The United States is rich in natural beauty and one of the ways to appreciate this beauty is to go on a hike.

Among the variety of hiking trails in the US, such as the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, lies the Idaho Centennial Trail. This 900+ mile hike stretches through the state of Idaho, traveling south to north through terrain such as deserts, meadows, canyons, forests and mountain scapes.

There are only a handful of people that have completed this particular trail and among those few are Franklin and Steven Herbolsheimer, two brothers from Nebraska who completed the hike in 2021.

Frank agreed to answer a few questions about his experience during the hike:

How did you decide that you wanted to do a hike like this? What made you choose this trail in particular?

Steve and I saw thru-hikers [people who walk a long-distance path from start to end] on our national park tour in the summer of 2018 and decided that we would set a goal to do our own thru-hike before we turned 30 years old.

Both of us were living in Idaho and we were searching around for a hike and came across the Idaho Centennial Trail. It was described as one of the hardest thru-hikes and we were up for the challenge.

What training or preparation did you do beforehand?

I did not prepare as I probably should have, but I would run a couple miles a week on the treadmill. We also went hiking a couple times in the weeks prior to starting [the] hike just to get used to the weight of our packs.

Did you have any sort of emergency plan in case of danger? People who you could call?

Steve carried a garmin device that we could use to call someone if we needed to. We also had people that would meet us at different locations to resupply our pack and bring us new shoes.

What was your motivation going into the hike?

Setting that goal in 2018 after seeing others accomplish it and then wanting to accomplish it and having Steve by my side were big motivators.

Did you ever feel like giving up? What kept you going?

I was pushed both physically and mentally throughout the duration of the hike. I probably wanted to quit at some point, but the beauty of this hike is that you can’t really turn around or quit without putting a lot of stress on someone else to come and pick you up. If you quit it would be more selfish than normal because it’s like you’re forcing your problem on someone else. It was like the point of no return.

What kind of supplies were required throughout?

Back pack, camping gear, clothes, shoes, trekking poles which helped save the knees, blowup pad for sitting, non perishable food like instant mashed potatoes, jerky and granola bars, etc. Before going on the hike we set up resupply stations where we had supply boxes that we had mailed to the locations on the trail which we picked up during the hike.

https://www.stankadventures.com/post/what-s-on-my-back

Did you ever fear for your lives or encounter something unexpected?

No we never really feared for our lives, but at one point we did find ourselves in the middle of a wildfire. Although it was slow and mostly burning the understory of the forest it was an eerie feeling.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to do this trail or one similar to it?

I would say that the timing to start the hike is very important. Either you are fighting dangerous river crossings or wildfires. For instance, if you start in May the snow is melting so the streams are running very heavy which could be dangerous, but if you wait too long then you will be trying to avoid wildfires.

What life lessons did you learn along the way?

I learned a lot about my own body. For the first time in my life it really mattered what I ate and could feel the energy that food would provide me. Seeing undisturbed land like that also makes me think about the first people who came across the land and how they would have felt.

When you are out there, the timing of things is pretty crazy, like if you are five minutes late you would never meet these certain people at a certain intersection, basically confirming that things happen for a reason.

Though the trail was challenging, the completion of a hike such as the Idaho Centennial Trail is inspirational because it is a testimony to the beauty of God’s creation in nature, and it shows the beauty of setting a goal and having the endurance to see it through.