[at-l] A heartwarming Leki story (kind of long)

[lwbooher@halifax.com (Leslie Booher)]

Come on, come on!  We've gotta hear the rest of the story!  It got cut off!
Leslie (anklebear)

-----Original Message-----
From: Nina Baxley <infpeace@yahoo.com>
To: at-l@backcountry.net <at-l@backcountry.net>
Date: Wednesday, February 21, 2001 11:06 PM
Subject: [at-l] A heartwarming Leki story (kind of long)


>Gather 'round and get out your hankies, friends, for,
>in the spirit of Leki love that so many of us share, I
>have a heartwarming Leki story for you all ...
>
>Once upon a time, long long ago--OK, so not THAT long
>ago--I went hiking on the Pinhoti Trail in Alabammy
>(spring 2000). On that trip, I got caught in a flash
>flood and a bunch of bad things happened--my tent went
>flying down a raging creek, I lost my glasses, I
>nearly drowned, then I had to build a shelter using
>trees and trash bags and keep vigil all night while it
>rained and the temps dropped to somewhere in the 30s.
>The worst thing that happened on that trip, though,
>was that I LOST my beloved Leki poles (OK, so maybe
>I'm being a little dramatic here ...)
>
>I ended up buying new Lekis, which I used on my AT
>thru-hike last year. I figgered my old Lekis had
>drowned and gone to Leki heaven, or maybe they were at
>the bottom of a lake somewhere.
>
>Then I got this e-mail last week from Karen (Nocona)
>Borski, who thru-hiked in '98. Read on ...
>
>----Nocona wrote:
>> Then, we were ready to
>> go
>> hiking before starting jobs again.  We decided on
>> the
>> Long Trail, since it would be low in elevation and
>> lovely in fall foliage.
>>
>> Andy (aka Bald Eagle, my boyfriend) invited an AT
>> friend of his (AT '95) named ET to hike the Long
>> Trail
>> with us.  ET is retired army colonel and about 60
>> years old.  He hails from Arab, Alabama.  He and
>> Andy
>> have gone on several long section hikes following
>> the
>> AT, and -- aside from me -- ET is Andy's main hiking
>> buddy.  ET has hiked the AT, the Colorado Trail and
>> several other smaller trails.
>>
>> So, we all met up in Vermont to start the Long Trail
>> on September 17.  ET has always been set in his
>> hiking
>> ways and carries a small 7-ounce chair to set up in
>> camp, as well as a giant shovel-handle made into a
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