Triple Crown Recipient Video

Prodeal put together this video for ALDHA-West, and it features all those who received their Triple Crown Award for 2009.  He did a wonderful job with putting this together.  Check it out.

2009 Triple Crown Video from Bristlecone Media on Vimeo

I am myself hoping to be in the next video for 2010. I've got 30-miles to hike on the PCT, so I cannot be a Triple Crowner until I get those last miles done. Yes, I am a stickler for details!

Weathercarrot's Photo Tribute to Gene Espy

Weathercarrot is back in the Bay Area after a successfully serving the 27th Annual Gathering of ALDHA as its presentation coordinator. We had a chance to catch up today over lunch and talk trail and life. It was sure good to see him.

Since my computer was the final staging area for putting together a photo tribute to Gene Espy, who is recognized as the second man to hike the Appalachian Trail, Weathercarrot gave me permission to upload the video to YouTube, and host it on my channel.  I feel honored. Espy hiked the length of the AT in 1951, just three years after Earl Schaffer, and he is certainly another pioneer in the long-distance hiking community.

Props again to Weathercarrot for putting this video together with great care and reverence. Enjoy. 

ALDHA - West Gathering this Weekend

While I was hiking up in northern Oregon, I ran into Warner Springs Monty up in Cascade Locks. "What the heck you doing up here?" I asked him.  He responded saying that he was doing some "trail angeling," and then he was going up to Wenatchee, Washington for the ALDHA-West Gathering . "Cool," I said, "Can I get a ride up to Panther Creek tomorrow?"

Blunt as I may have been, I certainly had a heightened sense of curiosity surrounding this event on Septenber 19-21 and the ALDHA-East Gathering event on October 10-12. What the heck goes on at these events?

I spent a little time with Weathercarrot this past weekend, and I learned a lot more about what goes on.  These gatherings are similar to the Pacific Crest Trail Kick-Off events in that they provide programs and workshops for hikers to attend.  Much more than that, they are events where hikers get to hang out, talk trail, and just be a hiker. 

For those of us who have been bitten by the hiking bug, these events are necessary. Popular culture blesses going to college, incurring debt, getting a desk job, having a family, getting a mortgage, and blah, blah blah.  Taking six months off to go hike a trail goes against that norm, and for those of us who do it, we need a support system that blesses long-distance hiking.

I won't make it to either of these events this year, and the Pacific Crest Trail Kick-Off will continue to be my support event.  Nonetheless, I hope to get to one of these gatherings.