[at-l] Re: What got you into hiking and camping?

[m2b@loa.com (Ryan Crawford)]

Well, to say the least, nothing is new.  The same unusual stories as to what
got me in doing the AT.

For most of my life I had  despised the idea of ever sleeping in a tent.
Dealing with the rain and bugs, etc. didn't even appeal to me.  Quite
naturally, living in NW Ohio with a family that didn't do anything in the
outdoors didn't help matters much at all.

I was driving home from the annual Dayton Hamvention in 1995.  I was in a
dreary kind of mood to say the very least.  I saw a vehicle in front of me
that was definitely a hamvention goer as well, a camper/RV with a callsign
licence plate.  This was the last year that the hamvention was going to be
held the last weekend of April in 1996 it moved to the third weekend in May,
they were trying to get decent weather which I think has managed to work in
there favor.  All of a sudden, not far from Hara Arena the idea hit.  Why
not come down and just camp out for the entire weekend next year.  I thought
I was crazy right off the bat.

Suffice it to say I stooped low enough, sorry don't anyone get offend by
that comment, and went out and bought a tent at Wal-Mart.  I planned to go
camping over Memorial Day Weekend.  Had car problems and that didn't happen
as planned.  I knew the summer was already destroyed by my brother so I
figured I would end up having to wait until Labor Day.

Well, after most of the summer had passed the boss walked up to me in
mid-August and told I was going to get laid-off for one week only.  He
hadn't even walked away and my mind was already made up to get the heck out
of Ohio for the entire week and go camping somewhere I hadn't been before.

I finally decided to take off west.  I had never been further west than St.
Louis so I was hoping to make a nice trip out west toward the Black Hills
and then drop down toward the Four Corners area.  To say the least, yes I
hadn't did much traveling during my life time.

I got into the Black Hills on day 3 after many tourist traps had already
gotten in my way going through South Dakota.  While in the Black Hills I saw
that I was very close to Harney Peak, the highest point east of the Rockies.
I decided to go ahead and give it a shot and do the hike up the top.  I
started up after a failed attempt to find the trailhead the day before, and
got 3/4 the way up.  I saw two backpackers standing beside the trail, must
have been hiking the Centennial Trail since it was at the trail crossing.  I
thought, instantly, you know that is the way to go.

After getting home from, still, the nicest camping trip that I've been on,
yes by myself as usual, I checked a couple books out of the library on
backpacking.  One of the books listed many backpacking and wilderness area
in the U.S.  I saw that it made mention of the AT.  I also saw the length of
the AT and said "No way, I'll NEVER get a chance to do that."  Yes, I was
still in a very negative mindset to say the least.  Remember, never say
NEVER.

A few months passed and the fall season started on PBS.  That meant a new
series of Trailside.  I had been watching it since the first season.
Essentially anything they ever showed on the series I thought would be
interesting but coming from Ohio I knew made it rather difficult.  Most
everything you needed a partner for, no one around did anything in the
outdoors other than golf or tennis.

It was Thanksgiving weekend and I was getting ready to watch that weeks
episode.  It came on but something seemed rather unusual.  It wasn't the
normal beginnning to the episode, no John Viehman.  My mind was going, "You
can't tell me the series is already through for this year it's only been
three or four episodes."  Quickly I came to realize that this wasn't a
normal episode.  Yes, it was the start of the two part series on thru-hiking
the AT that they did in 1995.  To say the least the first episode wasn't
over and I was already hooked and knew I was going to thru-hike.

I still found myself asking the same question, "How stupid am I?"  I would
have to say though that I owe it mostly to Maine Rose.  She was the star of
the show.

I spent '96 getting equipment and trying to talk myself out of the crazy
idea.  It didn't work!!!!!!!!!!!

Ryan "MEANT 2B" Crawford
Sunapee, NH
GAME '97, MSG '01