[at-l] William Henry Hawkins

[spiriteagle99 at hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

Weary wrote:
>I met Wild Bill -- and Pirate -- at Rainbow Springs in 1993. If I remember 
>right, he was recovering from an injury of some sort. He struck me as too 
>heavy for a real backpacker, but I learned later that he was a champion 
>hiker.

We knew Wild Bill - we hiked, not "with him, but around him through Maine 
during his second thruhike.  We stayed at some of the same shelters.  We 
camped and ate breakfast with him at Pierce Pond.  When Ginny and I forded 
the Kennebec, he loaned Ginny his walking stick.  We have a picture that he 
took of that crossing and sent to us later.  He passed us the next day as we 
were packing up in the morning - they stayed at the shelter and we'd camped 
out on top of Pleasant Pond Mt.

We climbed Katahdin one day after Bill - he left Monson ahead of us and had 
gone into Milliinocket to resupply. I believe he started his yoyo (3rd thru) 
the day we climbed Katahdin.

If memory serves, Bill started the Trail weighing about 350#.  By the time 
we caught up to him, he'd dropped over 100#.  We heard later that he'd 
gained much of the weight back when he stopped for the winter at Rainbow 
Springs.  But he was a "real" hiker regardless of appearaces.

I'll miss him.

Walk softly,
Jim


http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/