Awesome on the Appalachian Trail
My friend Awesome
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. ~Winston Churchill
Today a really special post, it’s the earliest part of thru-hiking season on the Appalachian Trail (AT) and one of my former hiking partners is hitting the trail. His trail name is Awesome and a more aptly taken trail name there has never been. I met awesome in my 2015 thru-hike attempt on the AT. There are a couple of stories about him in my book that is soon to be published.
I first met awesome one night coming into camp with my friend Backtrack. Awesome came over and introduced himself. He’s a happy guy with a wonderful southern drawl and an easy manner. My friend mentioned some pain he was having and Awesome asked, “your cheese grater thighs?” Backtrack and I were dumbfounded, we’d had a conversation using that exact term prior to coming into camp. Sensing our confusion Awesome smiled and said, “Y’all ain’t the quietest people on the trail.” We laughed hysterically. It was a wonderful first meeting and few minutes later Awesome’s campmate Kingfisher would come over and say hi as well. It was the first meeting of a group that would get nicknamed the AARP group on the trail. Awesome has become more than a friend, more than trail family, he’s family to me.
Awesome, Backtrack, Rev Kane, and Kingfisher
Awesome will be starting out on his thru-hike attempt this weekend and I wish him all of the luck in the world. Luck is the only thing he’ll need, he’s a helluva hiker and good man, so with some luck and a little trail magic he should be climbing Mount Katahdin in Maine in a few months.
Geared up and ready to go
Please my friends, if you encounter him on the trail show him some kindness, buy him a drink or give him a ride some place. I’ll keep you posted time to time on his progress, if you want to provide some trail magic for him feel free to contact me at HappinessKane@aol.com and I’ll let you know when he’s in your neck of the woods.
I’m so happy for him right now, and so damn jealous. I wish I was heading out with him and I hope to, later in his hike, catch up and spend a few days with him on the trail. He’s about to have many happy days. ~ Rev Kane
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