Casey Fulp (left) listens to David Egan, a U.S. Army and National Guard veteran from Staffordsville in Marsha's Restaurant in downtown Pearisburg.

MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Casey Fulp heads back onto the Appalachian Trail by crossing Virginia 100 in Pearisburg. As of Wednesday morning, he'd hiked 626.4 miles, more than a fourth of the 2,176-mile long journey. He set out on the trail May 1 starting from Springer Mountain, Ga., and has been traveling north toward his destination of Katahdin, Maine.

| Mary Hardbarger

PEARISBURG -- Casey Fulp awoke early Wednesday at a small hotel in Pearisburg to begin the routine.

Fulp, 24, downed a few blueberry muffins and chased them down with a few Red Bull energy drinks.

He showered, packed his belongings and headed over to Marsha's Restaurant for a second breakfast of a ham and cheese omelet, fried potatoes and Texas toast, or what he refers to now as "calorie-dumping."

Then, Fulp slid his hiking stick bands up his wrists, strapped a 35-pound pack on his back, wrapped a white bandana around his head and returned to his through-hike trek along the Appalachian Trail.

He set out on the trail May 1 starting from Springer Mountain, Ga., and has been traveling north toward his final destination of Katahdin, Maine, which he hopes to reach either September or October. As of Wednesday, he'd hiked 626.4 miles, more than a quarter of the 2,176-mile long journey, by putting between 15 and 20 miles behind him each day.

Unlike the other hikers he encountered throughout the morning, Fulp is hiking the trail for a very special purpose -- he is hiking for veterans.

Fulp hopes to raise enough funding in his aptly titled "Hike for the Veterans" to support an entire fellowship for an injured veteran through The Missions Continues, a nonprofit organization that empowers wounded and disabled veterans to begin new lives of public service.

Tonight, he will present a slideshow about his journey thus far at Blue Ridge Mountain Sports in Blacksburg, one of Fulp's sponsors.

Although originally from Colonial Heights, Fulp and his family often visit Floyd County, where they built a vacation home in 2000.

He's attempting the challenging hike two years after surviving a horrific motorcycle wreck and just months after becoming officially medically retired from the U.S. Army.

"There is purpose and meaning behind this journey much bigger than myself," Fulp said.

An all-star athlete in high school, Fulp excelled and broke records in various sports and later attended Averett University to play football.

After being injured in a car crash early in his football career and a few "wrong choices" in school, Fulp dropped out after his first year.

"When I left, football had died in me," Fulp said. "I had built my life around sports, but it was ripped from me because of my own intentions."

But Fulp didn't give up, he just changed directions.

Fulp found new inspiration through his stepfather, Ken McColley, who was a green beret as a member of the 10th Special Forces Group.

McColley came into Fulp's life when he was 3, and from the start, "he was my source of discipline and motivation," Fulp said.

McColley pushed his stepson to try sports and saw him succeed, but he knew there was more in store for him, he said.

"I knew Casey hadn't yet reached his full potential," McColley said. "He had the world at his fingertips ... he could mold things to suit his goals."

Fulp decided to follow in his stepfather's footstep and enlisted in 2006. He passed selection later that year and was accepted as a student in the Special Forces Qualification Course as a special forces medic, the same as his stepfather.

While still in training, yet another career was cut short.

On July 7, 2008, Fulp's motorcycle struck the driver's side door of a minivan that failed to yield the right of way.

The impact totaled the biker's motorcycle, the minivan and left Fulp unresponsive and severely injured.

He was rushed to the Medical College of Virginia, where surgeons removed his spleen and repaired a tear in his stomach, just two of several surgeries he would later face.

Aside from the physical injuries -- including lacerations to his face, a broken sternum, broken left radius and ulna -- Fulp also sustained head trauma that was later diagnosed as traumatic brain injury.

Throughout the next several months, Fulp had to face a tough decision -- should he return to the Army?

After thoughtful consideration, Fulp retired this year after he decided his injuries were not only a liability to himself, but to others as well.

Today, Fulp has traded his military boots for a pair of hiking boots.

Fulp carries the name "T-Rex" along the trail, after the trauma name given to him in the hospital after the crash.

He said he's experiencing new adventures and meeting new groups of people every day.

He's seen a few black bears in the Smoky Mountains and has had some comical encounters with raccoons and mice itching to get a hold of his diet of instant mashed potatoes and bags of trail mix.

And he's documenting the journey step-by-step in his journal and on his Web site, www.hikefortheveterans.com.

"At times, I feel too connected to the world when I'm out there," Fulp said.

"Right now, I'm trying to find a balance between reality and the trail itself."

There are days when migraines and vertigo -- side effects of his injuries -- hit him hard. But instead of slowing down, Fulp pushes harder.

"I have to keep telling myself through those tough times, 'That which has disabled me, has enabled me,' " he said.

McColley has plans to join with his stepson for a few miles and said he is excited to see Fulp reap the benefits from the trail much greater than the physical ones.

"The trail will allow Casey's mind to become at peace with his body," McColley said.

At the end of the journey, Fulp said, he has plans of starting a nonprofit to help injured veterans by "utilizing outdoor adventures for therapy."

He also hopes to buy land in Floyd County and go back to school at Virginia Tech.

But until then, he said, he's going to keep his thoughts on the journey and the meaning behind it all.

"When I finish this hike, I don't want people to remember me, I want them to remember why I did it," Fulp said.