I was broken, not broken like the "Need Help Guy" standing at an intersection. Broken in the sense of being lost inside. It wasn't like my life was in a shambles or anything. I had a great job, a great house, and a new car. Most people would say, 'What does he have to be broken about?'

I couldn't feel anything, not for my wife of twenty-five years, not for my grown daughter, and not for my granddaughter. Feeling anything just manifested itself as physical pain, so my life was only numbness. I had been like this for the past fifteen years. I did my job well, took care of my family, but felt no love or no passion for life. I would often daydream of ways to kill myself.

Then one Saturday walking the dog, I stopped at a garage sale. The woman was selling her ex-husbands stuff, which contained a lot of high end camping gear. I bought it all for fifty dollars. I told my wife about my find, and asked what she thought about me taking a few weeks of vacation to go hiking. She basically spent an hour emasculating me, and ended with telling me to get rid of that crap.

A month later, I shut down my computer, cleared my desk, and said goodbye to my boss and coworkers. It was Friday, April 18th, work had given me the month sabbatical I requested. Tomorrow morning I would be leaving the house at 5:00 a.m. for Springer Mountain, Georgia. I would just leave without telling my wife.

I got to Springer Mountain at 9:15 and was on the trail by 9:30. I had planned a fifteen-mile hike to the Gooch Mountain shelter, but I wasn't in as good of shape as I thought.

By the third day, and I was really pushing myself as the Blood Mountian shelter was fourteen miles, and I wanted to make it there before dark. I was about halfway when I stopped for water and a snack. I decided to check my phone, but as I was turning it on, a couple of young women walked by. One of them smiled and commented, "No coverage for at least five miles, sweetie."

The girls had full packs on and were leaving me in their dust. I huffed it in behind them and would see them from time to time, but they got further and further ahead. I got to Blood Mountain about an hour till dark. The two girls I saw earlier were there cooking their dinner when I walked up.

"Is there room in the shelter," I asked.

"Sure, sweetie, we're on the right side, just put your stuff next to ours."

I put my stuff in the shelter and pulled out my stuff to make dinner. I was just putting the finishing touches on dinner when a ranger walked up and announced;

"Is there a Doug Peterson here?"

I answered that I was Doug, and the ranger asked to speak to me in private. I had a pretty good idea of what it was about.

"Mr. Peterson, are you aware that you've been listed as a missing person?"

"Well, no," I responded, "but I guess I'm not surprised."

The ranger and I spoke for a bit about my situation, and he said he would call the detective that filed the report and explain. Still, as we parted, he said, "Doug, call your wife, and let her know you're okay." I told him I would, and went to grab my phone.

I turned on my phone to find I had sixty-eight messages, then dialed my wife, Janet. You can be sure, after ascertaining my whereabouts, she wasn't happy with me. Amazingly, she didn't argue or try and emasculate me as usual, she just pleaded with me to come home. I simply told her I had to do this, or I would never be any good to her. She seemed to accept the situation with a lot more grace than I ever would have thought, and we hung up with the promise I would call her again in a few days.

The girls were still sleeping when I awoke. Crystal's bag was open, and she was wearing only a thin white tank top and panties. She was attractive, with long red hair, pretty face, and a lean but muscular frame. The other girl Nancy had long brown hair, and from what I had seen, she was lovely as well. I estimated the girls were in their mid to late twenties.

"Okay old man, if you want to keep these cute little asses in few today, get a move on," said Crystal.

The girls headed down the trail with me in hot pursuit. I stayed most of the day within a few yards of Nancy, and we stopped around 11:00 a.m. for a break and to eat. We had already passed the Windy Gap shelter and were about three miles from Low Gap, where I had planned to spend the night. The girls, though, had informed me they were headed for Blue Mountain which was eleven more miles.

It was a little more challenging to keep up after our break. We were just passing Low Gap, and I had fallen back about a hundred feet when I heard Nancy call out. "We're losing the old man Cris."

"Give him some encouragement Nanc," replied Crystal.

Nancy stopped, bent over, and dropped her shorts and panties to her knees, and wiggled her bum at me. "Come on, old man, get those legs moving!"

I got within twenty feet before Nancy giggled and yanked her shorts up, then ran forward to catch up with Crystal. She caught up to Crystal, giggling and laughing, "I think he's encouraged, Cris."

