Date: 2007-03-03
To: Trail Magic/Trail Angels
Miles today: 0.0

For those of my readers who are not familiar with the AT I need to explain trail magic and trail angels. You see, the AT is a very different experience than hiking most of the places I have been in the western United States. The AT has its own culture, some of which is spreading to other trails but I believe originated on the AT. For one thing you notice that people go by trail names, which remind me of camp names at Girl Scout Camp a thousand years ago or so.Another time honored piece of lore on the AT is Trail Magic. Trail magic includes wonderful gifts by trail angels along the trail. On my first AT hike from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Deep Gap, North Carolina my daughter and I ran across two such wonderful gifts. One was a couple six packs of coke left at a trail head near a road with a sign that said something like - "One for each hiker. Enjoy your hike". We did. And we definitely enjoyed the coke too. When I arrived at Deep Gap, there was a whole cooler filled with cold drinks and fruit and snacks of various kinds left for whatever hikers happened by.This year I am being blessed with Trail Angels already even though I am no where near the trail for a few more weeks. Not knowing anyone in southwest Virginia where I will be ending, I needed someone to take me from the trail to the airport at Roanoke. I inquired of a few pastors in Roanoke and have been blessed with a trail angel in the form of a retired church secretary who is also a hiker. She will pick me up and deliver me to a friend in Roanoke who lives 10 minutes from the airport who will house me and feed me breakfast and get me to the airport. And they propose to do all this for free saying, "What are friends for?" And I have never yet met these women in my life. Amazing!They give a true flavor of the trail angels along the AT. Besides these two wonderful ladies, my journal which has been officially posted a total of two days has already recorded messages of encouragement and help, as have a couple messages sent to my email address. And I have a cell phone number of someone who will be near Damascus if I need any help. I thought I did not know anyone in southwest Virginia and now I have three support people there already. Amazing!Here in the Northwest we have trail angels too although we have not called them by that name. They are called friends. The hiking I have done on the PCT has often been organized with many friends helping. They also have served the role of hostels along the trail although the accomodations are more likely to be tents than houses. Friends/trail angels have brought food drops, cooked meals for tired hikers or brought some already cooked to give us. The trip last summer was made with the support of Elaine, Sheila, Becky, Dave, Carol, Becky 1&2, and Kari. Thank you to you all. But the AT is, if not completely unique, at least of a different flavor in having so many wonderful trail angels who are angels to people they do not even know. I do not think any hiker travels the trail for much distance before running into the kindness of trail angels or experiencing a bit of trail magic. It is one of the things about hiking the AT that is beautiful and charming as well as, ocassionally, life sustaining.I am looking forward to meeting my new trail angels and probably many more.Medicare Pastor