But the Florence resident overcame his fear of failure to not only attempt but in October complete a hike through the length of the Appalachian Trail.

“I needed to get away for awhile,” said Westphal, who in the past three years has struggling with depression and anxiety. “I needed to take a break.”

In getting away, Westphal said he found a community to support him and friendships to last a lifetime.

“I originally wanted to come out here and be alone in the wilderness, but I don’t think I could have finished without so many wonderful people,” he said.

Lorrie Hess, trail name, “Easy Bake,” celebrates with Norman Westphal, trail name “Wing Man,” on the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine on Oct. 5.

Originally from Caspian, Westphal began backpacking a couple years ago with his sister, Carol Westphal of Green Bay, Wis., but admitted they usually quit after about 5 miles because it was so difficult.

“When I realized what the A.T. was, I didn’t think there was any way I could ever do it,” he said.

But then he watched a few YouTube videos of first-timers tackling the A.T. Westphal said he had quit or given up on most things throughout his life, so the idea of actually finishing something intrigued him.

“I wanted to prove to myself that I could,” he said.

Beginning his journey alone at Springer Mountain in Georgia on March 12, Westphal planned for six months on the longest “hiking only” footpath in the world.

Norman Westphal skydives with an instructor at Gardiner, N.Y., in July.

“I hoped for five months,” he said, “but I made it in seven.”

The biggest struggles at first were physical. “Getting in shape, I trained for the trail, but not as much as I should have. The first month was the hardest and my knees were in a lot of pain. There were times when I couldn’t even bend my knees,” Westphal said.

At that point, he decided to take a couple “zero days,” or days of rest.

“I went into town and called home and said, ‘I don’t know if I can do this,’ but I kept going and when it started warming up, my knees stopped hurting and I started getting comfortable being out there,” he said.

That growing desire to see the challenge through kept him on the path. “I think that people would have understood me getting off the trail, but the fear of failure kept me going,” he said.

Norman Westphal enjoys a sunset in the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia in June.

Westphal went through three pairs of hiking boots and had to downsize his backpack because he lost so much weight, but named his phone as his “can’t live without” item because it kept him updated on things back home.

He also used the Guthook phone app to map out the hike and locate nearby restaurants and hotels.

“It truly is a lifesaver out there. You can do without it — I had a paper guide as well — but the phone made it so much easier using that map. If anybody got lost, the GPS would show you the way back to the trail,” he said. Westphal also carried a battery pack that he plugged into the wall at rest points but that had solar capabilities as well.

“I could also let it sit in the sun and charge,” he said.

Because Westphal deals with social anxiety, he feared meeting people on the trail.

“I wanted to be out there alone in the wilderness, but I knew there would be a lot of people and it’s hard for me to meet new people,” he said.

However, the first night on the trail, Westphal met Jay Goostree, aka “Jay” or “Jay Man,” who would hike with him for a full month.

“He is the one that gave me my trail name, ‘Wingman.’ We talked hockey; I’m a Red Wings fan. Also because I would help him out. I would usually get to camp before him, so when he got there, I would help him set up his tent, hang the food bags, whatever may be,” Westphal said.

Unfortunately, Goostree had to get off the trail for family reasons.

The very next day, he met Lorrie Hess, trail name “Easy Bake,” with whom Westphal shared nearly the rest of his venture. The new friends hiked nearly six months and 1,900 miles together.

“She was a great person to hike with and an even greater friend. We have built a friendship that will last a lifetime. The hike is a lot more enjoyable when there is someone to share the journey with. I’ve gotten to know her husband and kids while they visited her on the trail and they are all wonderful people,” Westphal said.

Although Westphal tented 90 percent of the time, he also stayed at hostels and hotels along the way. Hostels usually consisted of a twin bed and a shower and sometimes meals, for $25 to $45. Hotels were more expensive. The journey wasn’t cheap.

“I hoped to spend $6,000, but I probably spent twice that much. Part of that was because of my knees in the beginning and staying in hotels to take a day off, and I ended up eating out a lot,” Westphal said.

Because he has a relatively specific gluten-free, paleo-style diet, Westphal had many meals shipped to him on the trail. He packed up granola, energy bars, homemade bagels and dehydrated meals that his sister prepared. Westphal was very appreciative of his sister for cooking all his meals and organizing and shipping all his mail drops.

He also respected the “trail magic” — the things that would turn up on the trail — including the “trail angels … people who give you a ride for free or bring you food to eat for free.”

He added, “It is unbelievable how nice people are on the trail, people who have never hiked the trail before, grilling burgers on the side of the road. It’s pretty amazing — you see the goodness in people.”

Journaling is a common practice on the A.T, he said.

“I tried to keep track every day of the things we did and the people I met,” he said.

For example, the day Wingman and Easy Bake met “trail angel” John, who was doing maintenance on the path in New York.

“He asked if we wanted to go skydiving. We were struggling in New York, it was over 1,200 miles into the trip, and we had been rained on for days,” he said.

Westphal was soaking wet, tired and frustrated, so he decided to take the stranger up on his offer. This proved to be a great turning point in the journey.

“It was one of the best parts of the trip. It was an awesome day, awesome time. He was a skydiving instructor and took us up. He took us off the trail and gave us a place to stay for the night,” Westphal said.

Another highlight was the morning in New Hampshire, at a lakeside camping spot that provided canoes for hikers.

Westphal came across rattlesnakes throughout the trip, black bear and a hellbender salamander walking across the bottom of the river in Virginia. He saw his first moose in Maine.

But the most feared creatures on the path are ticks, Westphal said. “One woman got off the trail because of Lyme’s disease,” he said.

Westphal took a week off during the trip to visit his nephew in Virginia and decided to skip the miles he missed during his vacation and finish them at the end of the trip, so he could meet up and continue hiking with Easy Bake.

He eventually summited Mt. Katahdin — the highest mountain in Maine and a rite of passage for A.T. hikers — on Oct. 5.

“Being up there in Katahdin, that is what every hiker works for. Even though I knew I wasn’t officially finished yet, I cried quite a bit up there,” he said.

Westphal’s parents, Marilyn and Gary Westphal, picked him up in Maine and drove him down to Virginia to return to Front Royal and hike the last 55 miles to Harpers Ferry in West Virginia on Oct. 10.

Although the A.T. wasn’t as hard as he feared, Westphal still calls the past seven months “the most challenging of my life, both physically and mentally, but also the most rewarding. I’ve met a lot of great people along the way including fellow hikers, ‘trail angels’ and just random people who were kind enough to help out a couple of smelly through-hikers.”

Said Westphal, “I went out there wanting to be alone, but the best part was the people, the community. It really surprised me, how much I wanted to be around people and really enjoyed being around people,” he said, adding “It’s hard out there. Mentally, one of the hardest parts was just the monotony — every day doing the same thing, over and over. Having a least one person there who is suffering along with you kind of helps keep you going, helps keep you sane.”

Theresa Proudfit can be reached at 906-774-2772, ext. 45, or tproudfit@ironmountaindailynews.com.