Former Westmoreland Board Member Completes Incredible Journey

December 14, 2021

Dirk Matson has been a hiker and backpacker for more than 25 years, but this year he decided to take on a journey like no other he has completed before.

Matson, who was a member of Westmoreland County Community College’s Board of Trustees for six years, hiked more than 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine along the Appalachian Trail.

“I retired at the end of October 2020, I decided it's now or never. Put up or shut up,” he said.

“So I did. I trained from November through the beginning of March.”

The 66-year-old set out on the trail in Springer Mountain, Georgia on March 7. He finished the hike 2,193 miles later in the mountains of central Maine on October 5.

“Dealing with the grind, all those miles, I was tired all the time and didn’t feel like eating,” Matson said. “But I never considered quitting.”

Matson lost 50 pounds and suffered from shin splints. He still managed to complete an average of 15 to 20 miles a day, sleeping in shelters or in his tent most of the time.

“I decided before I hit the trail that I wasn't going to overly push my 66-year-old body beyond what it could handle, so I went as fast as I could without jeopardizing myself.”

Matson hiked the first leg of the trail with a friend and completed the last leg with his son Brett, who also hiked it in 2008. However, for much of his travels, Matson was alone except for the folks he met along the way.

“The trail is a moving community of people,” he said. “You get to meet so many different people and depending on your speed, you keep moving into other bubbles of different people. It was kind of a brotherhood and sisterhood.”

He also made sure he talked to or texted his wife each day and frequently called his mother. He posted updates on Facebook and kept a written journal, much of which he also posted online (he plans to post the finished journal soon).

“I tried to do the best I could staying in touch with people. Everybody was just so supportive,” he said. “I'm in touch with a lot of my high school classmates and they were just awesome. All my friends and family were great. My wife was all in on this.”

So what’s next for Dirk Matson?  “To get fat and sassy again,” he said jokingly. The next trip he takes, he won’t be hiking.

“I’d like to take a train trip across Europe next summer, just seeing places that I haven't seen before,” he said. 

And while he may do some shorter hikes in the future, he plans to rest for a while after completing this milestone.

“It was a great experience and I'm just really happy that I finished it.”