SavageLlama
09-27-2004, 10:27
I met Spot on the trail in CT on July 4th wknd. Great guy. And his pace is fast as hell. Although this article doesn't say it, I assume he made it to Katahdin already this year.
http://www.pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13008251&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6 (http://www.pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13008251&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6)
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Hiking the Appalachian Trail, local man has all the riches he needs </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=center><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 hi="1"><TBODY><TR><TD>http://www.pottstownmercury.com/images/spacer.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#ff9900 height=2>http://www.pottstownmercury.com/images/spacer.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD>http://www.pottstownmercury.com/images/spacer.gif</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>THE MERCURY By Tracy Meadowcroft </TD><TD align=right>09/26/2004</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 hi="1"><TBODY><TR><TD>http://www.pottstownmercury.com/images/spacer.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#ff9900 height=2>http://www.pottstownmercury.com/images/spacer.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD>http://www.pottstownmercury.com/images/spacer.gif</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>POTTSTOWN -- Many people consider it a feat to hike the entire 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail just once, since only 10 percent of the people that attempt the hike make it the whole way from Maine to Georgia.
But hiking the trail once seems like child’s play to someone like Daniel Codispoti, who has hiked the entire trail three times.
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"Anyone who’s done it more than once gets questioned about it by other hikers," Codispoti explained.
While he initially set out to conquer the famous trail because he considered it a physical challenge, Codispoti now has a greater appreciation for the rigorous hike and the surrounding landscape.
"Now, it’s just a pure joy, being out in God’s creation. I’m learning how to enjoy it more each time."
Codispoti begins hiking the trail at Springer Mountain in Georgia, just north of Atlanta. In 1997, during his first hike, he only made it 1,700 miles to Vermont before heading back to Pennsylvania for personal reasons.
The next year, he completed his first successful hike of the entire trail. Back in Pennsylvania only a week, Codispoti learned his daughter, Renee, had a brain tumor. He didn’t return to the Appalachian Trail until after her death in 2002.
That spring, Codispoti broke his foot 1,200 miles into the hike, and again returned home early. In 2003 and this year, he hiked the entire trail two more times.
"I prefer to do it alone," Codispoti said of his hikes. "It’s hard to find someone who can hike at your pace, and there’s plenty of people out there you can hook up with if you want."
One person Codispoti met was "Happy Hillbilly." Codispoti explained that everyone on the Appalachian Trail chooses a "trail name." Codispoti’s is "Spot."
"You don’t learn other peoples’ real names," he said. "You get to accept people at face value. You don’t know their education, occupation. The trail is a leveling experience."
"Happy Hillbilly," a descendant of frontiersman Daniel Boone, had lost 170 pounds when Codispoti met him.
"His doctor told him he would have a heart attack since he weighed 300 pounds," Codispoti said. "So he started hiking, and he was in great shape when I saw him."
Another hiker Codispoti remembered was "Needles," a diabetic teenager.
"For the first time, he didn’t have to take medicine, and he could eat whatever he wanted," Codispoti said.
Codispoti also has had his fair share of encounters with wild animals while hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Early one morning, as Codispoti began hiking, he heard rustling in a blueberry bush along the footpath as a bear jumped up almost beside him.
"He was as scared as I was," Codispoti said of the bear. "If that had happened on my first hike, I would have run."
Instead, Codispoti slowly began walking past the bear, who remained frozen in place beside the bush.
When Codispoti’s son, Faryl, joined him on the trail for nine days, they nearly separated a mother bear and her three cubs, something they agreed would have put them in a dangerous situation.
Codispoti said the cubs instead scurried up a tree as their mother distracted the men’s attention by moving away from the trail like a "wounded bird."
Not a minute later, Codispoti said the cubs came back down the tree as fast as they went up and quickly rejoined their mother.
Codispoti said his "craziest animal encounter" didn’t occur on the trail, though.
In Dalton, Mass., Codispoti spent the night at a resident’s house, where hikers often are allowed to rest when they come into town. Before he went to sleep, Codispoti said he tried to play with the man’s cats, which avoided him the entire time.
