Introducing “Inspiring Profiles”

The stories in this series are of ordinary people who have accomplished extraordinary things in life.  We hope readers of “The Hiker” blog find these personal accounts to be enjoyable and in some way inspirational.

The first “Inspiring Profile” is of a woman who at a young age, had an adventurous spirit.  At the core of her life, as a spouse, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, has been a love of the outdoors.  That love has rubbed off on members of her family and many who have enjoyed the outdoors with her. 

Meet Helen (Velas) Giossi:

She was too young to remember the first time she camped out overnight, or climbed a mountain with her family, but one thing is certain, Helen loved being in the Allegheny mountains of Pennsylvania.  Dozens of hikes, many nights in a tent, numerous mountain tops, and decades later, she tells her story.

“I went hiking with my Father a lot as a child.  People ask how can you walk so fast?  The reason is my Father walked fast.  I had to walk fast or run to keep up with him.  My father was a walker.  He walked every single day.  That helped keep him well until the very end.  I was (laughing) born into an active family.  If anyone should get the credit it would be my Father.”

Helen Velas was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1931.  The third oldest of five girls and two boys, Helen remembers the difficulties her family experienced in the Great Depression. 

She was three months old when her parents decided her Mother and siblings would return to Czechoslovakia, where the family still owned a farm.  They lived there seven years while her Father remained in the U. S.

Helen (middle) crossing a stream, at 10,850' el., White River Natl. Forest

 The family lived close to the Allegheny mountains,” Helen recalled.  “In Fall, the trees were so beautiful.  I was very young but I would go up there and just walk.”  It was the beginning of a life long attraction to the outdoors, for her.

The Velas family was “quite poor, and my parents were not educated,” Helen told me.  “When I was young, not many people had cars.  The majority of people walked.  In grade school and high school we would hike over the mountains to the next town.  We did that many times on Saturday.”

Helen (far right) enjoys miles of climbing in a day.

 To Helen, time in the mountains was time to dream, time to reflect and be grateful.  “I could go to the mountains and say my prayers, like it was my time in church.  When I would go there, it would remind me to say ‘Thank You’ for everything.” 

She was 24 when she married Martin Giossi, in 1955.  He had a career in the Army.  That assured the couple would be living in more than one city.  They first lived in Petersburg, Virginia, (Ft. Lee) for eight years.  “The state is beautiful, despite the fact it has rain and humidity.  The trees are beautiful there,” she recalled.  They also lived in Williamsburg, while Martin was stationed at Ft. Eustis.

Ptarmigan Trail, Silverthorne, with hiking buddy Louisa.

  El Paso, Texas (Ft. Bliss), was home for fourteen years. “I never heard of hiking there.  I don’t remember many trees, and there were no mountains.  Instead we would go rock climbing.  Our children were very young at the time.  I would take them hiking and fishing.  In Texas, the weather was good.  We would go camping every weekend.  We would go to lakes to fish, and usually go for the weekend and walk around the lakes.”

Helen and Martin had three sons and one daughter, since passed.  Helen has five Grandchildren and two Great-Grandchildren, all except one live in Texas.  A Ganddaughter lives and works for a tour company, leading hikes throughout Guatemala.  “Two years ago, she came to Colorado for a month.  I took her to Utah and we hiked for ten days in Utah National Park.  So she is a hiker too,” Helen said with a smile.

When asked if she had any embarrassing moments while on trail, she said, without hesitating, “One time, I was taking two of my sons fishing at a lake we had not been to.  We got up very early that day, and I wasn’t looking at my feet.  At the time, I wasn’t using hiking shoes.  I just had a pair of tennis shoes.

You know what I did…on my left foot, I had a shoe from one pair.  On the right foot, I had a shoe from another pair.  I met some people that day and they kept looking at me like there was something wrong.”

