Nicholas Mokhiber, 18, a resident of Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, completed a thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail on Saturday October 24, 2015 in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
Nicholas Mokhiber
The Appalachian Trail is 2,192 miles long.
It took Mokhiber about five months to complete the hike.
On Saturday, a group of about thirty friends and family held a welcome home party for Mokhiber at the Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters in Harpers Ferry.
Mokhiber thanked his friends and family who supported him throughout the journey.
An estimated 3,000 people set out to thru-hike the trail this year, but only about 750 will finish.
Mokhiber graduated from Berkeley Springs High School on May 21, 2015 and began his hike on May 30.
Mokhiber has been accepted to Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina as an undergraduate, but he deferred admission for a year in order to hike the trail, travel and pursue other projects.
“Hiking the trail changed my life,” Mokhiber said. “I became more confident and independent. Everyone should hike at least parts of the trail. It will change your life too. I met amazing people on the trail. They were kind and helpful.”
When asked what advice he would give hikers who want to hike the Appalachian Trail, he said, “One step at a time.”
“Not one day at a time, or one week at a time, but one step at a time,” Mokhiber said.