Annual Hiker 'Gathering'

Each November, members of the High Country Hikers group get together one last time to celebrate the end of the hiking season.  This year, the event was held Saturday, November 16th, at the Aurora Center for Active Adults.

As the 24 members and their guests arrived, each was given a pre-numbered ticket that would later be their claim to a door prize.  Prizes included REI gift cards, matted images from past hikes, a cotton throw blanket, boxes of blank note cards, and bottles of wine.

Lunch was catered for the second straight year by Schlotzsky's Deli, 850 S. Abilene Street, Aurora.

Schlotzsky's delicious hand made sandwiches.

 

The program included a power point presentation of the best images captured from hikes throughout the 2013 season.

During the event, attendees were challenged to remember bits of trivia from hikes this past season.  Examples included:

• White Ranch Park hike:  What type of antique items were located at the TH?   Farm Implements 
  
• Alberta Falls/Bierstadt Lake hike:  What natural phenomenon was observed during the return ride on I-25 to Aurora? Double Rainbow   What happened to the cherry pie Nancy bought?  She dropped it in the parking lot 
  
• French Gulch hike:  What was the profession of the man we met on the return to the TH?  Professional Snowboarder 

  

  Snowboarder

• Mt. Snitkau hike:  What classic pop song was demonstrated by 4 HCH members while on this hike?  YMCA  Who recorded it and in what year?  Village People...1978 

  

  Village People

Hike leader and driver, Ed Blum was recognized for his continued loyalty to and leadership of the group.  Ed was given a gift card from REI.

Ed Blum

                             An activity many looked forward to was a cross word puzzle for hikers.  The puzzle included 31 words across and 30 words down.  All answers were directly related to the activity of hiking.  Blank puzzle sheets, plus down and across questions were mailed to HCH members, who by paying for the event in advance, confirmed they would attendance.   At the event correct answers were provided each table of attendees.  One person at each table called out the correct answers while players checked their answers.  Players then tallied their correct answers to determine a winner.  Who was it...Kathy Tedrick, with 54 correct out of 61 possible.  Congratulations, Kathy. 

Xword Kathy

High Country Hikers group patches were available to members for purchase at $9.00 each.  Patches can still be obtained by contacting the author.

Official patch of the High Country Hikers group.

The annual 'Gathering' ended with the reading of comments from a man who recently thru-hiked the 2,650 mile Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).

Paul Lukovick (trail name, Luckyman) began his epic journey May 24th at the Mexican border with California and finished September 26th at the Canadian border with Washington state. 

Over that time, he walked through 24 national forests, 37 wilderness areas, 7 national parks, and 6 of 7 ecozones in the U.S. He walked 20+ miles/day.  His highest mileage day was 56 miles. 
 

The final paragraph of his 81 page on-line journal:  Referring to the many people he met and hiked with on trail..."We all shared experiences, suffered through the same storms, looked for rides to town together, spent nights next to the same lakes together, and had conversations over meals together.  Not once did I feel the need to protect myself with weapons or with words.  In fact the more I exposed myself through unguarded conversation, the deeper the connections with others became."

See the entire 81 page journal of Paul Lukovick at www.postholer.com/luckyman