View Full Version : Unexpected Ways of Meeting Other Hikers
Brushy Sage
02-04-2004, 10:07
During a physical exam a few days ago, the doctor noted that I was wearing Capiline underwear. I asked him how he knows about Capiline, and it turns out he is also a hiker, and last year hiked 100 miles with his son in New Mexico. So we talked about hiking for a while. I'm wondering if there are some interesting stories about how you met other hikers in unusual or unexpected ways.
gravityman
02-04-2004, 11:08
We were planning for our AT hike and were visiting my parents in Pepperell, MA. We went with them to a christmas party with about 20 people, and it turns out that one of them had hiked from GA to MA (not sure why he left the trail). We grilled him about his hike, etc. The interesting part of the story is that the day we walked into Harper's Ferry he was finishing a section hike from MA to Harpers! It was pretty cool seeing him and talking with him. But it was also bitter sweet, because we were getting ready to skip over Penn because of my wife's feet (in the end we left the trail shortly there after).
Gravity Man
PS No idea what his name was, but he had red hair and a big white dog!
My wife figured I was obsessive, compulsive "crazy" for suddenly deciding to hike in 04, so to calm her nerves, I went to a therapist with her to share about the hike and family life and just whatever came up.
As I walked in the door I noticed a picture of the BadLands with a backpacker hiking. I knew instantly this was going to be interesting. Turns out, the therapist hiked all over the west and the badlands with her husband. The picture was of her.
She told me I had no evidence of any disorders :clap and to get it out of my system and enjoy myself. LOL wife was pist, but I got some money out of the ATM and did a shakedown of GA to see if I could do the deal. Took 7 days to do GA and I am ready to rock.
We'll see, starting march 1st, 04.
We were planning for our AT hike and were visiting my parents in Pepperell, MA.
Did you grow up there?
I grew up in Townsend in the 70's
gravityman
02-04-2004, 15:38
Did you grow up there?
I grew up in Townsend in the 70's
"It's a small world after all..."
Yes, I grew up in pepperell, just 1 mile from Townsend. Last name is Delker. We lived (and my parents still do live) right on Rt 119, about 1 miles east of the highschool. I graduate HS in 1991.
The person we talked to actually was from Townsend BTW. I wish I could remember his name.
Gravity man
Blue Jay
02-04-2004, 15:52
I had won front row tickets to a concert in Saratoga Springs, NY. After the warm up band finished, roadies started to reset. One of them looked really familiar. I looked and looked wraking my brain as to where I had seen him. He started to look at me. All at once I knew it. I pointed at him and said "thruhiker". He did the same thing, we shook hands. We met once NOBO in the Smokies, but he was younger and faster. He had summited a full month before I did.
In Sept 2000, I had just finished my first AT section hike and took my car in to the shop for regular maintenance the next day. Not to say the least, I was pumped from being on the AT and had in hand my Backpacker Magazine, still into my Trail Brain mode. The Toyota technician (whom I'd never met but he had worked on my car many times over the years) who worked on my car noticed the Backpacker magazine and said that he and his wife were going to do their first AT thru-hike in February ('01) and I told him I had just gotten off the AT doing a section! Now him, his wife and I do some backpacking together. Some of you may know them as Bramble and Bushwhack (01).
I haven't met too many other hikers, but I do have an interesting meeting I'd like to share.
2 years ago this month I did a weekend trip in the Ocala National Forest in Central Florida over a Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday my wife and I took our young daugther to a local park to play. I noticed an older women near a table with a spotting scope staring at the trees. I wandered over and found out she was a spotter for a nest of Bald Eagles. We started talking and I told her about my trip that weekend and had saw several differnt birds while backpacking.
She asked me if I'd ever hike on the Appalachian Trail, I said I had done parts of it. She then ask me if I'd ever heard of Grandma Gatewood. I said "Sure, everybody knows who she is". Well, she blew my mind next when she informed me she was her daughter. I couldn't belive what I was hearing. It was really cool hearing her talk about her mother.