As Codispoti slept under his tarp, he felt something rubbing against his head. Thinking it was the cat, Codispoti reached over and began to pet the creature. But he soon discovered it was actually a skunk.
"I rolled over, covered my head and prayed it wouldn’t spray me," Codispoti said with a laugh.
After a few minutes, the skunk meandered away, and Codispoti was spared from an unwanted bath.
Codispoti noted, though, that most hikers develop bad cases of "BO" while hiking the trail.
"We stink," he admitted. "But before I get into town, I try to clean myself up the best I can."
Codispoti said he usually begins his hikes in April and ends between mid-August and mid-September. Weather plays a major role in how much time Codispot spends on the trail.
"I get snow at least once or twice, and in 2003, it was just rain, rain, rain," Codispoti said. "I looked in my journal and between Georgia and Pennsylvania, I only went five days without rain. It takes a toll on you mentally."
Codispoti said hikers know where the nearest towns are to the trail, and hitchhiking to get to them is not out of the question, even for women who Codispoti said "get rides quicker than guys."
"I get picked up by old ladies," he joked. "But it reinforces your belief in human goodness."
During his time in town, Codispoti stocks up on cheese, peanut butter, jelly, instant potatoes, oatmeal and other protein-laden foods since he usually consumes 5,000 calories a day. He said he loses between 5 and 10 pounds off his 160-pound frame.
Codispoti said he carries about 13 pounds worth of supplies when he hikes, including extra clothes, a tent and sleeping bag.
Codispoti’s way of life allows him to devote nearly half a year to hiking the trail.
"I’m a rich man five months out of the year on the trail," he said.
When not hiking the trail, he works at various jobs, and is currently on the maintenance crew at Chester Valley Golf Club. He also fixes up and rents apartments with his son’s help.
"I don’t worry about money or what other people think," Codispoti said. "You’ve got to go after what you love it life."
Codispoti’s next goal is to head west to hike the 2,800-mile Pacific Crest Trail.
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http://www.pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13008251&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6 (http://www.pottstownmercury.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13008251&BRD=1674&PAG=461&dept_id=18041&rfi=6)
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Hiking the Appalachian Trail, local man has all the riches he needs </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=center><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 hi="1"><TBODY><TR><TD>http://www.pottstownmercury.com/images/spacer.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#ff9900 height=2>http://www.pottstownmercury.com/images/spacer.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD>http://www.pottstownmercury.com/images/spacer.gif</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>THE MERCURY By Tracy Meadowcroft </TD><TD align=right>09/26/2004</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 hi="1"><TBODY><TR><TD>http://www.pottstownmercury.com/images/spacer.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD bgColor=#ff9900 height=2>http://www.pottstownmercury.com/images/spacer.gif</TD></TR><TR><TD>http://www.pottstownmercury.com/images/spacer.gif</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>POTTSTOWN -- Many people consider it a feat to hike the entire 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail just once, since only 10 percent of the people that attempt the hike make it the whole way from Maine to Georgia.
But hiking the trail once seems like child’s play to someone like Daniel Codispoti, who has hiked the entire trail three times.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
"Anyone who’s done it more than once gets questioned about it by other hikers," Codispoti explained.
While he initially set out to conquer the famous trail because he considered it a physical challenge, Codispoti now has a greater appreciation for the rigorous hike and the surrounding landscape.
"Now, it’s just a pure joy, being out in God’s creation. I’m learning how to enjoy it more each time."
Codispoti begins hiking the trail at Springer Mountain in Georgia, just north of Atlanta. In 1997, during his first hike, he only made it 1,700 miles to Vermont before heading back to Pennsylvania for personal reasons.
The next year, he completed his first successful hike of the entire trail. Back in Pennsylvania only a week, Codispoti learned his daughter, Renee, had a brain tumor. He didn’t return to the Appalachian Trail until after her death in 2002.
