Surviving A Hike

Kevin Koczwara: A sense of dread has hung over Jason Spare's life.

Spare's father was 33 years old when he had his first heart attack. It almost killed him. Spare's mother had breast cancer and complications related to the chemotherapy haunted her. They both died in their late 50s.

"I always had in the back of my mind a sense of mortality and urgency in life from being in that kind of situation so early on," Spare says.

Spare, 46, looks worried. He's digging through his stuff and reorganizing his backpack on the cold concrete floor of an ancient feeling ski lodge. He's getting ready for what will be the hardest thing he has ever done: a 50-mile, 36-hour hike through the wilderness of Vermont…