Chris Sommer arrived at Ravensburg State Park at about 5 p.m. on a warm June evening. He had hiked 20 miles that day having eaten just two packets of oatmeal and a Snickers bar, and he had 14 miles left to go. He hadn’t showered in a week. He was exhausted, emotionally spent and, as he approached a couple of campers who were grilling dinner, he knew what he had to do.
“I thought, ‘OK, I’m gonna beg for food,’” he said. “‘This is going to happen.’”
Sommer sat down at a picnic table near the couple and took out his dinner for the evening – two ibuprofen and a Jolly Rancher candy, all that was left in his pack. The couple’s dog came over to say hello. Before Sommer could work up the nerve to ask, they offered him a seat and some food.
It was a symbolic moment on what was a powerful trip for the Penn State student, who hiked Pennsylvania’s Mid State Trail – 325 miles – in just 12 days this June. In the process, he raised more than $7,000 for the local organization Hearts For Homeless and was impressed by the generosity of spirit of both those who donated and the strangers he found along the trail.
“Here I was, hiking for the homeless, and I come to this time where I’m out of food and can’t go on without somebody’s help,” he said.
Sommer had developed a love of hiking during a Boy Scouts trip to New Mexico, and had also previously hiked in New Hampshire, Colorado and on a section of the Pacific Coast Trail. The Schreyer Honors College Scholar decided last winter that he wanted to try the Mid State Trail, which bisects Pennsylvania from its southern border to its northern border, and that he wanted to use the experience as a platform to raise awareness for homelessness in the Centre Region.
He had heard good things about Hearts For Homeless, which provides clothing, food and medical supplies to area homeless, and the organization embraced his idea of making his trip into a charitable fundraiser.
“The people there are incredible. They give so much of themselves to our community for nothing,” he said. “(Homelessness is) still such an issue and such an unseen issue.”
Sommer averaged 23 miles per day for the first stretch of the trip, then upped his pace to 30 miles per day. He packed light – an 8-pound backpack that would only swell to 15-16 pounds with a full supply of food and water – and would stop every two days or so for food. When he reached more remote stretches of the trail, his parents would drive to meet him with supplies at a road crossing.
On the last day of the hike, Sommer rose at 5:30 a.m. and decided to finish his journey before the sun went down. He ran-hiked 42 miles, completing the trail two days earlier than his original goal and setting a speed record for the hike – at least according to what Mid State Trail officials told him – in the process.
“It was easily the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Sommer said. “Difficult physically, mentally, emotionally. I definitely could not have done it without all the support I received from everybody.”
Sommer, who took a gap year after graduating from State College Area High School in 2014, is a chemical engineering student in his sophomore year who also has an interest in environmental engineering. He and three other students designed a zero-energy home for a class project during the spring.
“Net zero energy homes, in my opinion, are no-brainers,” he said. “I don’t know why we aren’t accessing that technology more.”
Some of the bigger hikes on Sommer’s to-do list, including the Great Himalayan Trail in Nepal, will have to wait until he has more time. Others, like the Great Divide Trail in Canada, would only take a summer. He is currently helping a friend with another benefit for Hearts For Homeless, a local country music concert. He isn’t ruling out the possibility of doing another hike for a good cause.
“It’s such a unique and beneficial means of fundraising and awareness raising,” he said. “People are so intrigued by the idea of somebody doing a distance hike, because they don’t know much about it. They say, ‘I’d love to do that.’ People are so captivated by that idea. Whenever you say, ‘You can support me in this by supporting this organization,’ people just hop on board.”