I was back to within a few yards of Nancy as we caught up with Crystal. We made the eleven miles to Blue Mountain by 2:00 p.m. The girls stripped down and used a dry cleaning kit on each other while I acted as the lookout. I had planned to get a shower at the Appalachian Campground the next day, but the girls insisted since I was sleeping next to them, I needed a cleaning. They took it upon themselves to take care of that, and stripped me of my clothes. Then they both used the dry powder to scrub me clean. They seemed to delight in cleaning my hard cock with a wet nap, and once cleaned, Nancy started stroking me. Her touch was magic, I hadn't had another woman touch me in over twenty-five years.

After stroking me for a few minutes, getting me good and hard, she pulled me down on top of her and guided me into her pussy. She was very wet, so I slipped in without effort. She then wrapped her legs around my back and proceeded to piston my cock in and out. I was surprised I lasted more than a few seconds. My wife hadn't touched me in more than a month before I came on the trip, but I lasted several minutes until Crystal told us she could hear someone down the trail. Nancy doubled her efforts and sent us both over the edge in a few moments.

Crystal had dressed in a long nightshirt while Nancy and I were otherwise occupied. So Nancy and I dressed donned our sleeping gear just as a couple of other hikers walked into the clearing. It was still a couple of hours till dark, so we fixed our dinners, talked about our lives, and did some reading. Then just before dark, it started to storm, and the temperature dropped about twenty degrees.

We climbed into our sleeping bags, and I got warm right away. The girls, however, didn't have sleeping bags for as cold as it got that night. Crystal's teeth were chattering, so while my sleeping bag wasn't huge, I thought she could fit.

I asked Crytal if she wanted to climb in my bag, and she commented, "I thought you'd never ask."

Crystal quickly climbed in with me; it took her a few minutes to stop her shivering, but her body finally calmed, and we settled into a comfortable position. Nancy's bag was a bit heavier, so she curled up next to us and threw Crystal's bag on top.

Waking up with Crystal in my bag on one side, and Nancy pressed tight to the other side was a trip highlight. Not to mention already having had sex with Nancy the night before.

I had not come out here to cheat on my wife; in fact, even with the lack of sex and constant nagging, and emasculation, I had never considered cheating on her. I needed to find myself again, I needed to heal my soul, and at least for the moment, I was finding transcendence with these two young women.

The morning was cold, wet, and dreary, but we had been among the lucky. There looked to be about twelve of us packed into a shelter built for seven, but there were six tents set up outside. Everyone was beginning to stir, so I shook Crystal awake. She sleepily started running her hand over my body until it landed on my morning wood.

"Umm, looks like daddy's ready for some morning loving," Crystal whispered.

Nancy must have heard what she said, because she put a hand on Crystal's shoulder and shook her, "Crystal."

Crystal's eye's popped open with a start, and she looked around the shelter. Then squeezed my cock and quickly released it. "Oh, sorry, Doug, I didn't mean too… I mean, I wouldn't mind, but it's a little busy here."

"It's okay, I wasn't expecting anything. I'll be good in a couple of minutes." Crystal gave me a kiss on the cheek and thanked me for keeping her warm last night.

Then Nancy kissed the other cheek, "Yeah, old man, thanks for the other thing too, I really needed it."

We made our breakfast, and packed the gear, then headed out for the Appalachian Campground. The campground was two miles off the trail, but it was a popular place for thru-hikers to get supplied and a hot shower. It was all downhill from Blue Mountain, a drop of almost two-thousand feet, so we made the four miles to the campground in just over an hour.

The two best things about the campground were hot showers and a laundry. The laundry washers were big, so the girls and I shared one and then went to take showers while our stuff washed. After almost a week, the hot shower was a real luxury. I took an excellent twenty-minute shower, then went and checked our laundry. The laundry was still going, so I walked over to the office to pick up my supply pack.

I cleaned out my pack and resupplied, then went back to the laundry and move the stuff to the dryer. I was folding the laundry and just happened to have a pair of the girls' panties in my hand when Nancy walked in.

"Hey, old man, no sniffing my panties. Hum, a man the knows how to handle laundry, I might have to take you home with me," she exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm a man of many talents," I replied.

"I might have to be a little nicer to you, maybe stop calling you Old Man, so I can entice you back to my lair," she commented.

Nancy and I were laughing when Crystal walked in, looking all nice and clean. I had to say, I had thought Crystal was cute, but she cleaned up nicely, and I could see she was quite attractive.