That spring, Codispoti broke his foot 1,200 miles into the hike, and again returned home early. In 2003 and this year, he hiked the entire trail two more times.
"I prefer to do it alone," Codispoti said of his hikes. "It’s hard to find someone who can hike at your pace, and there’s plenty of people out there you can hook up with if you want."
One person Codispoti met was "Happy Hillbilly." Codispoti explained that everyone on the Appalachian Trail chooses a "trail name." Codispoti’s is "Spot."
"You don’t learn other peoples’ real names," he said. "You get to accept people at face value. You don’t know their education, occupation. The trail is a leveling experience."
"Happy Hillbilly," a descendant of frontiersman Daniel Boone, had lost 170 pounds when Codispoti met him.
"His doctor told him he would have a heart attack since he weighed 300 pounds," Codispoti said. "So he started hiking, and he was in great shape when I saw him."
Another hiker Codispoti remembered was "Needles," a diabetic teenager.
"For the first time, he didn’t have to take medicine, and he could eat whatever he wanted," Codispoti said.
Codispoti also has had his fair share of encounters with wild animals while hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Early one morning, as Codispoti began hiking, he heard rustling in a blueberry bush along the footpath as a bear jumped up almost beside him.
"He was as scared as I was," Codispoti said of the bear. "If that had happened on my first hike, I would have run."
Instead, Codispoti slowly began walking past the bear, who remained frozen in place beside the bush.
When Codispoti’s son, Faryl, joined him on the trail for nine days, they nearly separated a mother bear and her three cubs, something they agreed would have put them in a dangerous situation.
Codispoti said the cubs instead scurried up a tree as their mother distracted the men’s attention by moving away from the trail like a "wounded bird."
Not a minute later, Codispoti said the cubs came back down the tree as fast as they went up and quickly rejoined their mother.
Codispoti said his "craziest animal encounter" didn’t occur on the trail, though.
In Dalton, Mass., Codispoti spent the night at a resident’s house, where hikers often are allowed to rest when they come into town. Before he went to sleep, Codispoti said he tried to play with the man’s cats, which avoided him the entire time.
As Codispoti slept under his tarp, he felt something rubbing against his head. Thinking it was the cat, Codispoti reached over and began to pet the creature. But he soon discovered it was actually a skunk.
"I rolled over, covered my head and prayed it wouldn’t spray me," Codispoti said with a laugh.
After a few minutes, the skunk meandered away, and Codispoti was spared from an unwanted bath.
Codispoti noted, though, that most hikers develop bad cases of "BO" while hiking the trail.
"We stink," he admitted. "But before I get into town, I try to clean myself up the best I can."
Codispoti said he usually begins his hikes in April and ends between mid-August and mid-September. Weather plays a major role in how much time Codispot spends on the trail.
"I get snow at least once or twice, and in 2003, it was just rain, rain, rain," Codispoti said. "I looked in my journal and between Georgia and Pennsylvania, I only went five days without rain. It takes a toll on you mentally."
Codispoti said hikers know where the nearest towns are to the trail, and hitchhiking to get to them is not out of the question, even for women who Codispoti said "get rides quicker than guys."
"I get picked up by old ladies," he joked. "But it reinforces your belief in human goodness."
During his time in town, Codispoti stocks up on cheese, peanut butter, jelly, instant potatoes, oatmeal and other protein-laden foods since he usually consumes 5,000 calories a day. He said he loses between 5 and 10 pounds off his 160-pound frame.
Codispoti said he carries about 13 pounds worth of supplies when he hikes, including extra clothes, a tent and sleeping bag.
Codispoti’s way of life allows him to devote nearly half a year to hiking the trail.
"I’m a rich man five months out of the year on the trail," he said.
When not hiking the trail, he works at various jobs, and is currently on the maintenance crew at Chester Valley Golf Club. He also fixes up and rents apartments with his son’s help.
"I don’t worry about money or what other people think," Codispoti said. "You’ve got to go after what you love it life."
Codispoti’s next goal is to head west to hike the 2,800-mile Pacific Crest Trail.
- - - - - -