Chicago Man Hikes Appalachian Trail, Proposes

Engagement ring includes stone fiancée picked up along route.

One Chicago man has achieved two big dreams.

Matt Dieschbourg left his girlfriend behind months ago when he went off on a 2,175-mile hike of the Appalachian Trail. But it took him only a few weeks to realize he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

"When I left to go on the trail, it was one of those things. She was hurt that I didn’t think to ask her to come with me. But it was my time to go out and find myself before I start my life," the 28-year-old Dieschbourg told the Bangor Daily News.  "It was a lot of time for me to spend time with me, but it only took me not having her in my life for two weeks and I was like, ‘Wow. I don’t want to do this.’

His girlfriend, Sofie Grzenia, later joined him on the trail in northern Tennessee.  There, she picked up and commented about a beautiful quartz rock.

Dieschbourg carried that rock for 1,200 miles before having it set in an 18-carat gold engagement ring.

Over the weekend, Dieschbourg completed the hike and proposed to Grzenia atop Maine's mile-high Mount Katahdin. A Korean film crew that happened to be at the summit on Baxter Peak recorded the event.

Grzenia said it was a scary hike because it was blowing and snowing on Saturday.

Dieschbourg said he didn't expect to be surrounded by a film crew and other hikers when he dropped to a knee on the summit and proposed. The small audience cheered when she accepted.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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