Helen (left) on Burning Bear Trail, Pike National Forest

 The Giossis’ moved to Colorado in 1976, when Martin retired.  He went back to school and later found a job in the GAO (General Accounting Office) in Denver.  Soon after, “I joined the CMC (Colorado Mountain Club), and I remember they were very strict about what you wore. You could not wear jeans (too heavy, and cold when wet).  Today, you  have shirts that wick the wetness away from your skin, and they are really light weight.”

One might think a woman with a passion for hiking would have a touch of “14er fever.”  Not in this case.  “I have hiked many miles in the state but never climbed a 14er,” she said.”

“When I was in my early 70’s I hiked in Patagonia, Chili.  I have also hiked in the Dolomite mountains of Italy, and a number of hikes in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies about twenty years ago.”

Helen has hiked in the area around Halifax, Nova Scotia.  The highest tides in the world can be found at the Bay of Fundy, which separates New Brunswick from Nova Scotia.  “In the morning, you can walk down steps to the ocean floor where high jagged cliffs are exposed.  At high tide, the difference from low tide can be 53 feet or more – taller than a three-story building,” according to Helen. 

Ed and Helen on Spruce Creek Trail to Mohawk Lakes, Breckenridge

 We asked Helen if she had any close encounters with wildlife.  “I had one tense encounter with a bear.  I was coming back by myself in a State Park Resort, in Kentucky.  There were quite a few people out that day but I would only occasionally look up.”

“As I am hiking, I see a young bear was on my path looking directly at me.  He was only about ten yards in front of me.  There was no where I could go.  The path was very rocky behind me so I couldn’t run.  I didn’t know what to do.”

“I decided to just stand there.  He looked at me (it seemed like half an hour), of course it was only a minute or two before he went into the brush.  Then I was afraid he would come back.  I decided to stay where I was.  A few minutes later, he came back, and looked at me again, then walked off into the brush for good this time.”

“All I remember, he wasn’t full grown, a young bear.  I kept thinking, where is his mother?  Luckily, (laughing) he did not make a move toward me, and everything turned out ok.”

Hiked 6.8 mi. and 1,750' el. gain on the way to Continental Falls

 In terms of her position on the state of the environment, the increasing use of our national parks and wilderness areas and the lack of respect some people have for nature, Helen said, “I believe in taking care of our land.  I believe in not throwing trash around.  I have actually picked up trash at times on trail.  It really irritates me.  My parents did not throw trash around.”

“To this day, that bothers me when I see people emptying their ash trays out of the car into the street.  If we don’t start doing different things (like recycling) we can hurt the fish and the animals.  You need to think of your fellow-man, of nature, and the animals.”

Helen and fellow-hiker carefully maneuver trail laced with sharp granite at 11,350' el.

 Helen has been hiking all but a few of her 80 years.  It is maybe the primary reason her overall health has been good.  Certainly age has not been a factor in her active lifestyle.  Helen has not slowed down in terms of her hiking schedule or in life.  “I like swimming and I have done water aerobics, and I am thinking of trying yoga.  I like to try something new, something different.”

“Hiking has helped me quite a bit.  It is part of the reason I only take one medicine, which is very good.  When I buy aspirin, I buy the smallest package. Then I usually throw some away because the shelf life date is too old.  My husband would tell me, if everybody was like me, the Pharmacy would go out of business.”

On the use of hiking poles, Helen said, “One year, I took a hike in Olympic National Park.  Those were hard hikes and one in particular was very difficult.  That’s when a fellow hiker recommended I use two poles.  Especially when you are coming down, if the path is wet, they come in handy.  I have been using poles ever since.”

“I went on a five-day camping trip in the back country of Escalante (National Park), Utah.  It was to be a hike but we did more rock climbing, which I didn’t expect.  That I found difficult.  I was 78 at the time.  “A group of four women from California were on the trip.  The second day at camp, one of the women said, you know I shouldn’t but I’m gonna ask you, how old are you?  I told her.  She said, wow, now I know how many years I can hike.”  

