Paul Travers has been focusing on the number 5 million lately.

He estimates it's the number of steps he'll take as he makes his way from Georgia to Maine on the Appalachian Trail.

He also knows that 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease. One of them is his 88-year-old father, Herman.

Travers, 57, of Parkton, will take his first step March 30 when he begins Herm's Hike — an event to raise money for and awareness of Alzheimer's, a progressive and fatal brain disease that is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.

Travers, an author of four books — including "Eyewitness To Infamy: An Oral History of Pearl Harbor" and "The Patapsco: Baltimore's River of History" — is retiring March 27 from his civilian job with the Army at Fort Meade.

Three days later, he will begin hiking the entire 2,175 miles of the Appalachian Trail.

His wife, Cathy, will join him for the first 100 miles before she returns home. She'll meet Paul along the trail to bring food and supplies and sometimes hike with him.

He hopes to end his hike on top of Maine's Mount Katahdin in mid-September.

"I want this hike to give meaning to my father's life," Travers said. "I'll be talking about him when I meet people on the trail. Everybody will know about him."

Herman Travers is a World War II Army veteran who served in the Pacific. He served at Pearl Harbor and on Guadalcanal before he was injured by Japanese machine gunfire during the battle of Peleliu.

When he returned to Baltimore in 1946, he got a job with the old Post Office Department and raised three children with his wife, Frances.

Herman Travers always said he wanted to return to Hawaii and hike its mountains. He also talked about hiking on the Appalachian Trail.

"We used to hike at Herring Run or Patapsco State Park when I was 9 or 10," Paul said of excursions with his father. "Back then, we thought we were in the wilderness.

"My father said he thought it would be neat to hike the Appalachian Trail as a family some day," he said. "That must have put the seed in my mind."

When his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and ended up in a nursing home in 2006, Travers put the idea of a hike together with raising money for Alzheimer's research.

Part of his trip preparation involved a meeting with Mike Wingeart, of Sparks, who has hiked the trail twice.

"I showed Paul my gear and tried to answer all his questions," Wingeart said. "He'd mention food or shelters, and I'd just start talking and talking. I hope I helped."

Paul has already contacted caregiver support groups in each of the 14 states he'll hike through. His plan is to call each group when he gets close, and he hopes to be taken to a meeting where he will talk about his experiences with his father. He'll also let them know about the fundraiser.

Travers hopes to raise $10,000 for the Alzheimer's Association. So far, he has donations totaling $1,500.

"Paul came to us with this amazing idea to do this amazing physical feat to raise money," said Jessica Suriano, of the Maryland chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. "This is the most extreme event to come our way and we're very excited."

Foot Forward

Parkton resident Paul Travers is raising money for the Alzheimer's Association through pledges for his hike along the Appalachian Trail. Straight monetary donations are welcome, as well as pledges per mile — for instance, a penny per mile equals $21.75; a dime per mile is $217.50.

Donations of $200 or more receive an autographed copy of Travers' book, "Eyewitness to Infamy, December 7, 1941."

For more information, go to www.paultravers.com.

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