On Tuesday I found myself positioned on the Appalachian Trail, 5,500 feet up and on a bald with a panoramic view of the world, 100 miles in each direction.   I can’t pinpoint the reason we shied away from the traditional MTV spring break. It probably has something to do with us being cheap and unorganized, as is standard. So, for whatever reason, instead of taking to a tropical paradise, we found ourselves in the freezing weather of Nantahala National Forest hiking south on the Appalachian Trail.   Before we left, we watched a National Geographic video on the trail and came to find the AT wasn’t just reserved for the casual weekend hikers. For those of you who don’t know, and granted, this was me until a week ago, the AT spans a continuous 2,184 miles from Georgia to Maine. And there are people, who will be referred to as Mainers, who begin hiking in late February at the trail’s start in Georgia and hike non-stop until late August to the trail’s end in Maine.   To my surprise, we ran into a lot of Mainers. We were hiking south near Georgia at the time most Mainers were just a week in. I can’t stereotype the people I saw, all ages and types were making the journey. There were 60-year-old men hiking the trail for the second time, couples in their early thirties hiking it for their first time and a group of two guys and a girl who took time off from college to hike it together. Even though we spent a good 10 minutes pondering the sleeping arrangements of the last group, with every encounter with a Mainer we left with a true respect for what they were doing. Six months and 2,000 miles is nothing short of a personal pilgrimage.   I couldn’t contemplate how these Mainers could make it until, 5,500 feet up, we experienced Trail Magic. As we were standing atop the bald we saw three guys almost racing up the mountainside with their packs, which was a bit embarrassing as we had dropped our packs at the base because we thought the climb was too steep. When we asked them if they were going to Maine they told us they had already been last year and decided to take their spring break from Penn State to come down to the trail and help out the Mainers — they called it Trail Magic.   Trail Magic isn’t one service in particular; it’s just anything that helps hikers get from point A to B. The Penn State guys were giving hikers beer and a warm fire at their camp, which after weeks on the trail, I assume is a pretty big deal. We heard some stories of Trail Magic as simple as leaving a bag of brownies at a shelter.   We even received our own Trail Magic in the form of a food delivery on the side of 64 so we didn’t starve our last night; however, we never thought we’d be in the position to give Trail Magic until our final night.   Grilling around the campfire we ran into two hikers. One was going to Maine and the other was assisting him for the week. We invited them in, shared our drinks, our fire and lewd stories. The next morning, as we were getting up, they were leaving, but before they left, they turned back and said “thanks for the Trail Magic,” and were on their way.   Without knowing it we made someone’s struggle easier, we made an impact. Looking back, with each Mainer we met, with each conversation had, we were offering a bit of Trail Magic. When you recognize you can make an impact in someone’s life you take on a certain responsibility, but in the end it’s a refreshing responsibility. A simple moment with someone is all that’s needed sometimes to get them from point A to B.