Kathryn Fulton - Hikers Stories from the Appalachian Trail

Hikers Stories
from the
Appalachian Trail

STACKPOLE
BOOKS

Copyright 2012 by Stackpole Books

Published by

STACKPOLE BOOKS

5067 Ritter Road

Mechanicsburg, PA 17055

www.stackpolebooks.com

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Stackpole Books, 5067 Ritter Road, Mechanicsburg PA 17055.

First edition

Cover design by Tracy Patterson

Cover art by Robert Craig

ISBN-13: 978-0-8117-4612-0

About the Contributors

Amanda Redpath (Veggie)

redpathATadventure.wordpress.com

Since hiking the AT, Amanda graduated from Syracuse University, finished the Adirondack 46ers, and participated in the NOLS New Zealand Semester. Her next goal is to hike the PCT. She blogs about her latest adventures at thebackpackerchronicles.wordpress.com.

Amanda Schlenker/Jarrod and Becca Schlenker (Hansel and Gretel)

jabeccawalk.blogspot.com

Amanda Schlenker served as chronicler for her brother and sister, Jarrod (trail name: Hansel) and Rebecca (Gretel), who hiked the AT to raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America. Jarrod is currently pursuing a law degree at Catholic university and working on Capitol Hill; Rebecca is pursuing a law degree at Quinnipiac University. Amanda is a pediatric occupational therapist in New York state.

Bruce Nichols (BirdMan)

www.shinealight.com/write/index.htm

Bruce Nichols lives in Shelton, Connecticut, where he works on projects for several nonprofit groups, including Friends of Peace Pilgrim, the Siddhartha School Project, and the Shelton Land Conservatrion Trust. Since his 2002 AT hike, Bruce has continued his long-distance hiking with walks of the Camino de Santiago in Spain, the Long Trail in Vermont (twice), the John Muir Trail in the Sierra Nevada, a walk from Nagasaki to Hiroshima in Japan, and a 700-mile walk and kayak journey from his home in Connecticut to Canada and back. His next walking project is the newly designated New England National Scenic Trail from Connecticut to New Hampshire.

Corwin Neuse (Major Chafage)

walkingwithchafage.blogspot.com

Corwin Neuse is a freelance adventurer, screenwriter, novelist, and world-renowned lover. As a student at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, he studied Dramatic Writing, perfect preparation for a life of shiftless misadventure. Corwin currently lives in New Haven with his girlfriend and their cat.

Deb Lauman (Ramkitten)

www.debralauman.com

Deb Lauman completed her thru-hike in 2000. Today she lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, and is a freelance writer and the author of I. Joseph Kellerman and A Picket Fence in Pawpaw. In addition to her online trail journals, she blogs about her experiences as a search and rescue volunteer at http://debssarstories.blogspot.com.

Devon Parish (Flamebo)

5millionsteps.wordpress.com

Devon Parish and her fellow members of the Vermont Mafia (Beef, EKG, Default, D-Wreck, and Bearwalker) completed their southbound thru-hike in 2008. Flamebo is currently working for an environmental nonprofit in Boston, Massachusetts, where a good hike is never more than a few hours away. Despite now living with four walls and a roof over her head, she still never takes being warm and dry for granted.

Elaine Rockett (Second Stage)

trailjournals.com

Alas, Elaine Rockett was unable to complete her anticipated thru-hike in 2010. Happily, however, she plans another attempt in 2012. Shell be posting updates on trailjournals.com.

Elizabeth Zane (Beef)

5millionsteps.wordpress.com

Elizabeth Zane completed her southbound thru-hike in 2008 in the excellent company of the Vermont Mafia (Default, Flamebo, EKG, D-Wreck, and Bearwalker). Since finishing the trail she has tackled her next adventuremedical schoolin the wilds of Syracuse, New York.

Francis Tapon

francistapon.com

Francis Tapon is the author of Hike Your Own Hike: 7 Life Lessons from Backpacking Across America, and The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us, which will be released in April 2012. After completing the Appalchian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, he became the first person to do a round-trip on the Continental Divide Trail. His goal in life is to visit every country on the planet (so far hes been to eighty) and share the experience with others.

Jennifer Ensworth (Thin Mint)

trailjournals.com

Jennifer Ensworth successfully completed her thru-hike on August 31, 2010, summiting Mt. Katahdin on a beautiful day with an amazing group of friends. Since then, she has been doing freelance work casting films and television in New York City and Nashville, Tennessee.

John Bryant Baker (Sunrise)

bakersthruhike.blogspot.com; www.johnbryantbaker.com

John Bryant Baker works as a whitewater rafting guide and carpenter, with his favorite river being the Gauley in West Virginia and his favorite project being the 1989 transit bus that he and his wife call home. Since their thru-hike in 2010, whether on the river or on the trail, they have continued to experience the awe of nature and the empowerment of adventure.

John Bitner (Churchill)

trailjournals.com (journal listed under My American Dream)

John Bitner is from Audubon, New Jersey; he graduated from Rutgers University and worked at Cooper University Hospital in the ICU. Since finishing the trail he moved to Tampa, Florida, where he works in the emergency department at Tampa General Hospital and is co-authoring a book about the Appalacian trail with another hiker.

John Pugh (Johnny Swank)

sourcetosea.net

John has hiked the Appalachian Trail and paddled the Mississippi River; his future plans include hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and mountain-biking the Continental Divide Trail. He earned a masters degree in Recreation and Sport Science from Ohio University in 2003. John is from the one-stoplight town of Climax, NC.

Julia Tyler (No Promises)

juliashike.blogspot.com

Julia Tyler grew up in Wisconsin and studied religion at Macalester College in Minnesota. She now lives in Ventura, California, where she works as the Director of Religious Education at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura. When shes not at work, she reads, writes songs, and continues to dream big. She hopes to complete the southern half of the Appalachian Trail someday.

Karelyn Kressler (Little Dipper)

karriesappalachiantrail.blogspot.com

Karelyn Kressler completed her southbound thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in November 2009. The following year, Karelyn and seven friends canoed the Mississippi River from the headwaters in Minnesota to New Orleans, raising funds for relief efforts in Haiti. Now she is living on a sustainable farm in North Carolina and hopes to take on the Pacific Crest Trail next.

Maria Dickinson (EKG)

5millionsteps.wordpress.com

Maria Dickinson finished her hike of the AT in the summer of 2009, and returned home to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to start taking prerequisite classes for physical therapy school. She also attended St. Johns College and began working part-time as an office assistant and a tutor for kids with autism. She is now applying for physical therapy school and enjoying playing rugby and day hiking in the beautiful Sandia Mountains.

Nicole Green (Ichiban)

greenattrek.blogspot.com

Nicole Green, a teacher from Texas, was a first-time long-distance hiker. She plans to go back to school for a second Masters degree in higher education.

Peter J. Barr (Whippersnap)

peterontheat.com