Good afternoon trail friends and family. I am blessed to have two shelter journals that belonged to Jack.
One is the Mt. Williams from 7 August 2000 to 25-July 2001. I have scanned this one and will be posting the pdf files for everyone to enjoy with the admins permission soon, and after I figure out how to best upload them here. This journal is full of many, many personal messages to Jack and the front of the journal has an absolutely wonderful message from Jack and a touching glimpse into some of his thoughts about hiking.
The second journal is from somewhere between Glastonbury and Mt. Greylock and covers the period from 28 June 1996 to 13 October 1996.
I feel that this one is of particular historical significance due to it being from the year he completed his first Thru-hike. It is not in the best condition but I will be scanning it in very soon and providing it for everyone.
I am in contact with his daughter and sister (Erika) and have been working to gather and sort his belongings from his former home in Hanover with the help of his longtime friend David. Erika has given her blessings that I preserve these treasures. My intention is to get them scanned and posted for his trail family to enjoy and embrace as a part of Jack's legacy. I will then look into having them physically preserved and hopefully rebound in a manner that will allow them to be displayed safely. I think then Jack's daughter and sister and I will probably decide where their permanent home should be. Possible the AT museum or the ATC. As much as I would love to keep them, they belong to the trail community. But I think it would be prudent to insure that they will be someplace that will care for them, and make them available for others to enjoy. There are also thousands of pictures that Jack took that we hope to make available on some kind of site that hikers can identify people and locations and the year. In addition, there are also approximately 200 rolls of film that need to be developed. Logistically and financially that is another matter in itself. Any thoughts on tackling that would be welcomed. Keep an eye out for the Journal scans to be up soon I hope.
Cheers and be well.
SY-'99