Wow, how long did it take to hike the Appalachian Trail? 
6 months to finish the 3k miles 
How was that experience for you? Did you go with friends? 
I went solo for the spiritual experience of finishing the longest hiking only trail in the world. I felt very enlightened at the end of it. Have you ever done anything similair?
Sounds amazing. No I have not done anything like that. I am dull. I love to work on Genealogy in my spare time. 
There's nothing dull about genealogy. Your genealogy is the story of you. Have you found anything intersting about your ancestry?
No not yet. I have been helping friends with theirs and only started working on my own family last week. I hope to find a lot of information over time though. Have you done any genealogy?
You have some lucky friends! I have some family members that have dabbled with ancestry.com but never myself. Think it's something I should look into?
Oh yes, everyone has a story and it can be fascinating to learn even mundane things about our ancestors. I do recommend it. 
What else can you tell me about genealogy?
It really connects the present with the past and it makes sense out of some things that previously made no sense. In addition it is a lot of fun!. 
History is powerful like, that! I wish I knew more about the past. Where's a good place to start when it comes to learning about the people that came before me?