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SavageLlama
06-18-2004, 09:37
Interesting article from New Jersey's Star-Ledger..



Father and sons take a long walk - Family group hikes the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine

By Elizabeth Moore
The Star-Ledger (http://javascript<b></b>:NewWindow(%20'FIISrcDetails','?from=article&ids=nsl');void(0);)
June 17, 2004

It took them six months, including several weeks of rain, and cost them a few pairs of hiking boots, but last year, retired West Caldwell Police Capt. Bob Heinis and two of his sons walked the entire Appalachian Trail.

They trio of Bob, Mike, and Bobby Heinis - then 50, 22, and 20 - trekked more than 2,100 miles across 14 states in an odyssey that brought father and sons closer together.

"It meant a little more than if we had just done it ourselves," said Bobby Heinis of the trip with his father.

A year ago this week, the hikers crossed into New Jersey on their way to their final destination, Mount Katahdin in Maine. They had traveled almost 1,300 miles from Amicalola Falls, Ga., where their journey began on March 9, 2003. The Heinis family started at Amicalola Falls State Park to hike to the top of Springer Mountain, which is the official beginning of the Appalachian Trail.

Bob Heinis, who lives in West Caldwell, said he began hiking with his sons when they were kids in Boy Scouts. "Every year we'd do a section of the Appalachian Trail," he said. He added that they'd always hoped to do more.

Heinis said they got the chance when his retirement from the police department coincided with two of his sons graduating from college, providing them with six months off to tackle the trail.

His oldest son, Chris, now 25, who works full-time, stayed behind with mom Kathy, posting journal entries online from the hikers and sending periodic food drops to post offices along the way.

"I knew they could do it," Kathy Heinis said. "I wasn't going to pick them up."

The Appalachian Trail is a long hiking trail that was constructed in the 1920s and 1930s and follows the ridge crest of the Appalachian mountains, said Brian King, spokesman for the Appalachian Trail Conference. The trail is overseen by the National Park Service, but maintained by volunteers.

Though the trail, which is marked by a series of painted white rectangles, comes within five miles of around 100 towns, sections of it are more remote. King estimated that 3 to 4 million people visit the trail each year, though only around 2,000 people a year attempt to hike the trail in its entirety.

Robert Heinis Sr. tracked his son and grandsons by computer after they'd call him with their locations. "They were accustomed to hiking, but this was a long trail." Heinis Sr. visited them twice on the trail. "They looked like vagabonds."

With the help of a dog-eared 177-page guidebook, the trio walked through sweltering days, snowy days and lots and lots of rain, all while carrying 45-pound backpacks. They made new friends on the hike and enjoyed what hikers call "trail magic," the kindness of strangers, who fed them, gave them shelter in barns or garages or rides into town.

They saw snakes, deer, wild horses, cows, rabbits, turtles, a moose and a pheasant, averaging 14 miles a day. They slept in tents, inexpensive motels, at a church and even under a highway overpass.

Their online journal is at: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/rheinisjr/ATHIKE/index.htm

"I guess it shows we've been out awhile when sleeping on a thin pad in a sleeping bag in an unheated bunkhouse is like a four-star hotel," wrote Bob on Day 24 while in Tennessee. On Day 46 in Virginia., he wrote: "The ponies are grazing nearby and I can see forever. This is what I've been looking for."

But later in Virginia, on Day 70, he wrote: "Not much to say for today as it was one of the worst of our hike. While we covered 22 miles, it was rain and fog and we were still wet from the day before last." On June 6, Day 90, in Pennsylvania, it simply says, "No rain!!!"

Though they gorged themselves on cheeseburgers and all-you-can-eat buffets in towns, the hikers lost a lot of weight. Bobby lost 70 pounds, Mike lost 50 pounds and Bob lost 26 pounds - requiring him to buy a new hip belt for his backpack.

On the 91st day of hike in Duncannon, Pa., disgusted by the rain, mud and exhaustion, Bob Heinis told his sons he wanted to quit. "I said, 'I quit, Mother Nature won,'" Heinis recalled. "I was so depressed."

So the family took a break and spent the night in a motel, showering and drying their clothes. "We let him cool down," Bobby said of his father. "We were all having a bad day."

After the rest, they continued on the trail. In New Jersey, the group was plagued with mosquito bites. In early July, in Connecticut, everyone came down with a stomach virus. On July 11 in Massachusetts, Mike got treated for Lyme disease.

They celebrated each of their birthdays and the Heinis' 28th wedding anniversary on the trail.

But after reaching the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine on Aug. 29, they all said it was worth it.

Father and sons silently put their hands on the wooden trail sign marking the mountain's summit before heading down the mountain to their ride home.

"It was definitely a worthwhile experience," Bobby said. "I might never get to do it again."

Mike agreed, "It was an amazing experience, something I definitely learned from."

Their father was similarly moved, but not because they finished the trail. Bob said it was a once-in-a- lifetime experience with his sons, who had carried his backpack, helped him cross streams, and gave him first aid when he fell on a rocky mountain six times in one day.

"It meant so much to me that they would let me share their experience with them," he said. "When I think about all the time they spent with me, it chokes me up."