PDA

View Full Version : The best of Trail Magic



HarleyHogPit
11-09-2005, 21:24
I'm planning a thru-hike for next year so when I saw 3 thru-hikers at a local post office I asked if they were hungry. They looked at me as if I had 3 heads and said "definitely". I took them home to eat some food. They were so cool I let them take showers, use the internet, and take a nap. We all went out that evening with a few of my friends to some local bars and then the next day I took them to Harpers Ferry. They said that I would never understand the extent of what I had done for them until I was on the trail myself. They used the term "trail magic". Hopefully I have some good karma awaiting me on the trail.

What is the most awesome "trail magic" you have experienced on the trail?

neo
11-09-2005, 21:47
what go's around come's around have a good future thru hike,the best trail magic to me is being on the trail:cool: neo

Bassline
11-09-2005, 21:55
I think most 05 hikers will remember the glorious Burritos right before you climb Albert Mountain.

skeeterfeeder
11-09-2005, 22:06
It is going to be difficult to decide what is the greatest trail magic of my thru. There were the steak dinners cooked at Rock Gap, the surprise dinner supplied by Neighbor Dave's father, the countless rides to and from town stops, the huge breakfast at a local church near Bland, and of course, Bluejay offering to drive to anywhere in New England if a hiker needed his help, the many, many coolers of cold drinks and goodies left by total strangers, the little kids that had the Welcome Hiker sign near to Mt. Greylock. But one that was very significant was when I was near Catawba, and my camera batteries were going out. I was getting ready to climb Macaffee (sp) Knob and needed to find Lithium AA's.
A trail maintainer saw me hitching into Catawba, and offered to drive me in. When we arrived at the only little store in town, I was saddened to find there was no such batteries. The man immediately drove me 15 miles to a much larger town, and around to several stores until I found what I needed. He then offered to take me to get something to eat, and then drove me back to the trail head, where he refused any kind of payment. A great guy, whose trail name is Leftfielder.
But then again, I would hate to overlook Robert Bird and 'The Bird Cage'.

neo
11-10-2005, 11:48
I STILL SAY THE BEST TRAIL MAGIC IS BEING ON THE TRAIL PERIOD:cool: NEO

Lone Wolf
11-10-2005, 11:53
"Trail magic" is overrated.

Seeker
11-10-2005, 11:54
sometime during my dark years in knoxville, as my business was failing (see trailnames thread for the gory details), i was up at clingmans on my way to the double springs shelter... i had come up the access trial and passed a couple tourists at the tower ramp. i got down to trail and was leaning on my stick taking a breather when a guy i had just passed came trotting up behind me and said 'excuse me... i have no idea why i'm saying this, but i just felt compelled to come after you and ask if i could pray with you... would you wait while i go back and get my friends?" i wasn't in a really 'god is good' mood, but grunted a yes... he went back and got his wife and another couple... they prayed over me and i'll leave it at that... he was a youth minister from detroit area, back in knoxville for a week... still really weird that it happened at a time when i really needed to find something to hold onto... without getting too mushy, looking back, it was one of those 'footprints poem' moments... i spent a lot of time up in that area... used to bring marshmallows and s'mores fixins up to the mt collins shelter a lot, with my daughter, to share with thru hikers... one in particular i remember was 'little suitcase'... he was from maine. i found out recently that he did about 1500 miles that year, at age 60 something, and that he finally finished his hike a few years later. i always offered to carry out their trash too, as it was really close to the road, not hard to do, and a good example for my kids...

Footslogger
11-10-2005, 11:56
I experience some trail magic in 2003 but for me the best were the random acts of kindness that did not involve soda or candy left along the trail.

'Slogger

HarleyHogPit
11-10-2005, 12:09
Seeker, Wow... that is an amazing story. God is awesome! The spiritual awakening that comes from being on the trail is the main reason that I decided to do the trail in the first place.

jackiebolen
11-10-2005, 12:13
In 2004, Scorpion and I were going to hitch into Palmerton to stay at the jailhouse hostel. Before we even stuck out our thumb, a nice-looking convertible cruises over and asks if we need a ride to town. We said, "are you sure you want us in your car?" She said jump in and before we knew it, we had an invitation to dinner and an offer to stay at her house for the night.

She had to go back to work, so she dropped us off, showed us around this amazing log-cabin house and then left us to our own devices. Shower, laundry, beer-on-tap, food in the fridge. The only rule was that we had to sit on the porch at a certain time so her husband wouldn't come home to strangers in the house.

So she came back, cooked supper, fed us large amounts of beef jerkey and sausage and then took us to the grocery store.

Next morning, scrambled eggs for breakfast and a ride back to the trail. It was amazing.

Mags
11-10-2005, 12:22
The best trail magic was on Max Patch. It was 1998 and the year of El Nino. Lost track of the number of days of snow and rain I had for my first month or so. I was cold, hungry and a bit depressed. Questioning why I was on the trail.

