Hiking the Appalachian Trail

Ryan packed and ready to go.....

Ryan with his Young Mens President, Rick Fisher. These two braved the rugged trail for four days and three night.

Connor and Ryan pose for a picture that Vicki made me get of the boys in case we forget what they look like from the last time we took their picture. Here we are about 3 miles from Angel's Rest towards the end of the hike.

_______________________________________________

On April 8, 09 Ryan began a 50 mile hike on the Appalachian Trail with some of the local LDS boyscouts. The hike concluded near Pearsburg- Giles Co. on Saturday. I think that you would have to ask him if he had a good time or not. Since he came home he has been hobbling along and grimicing like some left over Civil War survivor. But I also note a look of pride about him when you speak of it. I know that he did well.

Connor and I went out to Giles county and hiked the last 8 miles with him. Okay, maybe I should refrase that, we hiked along in the back and he moved out with his new found friends. Connor and I brought up the rear. I have old legs and bad knees, Connor's legs are just short.

If you have never been on the trail before, let me tell you a little about it. The trail begins, (or ends, depending of your direction of travel), in Georia and runs north all the way into Maine. It is over 2000 miles in lenght and covers some of the best landscape you will ever see. It is largely maintained by private volinteer groups. They really do a great job.

As you can understand, it often covers some pretty rugged tarrain. The trail is not often wider then your stride, about a foot or two wide. To keep you on the straight and narrow, all along the way are white paint flashes that are painted on the trees. These flashes are about 50 feet apart and usually easy to see.

Sorry for all the unask for info, but in order to tell our story, you have to know alittle back up history. Anyway, Connor and I were at the very rear of the pack, moving at our own speed. As we went along, we played a game of being the first to find the white flashing on the next tree. In order to be fair to Connor, he beat me really bad. It seemed he always found the next flash way ahead of me.

The game had some good benefits for us both. One of the benefits was that in looking for the white flashes we were constantly aware of being on the trail. There are other trails that tie into the Appalachian and then go off on their own. We were always aware of where we were headed. The next benefit was that it kept us from constantly thinking about my sore knees and his sore legs.

As we moved over the ridge, the highest point in our hike, a heavy fog moved in. All of the partly sunny skies that had been predicted surely didn't show themselves over us. It rained a fair amount of the time. In walking through the fog the game became much more inportant. We found that from time to time the trail was blocked by fallen trees that you had to move around, finding the white flashes meant not getting lost.

We all came stumbling out of the woods somewhere between Pembroke and Parisburg. I was very happy to see a member or two with vehicles waiting on us. While Ryan and Connor went to recieve their long awaited treat at Dairy Queen, I caught a ride to the Stake Center and retrieved the van.

I am told that next year the boys will be taking on DePriest. I guess this is the highest mountain around here. Yea, I know you western types think of our mountains around here as hills, but if you were walking them with me maybe you would rethink that. Anyway, I think these old knees will take a "pass" on this challenge. I will be the one in the truck waiting to bring them home.