This site started as a blog about an Appalachian Trail thru-hike attempt. (I “only” hiked just barely over 1500 miles of the Trail before getting off due to illness; it took 7 years before I had the time to go back and complete the rest.)

I call it “Pathology: the study of a path.” The first part, because getting obsessed with long-distance hiking might be classifiable as a pathology. The second part, because other -ologies are the study of their subjects (as in theology, biology, geology …). So “clearly” the study of a path must be “pathology.” Right?

I also really think about the Christian spiritual life as a journey, a pilgrimage, a very long hike on the path through life. And, so, the study of that path shows up here as well.

I once introduced myself as a “librarian, very minor theologian, Appalachian Trail hiker, and wanna be Renaissance man and polymath.” This accounts for the eclectic nature of what I post. If you stalk me on the Internet it’s not too hard to find more of the lembas crumbs I’ve dropped along the way.