[at-l] 2000 mile recognition

[goinggoinggone@webtv.net (goinggoinggone@webtv.net)]

>>>"I'm glad I hiked when I did."<<<

Me too...
I only wish that I had not started so early,
or that I had slowed down a bit: I only was able to meet two other
hikers who survived the whole trip that year, who I am sure finished (we
three climbed Katahdin together), although four other hikers who'd come
from Springer briefly caught up and then fell behind. 
Amongst the three of us, John Gaylor, Joe Cook, and myself, I can't
remember ever talking about wanting to be recognized by anyone. The only
kind of pat on the back I gave myself was to sit down at the summit sign
and sew one of those round AT patches on the map-flap of my pack. I was
really kind of bummed-out, because the AT trip was to be the first leg
of a larger journey, but my knee wasn't in any shape to get back on a
bike. Mostly I remember how sad John and I were to leave the woods, and
how happy Joe was,
but after I met Joe's girlfriend in Darien, that mystery was solved.
I do wish I could have met the other thirty people from the year of
'72...
 

Alejandro

"...let them walk, let them walk, that the darkness overtake them not."
St. Augustine