Jordan Robak of Clarkston bought a backpack and hit the trail for 2,200 miles this summer. Photo by Phil Custodio

BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
When Jordan Robak of Clarkston decided he needed to get away for a while this summer, he decided to go for a walk.
It turned into quite the hike – he walked 2,200 miles across several states to complete the Appalachian Trail, starting at the end of March and finishing the end of July.
“I wanted to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. This helped pretty good,” said Robak, a 2013 graduate of Clarkston High School.
The 22-year-old decided to go on the trip about a month before he left.
“It was crazy – some people plan for years. I was just, pick up and go,” he said. “One of my friends did half of it, and I wanted to do it for a while. It’s hard to take four months off but I made the time.”
He was never in Boy Scouts, and his experience outdoors was limited.
“I’ve never gone backpacking. I went from nothing into the deep end, but I found I was good at it,” he said.
“When Jordan said he wanted to go on this hike, I asked him who was going with him. Jordan tells me he is going by himself. I responded with, ‘good luck with that,’” said his mother, Tammy Robak. “I was never concerned with Jordan going on this hike, only with him going alone. I was very happy when he met Emmitt on the first day and then they met other friends who stayed together most of the trip.”

Jordan hiked with friends for most of the trip, but was by himself for about 800 miles.
“It was a lot of time for reflection,” he said. “It helped with reassuring myself what I wanted to be. I learned patience was definitely a thing.”
It rained a lot during the trip, up to eight days in a row in Virginia. Along with a foot of snow in the Smoky Mountains, sometimes the trip wasn’t fun, he said.
“It was definitely hard – a lot of sitting in the rain,” he said. “It got to the point where whenever it was sunny, that was my favorite part.”
He met a lot of characters on the trail, including an 82-year-old hiker, a 5 year old, and a Paralympian.
“All sorts do it,” he said. “We were always saying to each other, just keep walking, just keep going forward.”
“I am so proud of him and his accomplishment. Just proves with hard work and determination you can do anything,” Tammy said.
Now it’s back to work and school at Oakland University.
“Back to real life,” he said. “I might do another trail in the future.”