SavageLlama
06-30-2004, 08:24
Good read.
Hiker passes his Appalachian breaking point; Jenison man pressing on toward the finish of trek
By Howard Meyerson / Grand Rapids Press Outdoors Editor
June 26, 2004
The Grand Rapids Press (http://javascript<b></b>:NewWindow(%20'FIISrcDetails','?from=article&ids=grpr');void(0);)
There isn't one of us that hasn't had to face some challenge in life and, in doing so, face ourselves.
It is always our willingness to endure and push beyond some seeming limitation that allows us to attain our dreams.
Some, the unfortunate, turn the other way when the going gets tough. But the others, man or woman, thrive on the challenge. It is what makes them come alive.
Benny Green is such a man. This week the 64-year-old Jenison hiker passed a critical point on the Appalachian Trail. He went beyond the spot were he got injured last year and had to abort the trip
You may recall that Green set out to walk the whole trail last year to honor his disabled son, Brian. He was 1,212 miles into his 2,172-mile trek when he stumbled and fell, breaking three bones in his left arm. The break required surgery and left him unable to use his arm and hand effectively.
Finishing the trail then was not an option. Two hands are needed to swing packs off the ground and to negotiate difficult, rocky terrain. At 63, lesser men would have just called it quits.
But not Green, who had just 900 miles to go when I spoke with him by phone Wednesday from Delaware Watergap, Pa., where he is taking a couple of days to visit "Itchy-foot," the trail name for his hiking buddy, Dan Green. The two were hiking together when Benny fell. Dan went on to complete the hike. He'll spend a few days hiking with Benny this year.
Benny Green was 50 miles from the New Jersey state line when he fell. It was June 17, 2003. He walked by the very spot later this year.
"It was really emotional for me," said Green. "Once I got past it I sat down for a while and actually got down on my knees and prayed right on the trail."
Green had stopped for lunch a half-mile before to enjoy a spectacular view. He was anxious about the spot ahead.
It was his seventh fall on the trail that dashed his hopes last year. Green sat at the overlook called Pulpit Rock eating lunch and pondering the imponderable. He'd fallen six times so far on the trail this year as well.
"I haven't fallen the seventh time yet," Green said cheerfully, buoyed by his passage into new terrain.
Green was determined to walk the entire length this year as opposed to just picking up where he left off. That meant starting at Springer Mountain, Ga., in March and rehiking 1,212 miles. Part of the experience of thru-hiking on the Appalachian Trail is the sense of community that forms with other hikers. Starting where he left off last year meant starting 1,200 miles ahead of the others.
"It hasn't been as exciting hiking the 1,200 miles again," Green said, "but the weather has been a lot nicer. I got wetter during the first week of my hike last year than the entire trip so far.
"I am seeing things that I didn't see last year because the clouds were so low that you couldn't see much.
"But I am glad to be moving on to fresh terrain, where I don't know what is over the next mountain."
The Smokey Mountains presented Green with 15 inches of snow this year. That meant cold, slushy footsteps, full of ice-melt. Three hypothermic hikers had to be rescued, but Green kept pushing forward.
He encountered four rattlesnakes and two bears along the trail. None gave him trouble. A big relief.
In an old trail shelter one night, Green said he opted to make friends with a big, blacksnake that like to hang in the rafters.
"I wouldn't pick it up, but I thought it was pretty neat," Green said. "The other guys pitched their tent outside.
"That snake won't hurt you and I figured that was a shelter I didn't need to worry about mice getting in my food supply."
Green's adventure is going to require being outdoors for six months, living on simple foods and forgoing the luxury of suburban life. He traded his tent for a screened-in jungle hammock to shed extra pounds in his pack. His backpacking stove has been traded for a simple alcohol burner. It weighs just ounces.
Making the trek means leaving his wife, Linda, and his son, Brian, at home, two endless sources of inspiration and support. Though Linda Green traveled to visit with him along the trail, Green said he missed being able to celebrate his anniversary this week.
But Green would be the first to say that trail life also has its rewards. It has brought him in contact with remarkable people along the trail, the generous citizens along its route who bring food and snacks to hikers or may help with a ride into town. Or the hearty souls on the trail who come from widely diverse backgrounds, but share a special fondness for the allure and challenge of the Appalachian Trail.
It is that -- and the prospect of actually finishing -- that keeps Green going.
"I can get a 20-mile day in now using a brace and Tylenol," he said.
Green's knees are not what they used to be. They are giving him trouble this year. He wears a brace on the left. The shin splints don't seem to go away. He hardly seems daunted.
The roughest portion still lies ahead -- the mountainous region of New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. Veteran thru-hikers say it eats more energy than the combined miles leading up to it. If all goes well, Green will finish in the middle of September, atop Mount Katahdin in Maine, the northern end of the trail.
Green is sanguine about what lies ahead.
"For me there isn't going to be any tough stretch," he said. "The toughest parts of the trail are the parts I enjoy the most."