For the life of me, I can't remember her name. I drive by that park all the time hoping to spot her again. She must live in the neighborhood, but I've yet to find her again. I kick myself for not writing down her name. I would love to spend more time with her, I'm sure she has some great stories.
Oh well, I'll keep looking for her.
Thanks
Jeff
"It's a small world after all..."
Yes, I grew up in pepperell, just 1 mile from Townsend. Last name is Delker. We lived (and my parents still do live) right on Rt 119, about 1 miles east of the highschool. I graduate HS in 1991.
The person we talked to actually was from Townsend BTW. I wish I could remember his name.
Gravity man
Last name Tremblay, I grew up in Townsend Harbor on Warren Rd.
Graduated in 75 (no old fart jokes) I spent the better part of my boyhood waist deep in the squannocook river catching trout. I did venture over to the Nissitisset occasionally. I have spent more nights at Willard Brook camp grounds than any other place in the world.
I don't know a sole from that time frame (90's) but if you went to NMRHS, a good friend of mine is and has been the band director there for 20 years.
Randy Larossa.
Let's find time to hike or camp. (I just looked at your bio, Boulder is a long commute to hike, Never mind) PM me if you want to get together :welcome
mindlessmariachi
02-04-2004, 21:28
i was just offered a summer job (i'm a law student) i think based on hiking. Guy interviewed me on the phone and spent about 45 minutes of our one-hour interview talking about hiking. i mentioned the AT on my resume - i'm pretty sure that's why he called
I was returning from a job interview near Albany, NY when I stopped at a service area to gas up. Of course a pack gives a hiker away but you can tell when it's a thru hiker just by looking. This guy was sitting on his pack relaxing and I stopped and said "A.T., right?" Sure enough, he was making his way home after having to leave the trail due to some sort of family emergency. It was an impressive hitch from the NY section of the A.T. to somewhere in Ohio. I drove him about a hundred miles and we had a great chat. Cool :jump
Spirit Walker
02-05-2004, 10:36
I've had a couple of unexpected encounters. We went out to Arizona to visit family. My sister in law said she worked with a woman who was planning to thruhike the next year, would we mind talking to her? So we went to the bar and talked to her friend for about two hours about thruhiking (boring my poor family to tears). The following June, we were out on a dayhike on the AT and noted in the register that the friend had passed through the previous day - so we went to Harpers Ferry and found her (at the bar, of course) and spent a couple more hours talking about the trail.
Another day we were at Hoss's in Shamokin Dam on a Sunday evening after a weekend backpacking. I looked at the guy in front of us in line and said, "You're a thruhiker, aren't you?" Sure enough, he was visiting family nearby and they thought an AYCE steak house would be a good idea (it was.) His look was unmistakable.
Finally, when Jim was preparing for the AT, he stopped at an optometrist's office to get a spare pair of glasses for the trail. He mentioned what he was planning to do and ended up spending the next hour talking hiking with the doctor. Turns out he also wanted to hike the trail, and wanted to know all about it. Pity the poor patients waiting outside, wondering what kind of emergency was holding up the doctor.
Lipstick
02-17-2004, 11:54
My wife figured I was obsessive, compulsive "crazy" for suddenly deciding to hike in 04, so to calm her nerves, I went to a therapist with her to share about the hike and family life and just whatever came up.
As I walked in the door I noticed a picture of the BadLands with a backpacker hiking. I knew instantly this was going to be interesting. Turns out, the therapist hiked all over the west and the badlands with her husband. The picture was of her.
She told me I had no evidence of any disorders :clap and to get it out of my system and enjoy myself. LOL wife was pist, but I got some money out of the ATM and did a shakedown of GA to see if I could do the deal. Took 7 days to do GA and I am ready to rock.
We'll see, starting march 1st, 04.
Hey Burn!! Now look who found who!!
Cindy
:sun
jojo0425
02-17-2004, 13:11
One morning I walked into a coffee shop to grap a cup of java on the way to work. This guy standing at the counter was chatting away about wanting to hike the A.T. this that and the other and of course, I had to introduce myself. Unfortunatly, had to get to work, so the converstation was short but we got a few trail tales in before I had to deal with reality again.