On Max Patch, was in a mixture of fog and snow. Could not see off the summit.

Then the fog and snow lifted. Could see the view for a small instant. It was beautiful.

I knew then would make it to the Big K.

Was a bit of the trail in a nutshell: No matter how hard the trail becomes, the rewards are bountiful.

A can of cold soda can be nice, but the true trail magic is from the trail itself.

A pic of that day: http://gallery.backcountry.net/magsAT98/ajp

neo
11-10-2005, 12:39
Seeker, Wow... that is an amazing story. God is awesome! The spiritual awakening that comes from being on the trail is the main reason that I decided to do the trail in the first place.

that the way i feel too:cool: neo

Gray Blazer
11-10-2005, 12:55
When I ran into the swedish hiking bikini team on Tray Mountain.

Seeker
11-10-2005, 18:44
Seeker, Wow... that is an amazing story. God is awesome! The spiritual awakening that comes from being on the trail is the main reason that I decided to do the trail in the first place.
i've always found god in the woods, since i was little... i let my (insert denomination here) upbringing steer me more toward religion and away from spirituality, and got way sidetracked when something went wrong in my life... i'm finding it again, whatever 'it' is, by going back to the woods... someday i'll do the whole AT, but the little bit that i've walked and rewalked (smokies) was nice. so now i find him in the kisatchie forest, through the eyes of my daughter... pretty cool how it works out sometimes...and later on, another funny thing happened. almost a year after i closed my business, in april 2002, i moved here to LA for a job. started going to a bible study in lieu of church, but at a church... after the first class discussion, a guy came up to me and said 'i don't know why i'm telling you this, but you're looking for something, and i hope you find it here.' He's now a good friend. i still haven't completed my search, but i think i'm closer than i was... yeah, it still gives me chills...

Uncle Silly
11-10-2005, 19:06
best kindness-of-strangers trail magic: the $20 given to me, Wookie, and ColdFeet in Duncannon to spend on Trail Angel Mary's famous hotwings by a fellow named "Sedentary Steve" ... who said he was "a section hiker; I hike the section between The Doyle and The Pub" in Duncannon. or maybe the ATOM folks and their hiker breakfast. or the NY librarian who loaned 5 smelly hikers and a dog the use of an apartment in Brooklyn for a week!

best special-moments-on-the-trail trail magic: a tie... picking mandolin on Cripple Creek (VA), and the first sight of NJ from PA across the Delaware River gorge on the hike into Delaware Water Gap.

HarleyHogPit
11-10-2005, 20:06
i still haven't completed my search, but i think i'm closer than i was... yeah, it still gives me chills...

That is awesome. Being alone in the woods surrounded by all the beauty the trail provides is so powerful. For a long time I was searching for something and I had no idea what it was. One weekend my friend invited me to go on a 3 day hike on the trail. I had never done any overnight camping on the trail but I went along with no expectations. On the second night I didn't get a wink of sleep (it must have been all of the mice in the shelter). I had time to reflect on my life and what my purpose of being here really is. What I found was a peace of mind that I had never experienced. From that night on I decded that hiking the trail was going to be a top priority. I know it is going to be the hardest thing that I ever do. I know it will be physically demanding but the spiritual rewards are what I am doing it for.

Mentally what have you found to be the biggest challenge on the trail and what has been the most rewarding?

Lilred
11-10-2005, 20:20
Trail magic, to me, is not a cooler full of sodas left in a stream, or an arranged cookout for hikers as they pass by, although those things are nice, and the people who do those things are most definately trail angels, but it's not really magic imho. The best trail magic I received was when I was getting off a section hike at Deep Gap N.C.. I was taking the Kimsey Creek trail down to Standing Indian Campground and when I got to the service road, I lost the trail. Just when I was starting to panic, a guy drives up and asks me if I knew where Deep Gap was. So I jumped in the car and showed him, and he drove me all the way to the campground. It may not be as grand a story as some of the past posts, but it was what I needed at the exact moment I needed it. To me, that is magic.

Papa Razzi
11-11-2005, 11:58
I agree that the best magic is having something go right when it is really needed. For me, I had misjudged water on a stretch in Massachusetts. It was a hot afternoon and I'd been going for several miles without anything to drink. I came to a road crossing and found a few jugs of water. As much as I enjoyed the occasional cooler of cold sodas, none of them could touch one of those warm jugs of water.

Almost There
11-11-2005, 12:15
Injured my knee on a section hike in April that forced me to get off the trail at Unicoi Gap, no one would hitch me so I started walking down to Helen. I finally was picked up by Speedy Bug and PackMule(AT'97s) They were passing through to watch the Tour de Georgia bike race. They drove me into Helen and suggested a place to wait for my wife to pick me up. Once I got settled and ordered some food, the waitress came and informed me that they had picked up my tab. I was simply ecstatic with the ride to town because of my bum knee, the food put it completely over the top. True trail magic.