Courtney Pauls- Polaris’ 2012 Trail Journal

I read some of Polaris’ Trail Journal from his current hike on the Appalachian Trail. My favorite part of his journal was his entry on March 26, 2012. This journal was his entry after one week on the trail. In the first few sentences, there is already a sighting of communitas. Polaris was given a ride to his staring location by a man named Tim. Apparently, Tim and his co-workers were very welcoming and were enthusiastic to help a hiker. On one of his first nights, Polaris and some friends encountered a bear. They were sleeping and all of a sudden they heard their bear bag hit the ground. Most of their food was taken by the hungry bear. Although 50% of Polaris’ food was gone, people on the trail took good care of him. That is where the communitas shows up again. He said, “The love that has been given out on the trail already had been tremendous, and the friendships made solid”. I really liked this sentence because it showed that with only a week on the trail, Polaris had made solid friendships and there was so much love.