Feb 23, 2017

Charlotte Taney was transformed by the Appalachian Trail. Initially nervous, she blossomed into a steely-eyed hiking machine. That, at least, was how she was described in one blog. She tells about her journey and the changes she recognized in herself.   Charlotte would love to hear from fellow hikers or anybody who'd...

Feb 16, 2017

First things first, it was me who named Rad Watkins The Bear Whisperer. He didn't have a trail name, but he certainly had a story. Rad is a landscape ecologist and motivational speaker. It seemed a good time for somebody to allay the fears of many as they start to gather in Georgia and find their way north. Bears need...

Feb 9, 2017

  One of the fearless women I met in the Class of 2014, Kate Schmidlin, or Tigger, embodied the spirit of the trail. I never saw her pissed off at anybody, she was constantly laughing and never complaining. We didn't see each other after Damascus, but she left a big impression on me. She talks with an endearing openness...

Feb 2, 2017

Brandon Jacob, AKA The Dude, became something of a social magnet on the Appalachian Trail in 2016 with his Dudefests. Straight out of the corporate world and seemingly out of place in the slightly less genteel life of the trail, he embraced it, and its characters, with relish. There were two Dudefests; one at Trent's...