"So what were you two laughing about?" Crystal asked.

"Oh, we were just talking about you and how flat your ass is, and well…" responded Nancy.

"You bitch, my ass is not flat," replied Crystal.

"Doug here, washed, dried, and folded our laundry. I think we need to take him back to Roanoke and keep him. Any man that will do my laundry can have the keys to my kingdom," said Nancy.

"You dumb bitch, you don't do your laundry now, I do it all," said Crystal.

"Yeah, but Doug has an obvious perk that you don't," responded Nancy.

"Girls, you realize I'm standing right here, and I've told you I'm married," I said.

"Yeah, yeah, sweetie, you just stand there and look pretty while we women folk figure out what to do," responded Nancy.

The girls looked at one another and burst out laughing. After the good laugh, we got our stuff packed up. Then we lucked out as a camp van was taking a couple people to the trail and offered us a ride. It would put us just nine miles from our next campsite at Deep Gap.

Crystal set off at a blistering pace, the first five miles were mostly downhill. There is an old saying among hikers, though, 'what goes down, must go back up again.' There was a two-thousand-foot climb from mile five to mile six. That was where the girls took off and left me. I was a lot faster than those first few days, but this climb was where I showed my age. I yelled to Nancy not to wait up, I'd see them at Deep Gap.

I finally crested Dismal Gap; I thought the name was appropriate. The trail then headed downhill again, but It was getting dark, and I was still a mile from the camp. I walked into the camp a half-hour later to hear,

"Doug, is that you?"

I called out that it was me, and Nancy flashed a light at me. The girls told me the shelter was already full when they got here a couple of hours ago. Nancy said she had her tent set up already, and the three of us could share.

While we would fit together in her tent, there wouldn't be room for our pack, so I pulled out my tent and had it up in about forty-five seconds.

"Doug, you suck, you know how long it took me to set up my tent, like ten minutes," said Nancy.

I looked at her and smiled, "Well, I guess you'll have to keep that cute little bum of yours in site from now on," I replied.

"If you'd quit walking like my grandpa, maybe you'd keep my cute little ass in-sight a little more often," Nancy retorted.

"Ow, Burn," said Crystal. "Okay old man, let's get you fed, we want to make sure your cane is still in working order before sleep."

I finished eating, and the girls had decided my tent was better, so we stowed our packs in Nancy's tent and put our sleeping bags in my tent. Then Nancy found another cool feature of my tent. She pushed a button in the corner, and the floor inflated. She looked at Crystal and said, "We're using his tent from now on."

That night would be only the beginning of my sexual revolution. These women were insatiable, unlike my wife, who treated sex as a chore, to be dealt with swiftly, and infrequent. Nancy and Crystal couldn't seem to get enough. They marveled at my staying power. Past young lovers had left them faking it, or just not reaching orgasm; I was able to get both of them off each and every time.

We all stripped naked and used wet naps to clean up our sex areas. Then Crystal started stroking my cock until it was nice and hard while Nancy and I kissed. Crystal climbed on and slowly impaled herself. She was slow and tender, and I could feel her passion. A passion I don't think I had ever felt with my wife, even during twenty-five years of marriage.

Crystal seemed to have an intense orgasm, then laid on top of me for a few minutes recovering. Nancy climbed on next; she was more fun-loving and showed a lot of enthusiasm, but I didn't feel the passion. Sex with Nancy was fast, more like she was riding a bucking bronco. Slamming her pussy down hard each time, making a slapping noise. The result was she would bring me to orgasm within a few minutes, but she also had one herself.

I woke early before the sun came up, and the girls were still sleeping. I just laid there contemplating the trip, the past week, and my infidelity. I never planned on being unfaithful to my wife. Yet, I realized the opportunity had just never presented itself until now. I felt so alone and unloved by the woman I had spent the past twenty-five years with. I just wanted a little affection, a little tenderness, and I guess to feel wanted.

The girls began to stir at first light, and Crystal did her thing again. She started running her hand over my chest, and finally landed on my bare cock. "umm, Daddy needs some attention this morning."

Nancy grabbed Crystal again and shook her awake. Crystal opened her eyes, and smiled up at me, but kept stroking me this time. She stroked me for a moment, then slid over on top of me and slid my cock inside her warm wet pussy. Like the night before, she was slow and passionate. She kissed me, and then Nancy, with a great passion for a few minutes. Then the three of us kissed in a triangle of lust until Crystal came.

