We told you last March about Carol Fielding, of Spartansburg, who was setting out to hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail.  After six months, we're happy to say that she did it!  It’s now time to talk with Carol again.  I’m sure she has many stories about her 2,198 mile adventure and I want to hear all of them.

Carol reached Mount Katahdin, in Maine, on September 23, exactly six months to the day she began her hike in Georgia.  What an amazing accomplishment, especially since Carol hiked the trail by herself. She met a lot of fellow hikers along the way, usually at shelters at the end of the day. But there were nights when she was all alone.

"It's always a little off-putting when the sun goes down and no one else is coming to camp.  Then every little sound is a little bit of a frightening experience.  You think, 'Is that a bear?" said Carol with a laugh.

The most frightening moment on the trail did not involve a bear.

"Probably coming around a corner on the trail and there was a rattlesnake just lying in the sun,” remembers Carol.  “He looked at me and I looked at him and neither of us moved."

Carol slowly backed off and the snake went on its way.  At times, Carol also had to deal with sickness and injury. She had to rest nine days after falling and injuring her ribs to the point she could not buckle her backpack.  She had to deal with wind chills and rain. That's when the biggest obstacle to finish was herself.  There were times she called her husband in Spartansburg saying she wanted to quit.

"We had an agreement that if I called him and said that, he wasn't going to come and get me,” says Carol.  “He would let me vent and he would then say, ' Go get a good meal.  Get a good night's sleep in a hostel or a hotel. Get a hot shower and call me in the morning but I'm not going to pick you up."

Quitting would have been something she would have regretted for the rest of her life. She would have missed the beautiful scenery. She would have missed the camaraderie of her fellow hikers. And she would never know the feeling of accomplishing a longtime dream.  The feeling she felt on the day she saw the famous sign in Maine telling her she hiked the entire distance.

"It was overwhelming emotionally. I didn't cry as much as I thought I might.  But, I did walk up and kiss the sign,” says Carol.

1, 537 hikers began the trail during the same time period as Carol.  1,020 made it halfway and only 860 made it all the way to the finish point in Maine.  Carol's husband joined her for the last 100 miles.