A lesser man or woman couldn't say that.
Hiker passes his Appalachian breaking point; Jenison man pressing on toward the finish of trek
By Howard Meyerson / Grand Rapids Press Outdoors Editor
June 26, 2004
The Grand Rapids Press (http://javascript<b></b>:NewWindow(%20'FIISrcDetails','?from=article&ids=grpr');void(0);)
There isn't one of us that hasn't had to face some challenge in life and, in doing so, face ourselves.
It is always our willingness to endure and push beyond some seeming limitation that allows us to attain our dreams.
Some, the unfortunate, turn the other way when the going gets tough. But the others, man or woman, thrive on the challenge. It is what makes them come alive.
Benny Green is such a man. This week the 64-year-old Jenison hiker passed a critical point on the Appalachian Trail. He went beyond the spot were he got injured last year and had to abort the trip
You may recall that Green set out to walk the whole trail last year to honor his disabled son, Brian. He was 1,212 miles into his 2,172-mile trek when he stumbled and fell, breaking three bones in his left arm. The break required surgery and left him unable to use his arm and hand effectively.
Finishing the trail then was not an option. Two hands are needed to swing packs off the ground and to negotiate difficult, rocky terrain. At 63, lesser men would have just called it quits.
But not Green, who had just 900 miles to go when I spoke with him by phone Wednesday from Delaware Watergap, Pa., where he is taking a couple of days to visit "Itchy-foot," the trail name for his hiking buddy, Dan Green. The two were hiking together when Benny fell. Dan went on to complete the hike. He'll spend a few days hiking with Benny this year.
Benny Green was 50 miles from the New Jersey state line when he fell. It was June 17, 2003. He walked by the very spot later this year.
"It was really emotional for me," said Green. "Once I got past it I sat down for a while and actually got down on my knees and prayed right on the trail."
Green had stopped for lunch a half-mile before to enjoy a spectacular view. He was anxious about the spot ahead.
It was his seventh fall on the trail that dashed his hopes last year. Green sat at the overlook called Pulpit Rock eating lunch and pondering the imponderable. He'd fallen six times so far on the trail this year as well.
"I haven't fallen the seventh time yet," Green said cheerfully, buoyed by his passage into new terrain.
Green was determined to walk the entire length this year as opposed to just picking up where he left off. That meant starting at Springer Mountain, Ga., in March and rehiking 1,212 miles. Part of the experience of thru-hiking on the Appalachian Trail is the sense of community that forms with other hikers. Starting where he left off last year meant starting 1,200 miles ahead of the others.
"It hasn't been as exciting hiking the 1,200 miles again," Green said, "but the weather has been a lot nicer. I got wetter during the first week of my hike last year than the entire trip so far.
"I am seeing things that I didn't see last year because the clouds were so low that you couldn't see much.
"But I am glad to be moving on to fresh terrain, where I don't know what is over the next mountain."
The Smokey Mountains presented Green with 15 inches of snow this year. That meant cold, slushy footsteps, full of ice-melt. Three hypothermic hikers had to be rescued, but Green kept pushing forward.
He encountered four rattlesnakes and two bears along the trail. None gave him trouble. A big relief.
In an old trail shelter one night, Green said he opted to make friends with a big, blacksnake that like to hang in the rafters.
"I wouldn't pick it up, but I thought it was pretty neat," Green said. "The other guys pitched their tent outside.
"That snake won't hurt you and I figured that was a shelter I didn't need to worry about mice getting in my food supply."
Green's adventure is going to require being outdoors for six months, living on simple foods and forgoing the luxury of suburban life. He traded his tent for a screened-in jungle hammock to shed extra pounds in his pack. His backpacking stove has been traded for a simple alcohol burner. It weighs just ounces.
Making the trek means leaving his wife, Linda, and his son, Brian, at home, two endless sources of inspiration and support. Though Linda Green traveled to visit with him along the trail, Green said he missed being able to celebrate his anniversary this week.
But Green would be the first to say that trail life also has its rewards. It has brought him in contact with remarkable people along the trail, the generous citizens along its route who bring food and snacks to hikers or may help with a ride into town. Or the hearty souls on the trail who come from widely diverse backgrounds, but share a special fondness for the allure and challenge of the Appalachian Trail.
It is that -- and the prospect of actually finishing -- that keeps Green going.
"I can get a 20-mile day in now using a brace and Tylenol," he said.
Green's knees are not what they used to be. They are giving him trouble this year. He wears a brace on the left. The shin splints don't seem to go away. He hardly seems daunted.
The roughest portion still lies ahead -- the mountainous region of New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. Veteran thru-hikers say it eats more energy than the combined miles leading up to it. If all goes well, Green will finish in the middle of September, atop Mount Katahdin in Maine, the northern end of the trail.
Green is sanguine about what lies ahead.
"For me there isn't going to be any tough stretch," he said. "The toughest parts of the trail are the parts I enjoy the most."
A lesser man or woman couldn't say that.