We all got dressed and were about to leave the tent when I stopped the girls.

"Crystal, Nancy, I have to ask you something… Why are you allowing me to stay with you?" I asked.

"We like you, Doug, you're a really nice guy. And, well… girls really need a male traveling companion on the AT," answered Nancy.

"You could always take off with one of these young hikers, I wouldn't blame you. I just mean, I like you two, and really enjoy your company, but I would understand if you wanted to go off with someone your own age. And I'll stay with you just for the pleasure of your company, I don't expect you to have sex with me," I said.

The girls look at one another, smile, and giggle. "That sweetie is why you're going to get all the sex you can handle," said Nancy. "Most of the guys our age would expect sex as payment for allowing us to travel with them."

"And besides," retorted Crystal, "you're a good looking guy, I'd wager you could hold your own against any guy on the trail."

"Thank you both, but just know you don't owe me anything. I'll stay with you as long as you want me."

The next four days were fast-paced across the North Carolina highlands. The trail stayed mostly above five-thousand-feet until eight miles from the Nantahala. The views of the Smokey Mountains was spectacular, we tried to take breaks at the beautiful overlooks and took in the majesty. Then we dropped down four-thousand-feet in eight miles to arrive at the Nantahala River Outdoor Center for our resupply. I also found the Inn had a room open, so I rented it for the night.

The girls were appreciative of the hot showers and soft, warm beds. We had run out of the dry cleaning powder three days before, so the three of us smelled mostly of sweat and Axe body spray. The girls hadn't offered sex for the last few days. They said they only had a few wet naps left to clean themselves and didn't want to add to the horror. I laughed at their description and told them I was sure I wasn't any better.

I took an opportunity before we went to a restaurant to eat and called my wife, Janet. Janet seemed very placid as we talked. She asked questions about the trail and how far I had come. I asked her how things were going and about our daughter and granddaughter. She asked me if I was still coming home in a couple of weeks, and I told her I wasn't sure, but I would keep her up to date. There was no profession of love at the end of the conversation, just take care, and we hung up.

I would not have put it past Janet to have filed for divorce. It wasn't what I wanted, but then again, I didn't really know what I wanted. I just wanted happiness, and whatever accompanied it.

I bought the girls a nice dinner that evening, and then we retired to our room. There were two king-size beds, the girls in one bed and me in the other. The girls had themselves all tucked in when I came out of the bathroom, so I told them goodnight and turned out the light.

It was about two minutes before I heard Nancy speak.

"I guess he was telling the truth, Cris," said Nancy.

"Yeah, Nanc, I guess he was," replied Crystal.

"He didn't even look disappointed when we were already in bed," said Nancy.

"No, he didn't, Nanc," said Crystal, "I guess we're going to have to fuck him doubly hard for that."

"Yeah, Cris, I guess we are," replied Nancy.

I could hear the rustling of sheets, the light turned on, and there stood Nancy and Crystal, both in a sexy negligee.

"You didn't really think you weren't getting laid tonight, did you?" asked Nancy.

"Yeah, you know you can ask us, right?" asked Crystal.

"Ladies, I told you, you don't have to anything for me, and if I asked, it would just put pressure on you," I responded.

Nancy lept from the floor, to on top of me, and started lightly grinding as she spoke.

"Cris and I appreciate your fortitude, but from now on, just ask or make an advance, and we'll do the same. If we don't feel like it, we'll let you know, deal. Now old man, Cris and I haven't had sex in four days, so we're either going to lie next to you and do each other, do you, or maybe a little of both. What's it going to be?"

"You can do anything you like," I responded.

Crystal jumped up and straddled my face, while Nancy removed my shorts. So began the most prolonged sexual fantasy of my life. A real three-way, the girls and I got into every imaginable position we could think of.

My favorite was definitely the triangle, with one girl on my face and the other on my cock. Both girls tasted sweet, Crystal's juices trickled out when she came, while Nancy would flood my face. I came about ten minutes after we started, and just after Crystal had slid on my cock. I told her I was going to cum, and she cried out, "Oh daddy, not yet." And reached between us and squeezed my cock. To her disappointment, It was too late, and I came anyway.

It didn’t take long for me to recover, and we went at it for a total of four hours that night. It was the best sexual experience I had ever had in my forty-one years.

