I suppose in a positive sense, one
might say I was infected, inspired in a positive way. What I caught was a sense of urgency, enthusiasm, a sense of
purpose, motivation and desire, the need to hike, not just to walk, but to
hike, get close to nature, and learn.
And Midway is responsible, in that regard, infectious for all that..
Anybody who missed meeting Midway this past Saturday at The Country Squirrel
Outfitters store in down town Ridgway, missed out on her sharing the experience
on the Appalachian Trail (AT). Midway did that, accepted that challenge and
decided to hike the trail, started in northern Georgia and hiked, hiked with a
backpack weighing about thirty-five pounds, hiked across thirteen states, hiked
north to Maine and arrived as a new person or in her words, “a different person
a changed person.”
One
might think that “Midway”, a tall and lean woman of athletic build, a hiking
machine with dark hair cropped short, a necessity on the trail, that the
name isn't appropriate for a lady, but
it's her badge of honor, a name with which she was christened while on the
2,100 mile trek. It was a name given her by her fellow “white blazers”, people
who followed the trail north, taking no short cuts, “NOBO's” northern bound
hikers who were sharing the path identified by white markers. By now one might
be asking what her real name is. I'm not telling. She likes her name, Midway,
she earned it as she was approaching the halfway mark on the trail, and she
decided it fit since it also matched her age, halfway to a longevity goal she
established for herself. She earned the name, and she prefers it. Ask her yourself if you bump into her walking down
town. She's visiting, making new career plans involving hiking and supplying
hikers with nutrition, partnering in planning with Abbi Peters, the director of
Elk County Counsel on the Arts.
At
her age, most people start dreaming about retirement, but not Midway. She
decided to challenge herself, leave the comfort of her situation in California,
put her career on hold, and hike the AT. Don't mistake that as a casual
undertaking, a 2,100 mile walk. She was never a serious endurance athlete and
never attempted anything like it, but she did “walk” around her neighborhood,
on exercise “trails” and managed to build up to seven miles a day before she
started her adventure. She took a hike.
Once she got started and accustomed
to the demands, her daily hikes averaged fifteen to twenty miles a day.
There
was a lot Midway hadn't considered, but she became a quick learner, and she
learned the skills of coping with the challenges nature and the trail had to
offer, from the simple to the demanding, from setting up her tent and finding
water, to scaling boulders along the way, climbing with that thirty-five pound pack
on her back. She learned about dealing with the weather, the rain and wind, the
thunder and lightening, and she learned about staying warm. Midway learned. She
learned to find her way on a trail that wasn't always marked as often as a city
dweller like me would want, and she learned to deal with a scarcity of water,
food and permanent shelters. Everything she needed, she carried in her pack,
and along the way, the pack was modified. She learned about the essentials, and
in Thoreau's words, she learned to “simplify, simplify, simplify.”
Midway
learned she didn't need more than one change of clothing. She learned that a
baggie could be priceless, and she learned how to use garbage bags as
insulation. She learned that make-up wasn't a necessity on the AT, and she
learned that people can be “angels” providing something she could use and just
at the right moment too. She learned that there are “magic” moments on the
trail, finding or seeing sights that one wouldn't expect to find in a rustic or
primitive setting. She learned to live sweaty, that showers and a roof over
ones head could be a blessing, that a Snickers bar was better than money. She
learned that she could be a warrior, stare down a bear, maybe just curious,
maybe hungry, but she learned she could scare it off by herself standing tall,
arms high and wide with her walking sticks and yelling for the bear to leave.
She learned she could do what eighty percent of those who tried could not do,
that is, finish the trail! She set her goal and would not be denied, one step
at a time, her mantra developed, and she hiked the 2,100 miles and realized
that she changed herself along the way.
I've
read Bill Bricen's book, A Walk in the Woods and Cheryl Strayed's true
adventure, Wild, and I was impressed and started thinking about once
again trying out some backpacking for myself. But they were nothing like Midway
for neither of them had completed the entire trail. I'd done quite a bit of
camping and hiking as a scout some forty-five years ago, and about seven years
ago, I even went out with a few friends,
sorely prepared as I was, for an overnighter on the Quehanna Trail, not far
from Ridgway. It was an experience that confirmed I'd never sleep on the ground
again. But after my “Midway” encounter, my new found “infection”, I'm more
convinced than ever, that backpacking is something I want to give another
chance, a more serious effort. I already have most of what I need, now all I
have to do is go, and every time I think of Midway's enthusiasm, the sense of
glory in which she lives, I know I'm getting closer to starting that adventure
every day.
-Submitted by Bill Granche, CSO Staff Member
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