Peter Hagen passes at age 26

[attroll]

I received this message from Peter Hagen's brother the other day. Very sad news. I do not know what Peter's trail name was. I am passing this along as Cliff requested. I have Cliffs emails address. If there is anyone that Hiked with Peter in 2009 and would like to contact Cliff, please contact me and I will pass along his email address to you.

If anyone has any pictures of Peter or knows his trail name could you please contact me(Attroll) or send them to me.

This is not a gimmick to get donations. I am just passing along a family members wish.
If you do make a donation in Peters name please let me know so that I can contact Cliff as he requested.

My brother, Peter Hagen, thru hiked the trail from May till Sept during the summer of 2009. He is the young man dressed as Santa Claus at the end of the Nat Geo documentary. It changed his life in so many wonderful ways. He sadly passed away at the age of 26 on Monday, July 11, 2011. Our family knows how important the experience was for him and so we are asking people to donate in his name to White Blaze.
I would request that White Blaze share with me the names of those who donate in his honor so we as a family can thank them.
Thank you,
Cliff Hagen

[DLANOIE]

Wow, what a shame. I did not know Peter, but he definately died too young...

So sad, my heart goes out to his family.

Not that its any of my business, but do you know how he died?

[attroll]

No, I have no clue to how he passed. Other then me removing email and phone number, the message above is all I received.

[Lyle]

Motorcycle accident.

http://www.yamahafz1oa.com/forum/sho....php?p=2187272

http://mobile.nj.com/advnj/db_/conte...l=true#display

[pistol p]

RIP man. Too young, for sure.

[The Grip]

Wow--this is sad to hear. Will pass this along to other '09 friends that are over WB.

[TheRaven]

It sounds like he fell asleep, he didn't seem like the type to do anything stupid on the bike. Such a shame.

[Koozy]

Here's a story for you all.

I graduated with Peter from Northeastern University in Boston in 2008. Our graduation was at the TD Bank North Center (formerly the Fleet Center) in northern Boston, and before we were escorted to our seats on the floor I was asking everyone what their plans were for after college. When I asked Peter he said "I'm going to hike the Appalachian Trail." My immediate reaction was "I so have always wanted to do that." But at the time I was broke, and was worried about my knee after multiple ACL reconstructions. Thru hiking the AT was something I said I would do when I was 8 years old, but my dream faded during highschool/college when I was caught up with girls/parties/school. Peter re-ignited this dream, and in the back of my head I kept the idea of one day attempting an AT thru hike.

Now here is an erie part of this story. One night in 2011 (Monday July 11 to be exact) I had this dream: I was with Peter and I kept asking him questions about his AT thru hike, how I should approach the trail, gear, etc. In my dream he was silent, just looking at me and kept quiet. Fast forward to the next day. I tried looking him up on facebook to contact him and tell him about the dream I had. That's when I learned of his passing. It hit me with complete shock, and I had the weirdest feeling since I had the dream about him the night he died.

I (Frankenstein) attempted and successfully completed my AT thru hike this year. I was blessed with some of the best weather throughout my entire hike. I had 8 straight days of clear weather in the White Mountains, and every single day I had 100 mile views and could see the entire stretch of the White Mountains from the point I climbed up Moosilauke, to the day I descended Mt Moriah. I know how rare that is, and how lucky I was. I am not a VERY spiritual person, but I'd like to think that I had somebody watching out for me and guiding me through. And Peter was a big inspiration for my hike.

Just wanted to share that story with you all.

[Jeff]

Great story....thanks for sharing.

[bigcranky]

What a wonderful story. Thank you.


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[pistol p]

Nice. Thanks for sharing, Frankenstein.

[July]

Nice. Thanks for sharing, Frankenstein.

Thanks for Caring.