[at-l] Stupid Hiker Tricks

[pmags@yahoo.com (Paul Magnanti)]

My Stupid Hiker Trick happened on my first backpacking
trip.  It also had the honor (?!?) of being published
as a letter in Backpacker Magazine  an issue or two
ago.  Long story short: I was out of shape, carried
too much weight (around my midsection and in my pack),
and took a wrong turn on the trail. Many exhausted
hours later, came back to where we started and
basically passed out.
The outcome of the trip was that it re-ignited a love
for the outdoors that had lain dormant.  Two years
later, summited Katahdin at the end of a thru-hike.
(And a lister we all know and love, indirectly made a
date because of that letter. True story!)


 That trip was with my partner in crime that I have
known since first grade. I only mention that fact
because HIS stupid hiker trick was spending his hard
earned vacation time trudging through 115 miles of
Maine woods and mountains with his smelly, hairy, a
bit crazy in the head buddy (that would be me)  when
he had a perfectly nice girlfriend (who played violin,
great cook, beautiful, smart, etc...ah)  who actually
had some freetime in between her med. school program. 


In the motif of repeat stupid hiker tricks, I am going
on a night bushwack just before the full moon. I am
sure to get lost. At least my midsection is a but more
svelte than five years ago... (Since I am leading a
night hike next week, that trip  will make I belive
two months straight of once a week night hikes).

My buddy's repeat stupid hiker trick is that he may
actually join me again next year for the last week on
the PCT. This time he will be leaving behind a
pefectly nice WIFE  to join his crazy in the head
buddy. I assume I will again be hairy and have a bit
of a funky thru-hiker odor.


Yep..things really change quite a bit in a few years
time.

Mags (who is packing for his overnight, meteor
watching trip...)



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The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little stardust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
--Thoreau

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