I awoke the next morning with the sun, even though we hadn't gotten to sleep until midnight. The girls, however, would not get up, so I let them rest until 11:00. We had to check-out by noon, so they begrudgingly got showered and dressed, and we went to a restaurant for a nice lunch.

We had planned to go further, but since it was 1:00 p.m. by the time we got on the trail. We would make a five-mile, four-thousand-foot climb to Sassafras Gap and stay there tonight. It wasn't a long hike distance-wise, but it was a steep climb. Crystal had been the one setting our blistering pace, but I had to continually pat her bum to keep her moving today.

We got to the shelter before dark and were the only ones there. We ate dinner and bedded down, but I had a couple of questions I finally wanted to ask.

"Why are you girls on the trail?" I asked.

They looked at each other for a moment, and the Crystal spoke. "Because of my dad, he and I always said we would hike the AT one day, but we never got the chance to do it together. I lost my job a week before we started and just said 'fuck it,' I'm going to do it. Nancy is my best friend and said she couldn't let me do it alone, so she quit her job and came with me."

"Okay, I get that," I replied, "but why do you keep calling me daddy while we're having sex?"

The girls looked at each other for a moment, then Nancy said, "Tell him, Cris, I don't know how I know, but I know we can trust him."

Crystal sighed and then spoke. "Okay, so two things you need to understand. First, my dad died two years ago, and two, he never abused me or took advantage of me in any way. You have to promise, no judgment."

"I promise, no judgment," I replied.

Crystal began relaying the tale of her young life.

"So my mother left when I was eight, and my dad raised me. Daddy worked really hard to support us and held down two jobs during the week. Every weekend he would spend every waking moment with me. Really, my dad was my hero. He brought me up to be an outdoor person. We spent the weekends, hiking, camping, biking, or swimming at the lake. When I turned twelve, I started telling my dad he needed to find a woman, but he always gave me a standard answer, 'I already have a princess at home, no man could ask for more.'

Even though he would never do anything sexual with me. I thought a lot about it, probably more than a daughter should, and I felt like he was the love of my life.

He tried to convince me to move out and find a young man to be happy with. We lived as father-daughter, and best friends until he died. It was two days after my twenty-third birthday. He fell down a flight of stairs at work and broke his neck.

Anyway, I came here to heal my broken heart, and say goodbye to my daddy."

Crystal and Nancy watched me intently after the story was finished. Probably looking for what they feared would be disgust, none came. I felt like I understood. Crystal had a beautiful relationship with someone she loved without question. It seemed like, for Crystal, at least, it had been right for her.

"Crystal, first no judgment, I have a twenty-year-old daughter, whom I love unconditionally. While I can't comprehend that type of relationship with my own daughter, I understand love sometimes transcends boundaries. I guess what I'm saying is, never be ashamed of who you love. As long as you don't feel taken advantage of, then love who you love," I said.

Crystal gave me a bone-crushing hug and thanked me for understanding. The girls cuddled up next to me, and we all went to sleep.

The trip across the Smokie Mountain National Park took five days. We were making anywhere from eighteen to twenty-four miles a day, then the fifth day coming down out of the park, we made it thirty-two miles.

When I first met the girls, and they told me they were hiking to Roanoke, I figured it would take them three months. Now I saw that the three of us could make it in less than two months.

We still had about two weeks to get to Roanoke when I had been gone a month. I called my work to let them know I need the time, and I found out my value that day. The company was being sold, and I was being promoted to a vice president of development. To finalize the deal, the buyer needed me to assist them in integrating our two products. When the product was finished, I would golden parachute out a wealthy man.

I also found out that day that my wife had filed for divorce. Not that I could blame her; she wanted our house, her car, and a hundred-thousand dollars of my 401K. I told her if she dropped the 401K requirement, I would finish paying off her car and give her everything else. She agreed, and my twenty-five years in prison was done.

The girls and I stayed friends, and I had traveled to Roanoke every weekend to spend time with them. We camped and hiked every chance we got. Nancy found a boyfriend on one of our camping trips, he was just two years younger than me.

I finished my job developing a new software product and officially retired at forty-five. I met Crystal for dinner the next evening and told her the good news. Then, being the sap, I was, got down on one knee in the middle of the restaurant, and proposed. Crystal's eyes were as big saucers when she looked at the 2-carat solitaire in front of her.

We now hike all over the world but had to hike the AT start to finish at least once. Nancy and Jason often travel with us, and we sometimes swap partners or have foursomes. But that's another story.