Joan Young
Our author met up with James “Attrition” Lunning in Western Michigan, to talk about his current journey.
2,600 Miles Per Shirt By Joan Young
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The North Star
Amelia Rhodes
hat’s an average. Current NCNST thru-hiker James Lunning, trail name “Attrition,” was quick to point out that he got only 2200 miles from the first shirt. But his current raggedy red tee is now at about 3000 miles. He thinks he’ll get a new one soon. Or not. The shirts are doing better than the boots. James picked up his fourth pair at his aunt’s home in Fife Lake, Michigan, in early March of this year. Despite these impressive statistics, the 23-year-old machinist from Minneapolis, Minnesota, isn’t even halfway into his planned walk. He began (February 2015), as so many hikers do, at Springer Mountain, Georgia. That’s the southern terminus of the famed Appalachian Trail. Before he reached the northern terminus at Mt. Katahdin in Maine, he’d caught the true wanderlust fever. Where the AT comes closest to the Atlantic, in Connecticut, he just took a little hundred-mile detour to see the ocean. On foot, of course. At the Midwest Mountaineering Expo in Minneapolis, before he began this adventure, James had met Luke “Strider” Jordan, North Country Trail end-to-ender. Luke said, “Why not hike the NCT while you’re out there.” So “Attrition” thought, “Okay.” He reached Maine, but needed to return to where the NCT leaves the AT at Maine Junction, confusingly located in Vermont. But he didn’t want to backtrack; that would be boring. Instead, he marched across the tops of New Hampshire and Vermont to reach the Long Trail. Following that southward, he arrived at Maine Junction, the triple point where the Long Trail intersects the Appalachian Trail and is the proposed eastern terminus of the NCNST. Then he turned west. I met up with him as he passed through west Michigan, about halfway along the North Country Trail. His plan is to finish the NCT, hike across the rest of North Dakota and then Montana, to reach eventually the Pacific Northwest Trail. James wants to connect to the Pacific Ocean. Then he thinks he’ll go south on
the Pacific Crest Trail. What might stop him? The clue is in his trail name. His is a hike of attrition; he’ll walk until his money runs out. I suspect, however, he’s already got an incurable case of the trail bug. As some other multiple-trail hikers have, my guess is he’ll find a way to keep supporting his addiction. (Trail folks will recognize this disease in Andy Skurka and Jennifer Pharr Davis.) He confesses that being on the trail “feels more like real life.” You spend your time doing “exactly what you need to be doing,” with the focus on food, water, shelter, staying warm or cool. “Lots of interesting things happen, punctuated with time.” He added that trail life features “weird stuff.” In explanation, he said he and two friends were semi-kidnapped by an older man in Tennessee. They were hitching a ride to return to the trail from town. The driver instead took them on a three-hour road trip to the Smokey Mountains and then called the police because he was afraid the hitchhikers might hurt him. “I’m not easily scared,” he said; “It was an adventure.” How does his family feel about his recent lifestyle? They’re supportive. “I’m the youngest of five,” James said. His siblings have all embarked on successful careers requiring plenty of higher education. He joked, “They’ve satisfied my parents’ wishes, so I get a free pass.” Despite the ratty top shirt, he admits to being a gearhead. Most of his equipment is state-of-the-art. He thinks he might buy shirt number three soon. Maybe, but it hasn’t reached highpriority status. “Nothing is stopping me except inertia.” I wanted to stay and talk with him for hours. But I was keeping him from dinner, a serious crime against someone who has spent a full day on a cold trail. Hike on, James “Attrition!”
Attrition stopped briefly for a visit at the Lowell office.