Hooked on backpacking

Near the end of a 35-year work career, one conversation with a co-worker changed everything.  The line went something like this. One of the machine operators does crazy stuff.  He goes out in the mountain for days at a time.  He carries a big pack thing on his back.

My interest had been sparked.  I had to meet this crazy mountain man.

Turns out I knew the guy.  I asked if I could join him and a third co-worker on their next trip.  We were soon spending time planning weekend, then week-long backpack trips up and down the east coast.  No matter how many years go by, a trail journal will have the adventures documented.

Appalachian Trail, October, 2004, Shenandoah National Park.  Writing in my journal.

My home state of Pennsylvania is where it started, of course.  From 1990 to 2001, I had accumulated a few hundred miles, hiking.  Then in 2000, the 2,177 mile Appalachian Trail (A.T.) became more and more of my focus. In 2002, we hiked close to 200 miles, most of which included the major trail systems in the state including Tuscarora, Mid-State, Susquehannock, Allegheny Front, Old Loggers Path, Black Forest, and A.T. 

Large rattler on trail.

The challenge of completing a long trail was always something I hoped to do.  It was a thrill to plan trips on the A.T. because the adventures kept being further from home.  Chunks of  miles from 2003 to 2006 were soon logged, and by 2007, we had backpacked our way across Deleware, West Virginia and deep into the Shenandoah Valley.  One stretch of A.T. is forever etched in my mind..  That would be the 92 miles of Shenandoah National Park.  During that same period I would get heart wrenching news, however.  Diagnosis of  early Parkinson's. 

Manassas Gap shelter - typical three-sided shelter on the A.T.

It was the same year I decided to retire.  My last day of employment was Friday, June 23rd.  Three days later, I would be driving into our oldest daughters' driveway, in Centennial, Colorado. Three weeks after arriving, I stopped by the Aurora Center for Active Adults.  That day was the beginning of the most exciting chapter of my life.

First hike with ACAA. From my journal:  Tuesday, August 7, 2007.  Destination, Calypso Cascades from the Wild Basin TH, RMNP.

...On trail about an hour when the sky opened up forcing us to don rain gear.  Take special care to protect my camera.  Trail becomes muddy with standing water on the flats.  Trail ups are sluggish as trail becomes more like walking into an oncoming stream.  As we start for the TH, hail begins to fall stinging my exposed hands.  My boots are not Gortex.  Soaked to the skin from my waist down, I begin to hear the sloshing sound.  Yep, soaked socks.  My left knee and other joints feel good today.  An awesome day. 


What I learned: 

• If I can hike in the rain like an 80-year-old did today, I have many years of hiking left.

• All eleven people today are a true testament that being active extends ones life.      

 Now, five years after that first hike, to the day (August 7th, 2012).  Journal entries over the period captured countless experiences, vivid memories to share, and over 670 miles hiked on the trails of Colorado.  There have been absolutely no regets.

Why?  Because it's all about the journey.