“I go to the theatre a lot, I like opera, I like symphony.  I like reading, especially when the weather is bad, it doesn’t bother me, because I can just sit at home with a cup of tea and a book.  It’s ok.”

We asked Helen, “What is it about ACAA hikes that you enjoy?  “The hiking program here at ACAA has been good for me because I enjoy being with people.  Plus, I find many times I go on hikes I’ve never heard of.  The most important thing is to be able to hike with people, and enjoy the social aspect.”

“In terms of hiking as a good exercise, I would tell people to walk every day.  I walk every day except Sunday, in the community.  Sometimes I walk two miles, other times, I walk ten miles.  You need to walk every day.  You can’t go hiking once a week, it’s not enough.”

Helen (left) talks to a fellow hiker on Colorado Trail at Kenosha Pass

 “Hiking relaxes me.  I enjoy walking next to water, and hearing the water run.  To me, that’s relaxing.  Or even to hear the birds sing, to hear them chirp.  The outdoors is so beautiful.” 

“I look forward to going out hiking all the time.  It is a big motivator for me.  Perhaps, if I have a headache and I go for a walk, it goes away.  So for me, it’s like a medicine.  I guess I was born to love the outdoors.”

Her most recent adventure was mid-October.  One of 17 hardy soles, Helen took an eight-day trip to the remote town of Churchill, on the shore of Hudson Bay, Manitoba, Canada.  “The flight from Denver to Winnipeg took less time than the 40-hr train ride from Winnipeg to Churchill,” she said.  Called the Muskeg Express, this train is anything but express.  The reason…soft soil caused by subsurface permafrost and Canadian Shield rock formation.

“Accommodations were at the independent, non-profit, Northern Studies Center (NSC), outside Churchill.  The first two days were spent riding across the artic tundra in a Tundra Buggy (similar to a Snow Cat).  We were within 100 yards of three bears the first day.  They are huge animals,” Helen said.

“Did you ever hear of a Wood Frog?  This frogs body can be frozen and still survive,” according to Helen.  It’s true, we looked it up.  In fact these frogs can survive many such freeze/thaw events if up to 65% of their body is frozen.  The thriving town on Hudson Bay will continue to educate and inspire visitors like Helen.        

But remember…there are no billboards, chain restaurants, hotels, stoplights, or freeways in or around this tiny town.  Just quiet nights, clean air, and polar bears.

Helen Giossi, an inspiration to those who know her.

 Authors Note:  A long time hiker myself, I inherently analyze those I hike with.  Helen is no exception.  I have noticed how easily she seems to “glide” across any type of terrain she encounters on trail.  Loose rock, exposed root, eroded trail bed, or steep incline, Helen always takes the right step, in the right place, showing her focus and experience, while maintaining a steady pace.  She is usually one of the first in our group to reach a ridge, top of a mountain, maneuver across a field of scree or talus or traverse a mile-long alpine basin.

Helen “Gets it” when she must step over (not on) a log water bar.  She “Gets it” if there is a blow down across trail and she must bushwhack another mile to reach her destination.  She “Gets it” if runoff has washed out a section of trail and she must find an alternate way to continue.  She would say, ‘been there, done that’.  She does it all without complaint.  Because it’s all part of the journey Helen has come to love.

Her stature is no indicator of her strength, her stamina, or her desire.  She can hike mile after mile at a good 2 to 3 mph pace.  Helen respects nature and the environment.  When she is in the backcountry, she understands it is home to many species of wildlife and she is only a visitor. Helen is a good role model.  We wish her a safe, long, and happy journey.

If you know someone with an inspiring story, email their contact information (Name, email or phone) to “The Hiker” at www.thecohiker2011@gmail.com 

“I dream of hiking into my old age. 

I want to be able even then to pack my load and take off slowly but steadily along the trail.”

___ Marlyn Doan, Hiking Light, 1982