Miccosukee Indian Reservation in Florida and walked to the Pacific Ocean in California. From California I walked to the state of Washington. I then walked from there to Bangor, Maine. From Bangor, Maine I walked back to the exact spot where I started from in Florida. I finished on March 25, 2005 and covered 9,752 miles.
I have since hiked 314 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain to Irwin, Tennessee in Spring of 2006. Also in 2006, I walked from Blairsville, Georgia to Cincinnati, Ohio, approximately 393 miles. On March 23, 2007 I left Cincinnati and walked to Surry, Maine and then to Arizona not far from the California line. I returned to Arizona 13 months later and walked from the Mexican/California border to Blaine, Washington at the Canadian border. From the Washington/Canadian border I walked to Key West, Florida, finishing on December 23, 2009.
I have now walked through all the lower 48 states, havpassed through over 1800 cities, towns, and villages and wore out 33 pairs of shoes covering approximately 26,000 miles. With the exception of my first hike of the Appalachian Trail, I carried over my head a large sign ..."LOVE LIFE."
The most difficult thing... but an essential one... is to "LOVE LIFE," to love it even when one suffers, because life is all. Life is God, and to "LOVE LIFE" is to love God.
~ Leo Tolstoy
 Stephen "Stevie" Lee Fugate 1972-1999 |
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Stevie was operating my business for me while I attempted a "thru-hike" of the Appalachian Trail. I had traveled just over half the trail when I received word that my son had placed a gun in his mouth and effectively ended both our lives.
I am convinced that there is no pain equal to that of losing a child. The grief was indescribable. I felt as though someone had taken an axe and chopped out my heart while I was yet breathing! My son, this living, breathing, precious life, my beautiful contribution to the universe, was suddenly gone. I can in no way fully describe the pain, I don't know how to scream on paper...
Eight months later I returned to the exact spot where I had stopped my hike and proceeded to finish the "AT" as a tribute to my son. I screamed and cried almost every step of the way but I finished, having walked the entire 2,167 miles. While out on the trail in solitude, surrounded by the magnificent, inspiring beauty that encompasses that soothing and healing footpath, my life took a turn. For me, the Appalachian Trail became a pathway back to life... Trail Therapy. After completing my "thru-hike" of the Appalachian Trail I adopted a creed; I want no other parent to suffer the horror that I had to go through and I wanted no other young person to miss out on the chance to.. "LOVE LIFE"
I came up with the idea of walking across the U.S.A. I put a sign over my head.."LOVE LIFE" and off I went! I conveyed my message to all I encountered. I felt it so successful, I did it again. Only this time I walked around the United States. My beautiful daughter helped orchestrate both walks.
I was about four weeks from finshing my walk around the U.S.A. when I recieved word that my 36 year old daughter who suffered from M.S. had died from an accidental drug overdose. Again, my life seemed to be ended. Yet again I faced the horror! The answer was right there over my own head, I had to push on and.. "LOVE LIFE"
This web site is about my encounters with life's beautiful people and kindred spirits and why I still "LOVE LIFE"|
My little girl's little girl - my grandbaby
 Cassidy Jean Morgan born Nov. 2001 |
 Michele "Shelly" Fugate Morgan 1968-2005 |
With this site I hope to encourage all to get out on America's beautiful, wonderful, and therapeutic long distance hiking trails. I hope to particularly encourage our young people to find, explore, and enjoy the benefits offered by these soothing and educational footpaths. And I hope to remind those whom have already found Doctor Nature and her free 'Trail Therapy' through these paths, to remember to encourage others to visit her.
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