Andrew Komorowski celebrates at the top of Mount Katahdin in Maine, the finish of the Appalachian Trail. Komorowski recently completed the 2,200-mile hike. (Photo Provided)

WHEELING — Andrew Komorowski takes the first steps on an important and arduous path this week — beginning law school at West Virginia University. Before he started that trek, though, the Wheeling native tackled one just as tough.

When he reached the top of Mount Katahdin in Maine this July, he completed a hike of the entire Appalachian Trail, a nearly 2,200-mile journey that tested him both physically and mentally. Reaching the finish of that 4½-month trip is something Komorowski said has made him even more prepared for this academic road ahead.

The seeds for Komorowski’s quest began germinating last year while a senior at Robert Morris University. The RMU honors program sponsored a partnership with national parks, and among last year’s trips was a stint on the Appalachian Trail. He participated and was hooked right away.

That stint got him thinking that he’d want to hike the entire trail, starting at Springer Mountain, Georgia and heading north to Maine. He graduated early from RMU and, with WVU law school not starting until August, he had the time.

“I kept talking to people and said, hey, I have this period of time. Can I pull it off?” Komorowski said. “And I got resounding ‘yeses’ and ‘You should totally do this. It’s life changing. It’s amazing. This is the time to do it. You have nothing to lose.'”

The physical preparation wasn’t a big deal. Komorowski has been an athlete since his days at Wheeling Central Catholic High School. The more important preparation came in collecting the proper gear needed to hike for months through 14 states.

Komorowski’s mother Jennifer admits such a journey isn’t something she or Komorowski’s dad Brian would attempt, but they were supportive of their son’s attempt, gifting him the travel to the trail’s start and from the trail’s finish.

It didn’t take long for Komorowski to see what he was up against. Within the first five days of the hike, he was both rained and snowed upon and slept through a 20-degree night.

“After that, I felt like I could do whatever now,” he said.

What helped was the community around the Appalachian Trail. There were the hikers who traversed the path with him, offering companionship and, sometimes, shared uncomfortableness from the weather. There also were the people along the trail. Some owned hostels in which the hikers could sleep. Some offered food. Others offered supplies. They all offered their well wishes.

“That’s what makes the trail so special,” Komorowski said. “I knew it had a community, and I knew it was really important, really big. But I didn’t know quite how important it was. In a sense, the trail wouldn’t be what it is without them.”

Jennifer Komorowski said that community also helped steady the nerves of parents sending their 22-year-old hike thousands of miles.

“The people were so incredible,” she said. “Everybody knows everybody. Everybody talks to everybody. People share things. We really didn’t know that ahead of time, so that was nice.”

There were some not-so-nice parts of the hike, including some that put Komorowski’s ability to finish the trip in peril. In Virginia, he came down with a norovirus, a gastrointestinal malady that leaves those infected severely dehydrated. Komorowski also lost a lot of weight during that time, which made him too weak to continue.

So his parents picked him up in Virginia, he convalessed at home to regain his strength, then rented a car to drive back to Virginia to continue. What hurt, he said, was that the group he was hiking with had kept going, so he tried to find new trail partners. Eventually, he decided to strike out on his own.

It was at those times that his parents’ support became crucial.

“Every time he called, I would just say to him, ‘You can do this. Put one foot in front of the other'” Jennifer Komorowski said.

Eventually, all those steps led him to the top of Mount Katadhin, Maine’s highest peak and the culmination of his months-long odyssey.

“It’s an amazing feeling to finish,” Komorowski said. “You look back and you’ve hiked for 2,200 miles. I was in the woods for 4½ months and I’ve gone through so much struggle and difficulty to get here. It’s a super-rewarding feeling to know you’ve made it that far.”

His parents were nothing but proud.

“It’s one of those things you look back at as a pinnacle moment of your life,” Jennifer Komorowski said.

Now comes the next journey through WVU’s College of Law, a trek Komorowski said he’ll attack with the same fervor as the Appalachian Trail.

“What the trail gives you most is the grit to keep going,” he said, “the grit to wake up every day and go. No matter what the weather is, what the temperature is, what you feel like, you have to keep going.

“That’s kind of how life and how law school will go,” he added. “No matter what is going right or wrong, I’m going to have to keep pushing forward.”