Something to be said about Trail Angles

There are a lot (and by a lot I really only mean a handful of people) who set out on the A.T. to set records or do something off-beat to become sort of a legend, I suppose, out here on the trail. There's the guy who ran the entire trail; I'm sure he had some great pics of his trek. The guy who has done the trail like 15 times; I'm not sure if he realizes that there are other trails here in the US that are worth hiking or if he is just so accustomed to following the "white blaze" that he feels lost without it and now in fact CAN'T get off the trail. There are the sisters who supposedly are out here right now who are attempting to hike the entire trail barefoot. Little do they know that there was a guy last year who did this and yet another guy, who I met, who is doing the same thing. Sorry ladies, not impressed. Then there are the people who simply become legends on the trail without ever trying or most the time ever knowing. Usually these people are just missing a nut or two and really are not legends at all, just really weird people who stick out in the minds and stories of a lot of hikers.

Maybe a lot of people are a legend in their own mind. All I know is there are the small percentage of hikers who help these so called legends really believe they are. I am not one of them. I think I am usually easily impressed and very easily amused, not so much out here. I think maybe part of it may be that I am out here too and although not attempting to hike from Georgia to Maine barefoot still have to go through the same pains and trials these "legends" go through. Basically what I am trying to say is there are no legends out here on the trail. There are plenty of really neat people and definitely plenty of "interesting" people out here, but no real legends.

There are, however, legends along the trail. These people, or legends if you will, are willing and wanting to do anything they can for a hiker. They will cook for you, let you shower in their home, shuttle you around town while you are wearing a bathrobe because they are also doing your laundry for you. These people will bend over backwards for you and give you the clothes off their own back to help a hiker out. They are called Trail Angels.

Backtrack and I had our fair share of trail angels while we were hiking together. There was Pablo in Georgia, mine and Backtracks very first hitch into a town off the trail. We had just enough time to cross the road and put our thumbs out for about a nano second when he pulled up! Of course, Pablo was driving what very well could have been the smallest possible car to hitch in with two smelly hikers, our ridiculously over sized packs, my trekking poles (Lucy and Ethel) and of course Bob, the beloved walking stick Backtrack adopted while out here. Yep....Pablo was driving a suped-up, sweet silver mustang! We were a little uncomfortable, very thankful, and riding into Hiawassee, GA in style. Another angel there in Hiawassee was Josh. This young guy who would not tell me his age, only that he was anywhere between 19 and 28 drove a suped-up F150 with leather seats so polished up that I slid clear across them as he zipped out of the hardware store parking lot.
NOTE: There in Hiawassee, GA apparently because there are no bowling allies, movie theatres, billiards, or even a wal-mart to hang out at, the hang out is the local hardware store parking lot. Not really sure why, all it is is a parking lot known by the locals as "the hardware." This is where we (Backtrack, Dave AT and myself) found Josh after gourging at the Daniel's All You Can Eat Buffet there in town. He gave us a ride up a long 11 mile up-hill back to the hostel. Backtrack and Dave AT sat in the bed of the truck while I rode shotgun and chatted him up. Turns out our friend Josh has plans to be a firefighter soon...go Josh!

Backtrack and I randomly came across a cute older couple in North Carolina sitting along an old logging road. They had coolers set up with all kinds of water, Gatorade, and soda and there were two huge storage units with snacks galore! They also had some extra chairs set up so that the hikers could take a load off and sit on something other then a log or a rock! What a luxury. They told us about their Baptist Church and some ministry work they have done in the past. They had some great stories. Backtrack you'll have to help me with names here...I can't remember:/
Great surprise they were....yummy snacks, cold Gatorade and fun conversation go a long way out here on the trail!

Franklin, NC is swarming with trail angles! Starting with the two guys who picked us up after we had been hitching for 20 minutes in the wrong direction. All we really needed was a ride into town which was 15 miles away, but they insisted on giving us a tour. They took us to all the hotels to compare prices and showed us where all the good food was to be found. Later on we were out in front of the post office sorting through the mail drops Christy sent out to us trying to decide what to take and what to leave behind (I now know never to leave any food behind, just mail ahead in your bump-box). Everyone....and I mean all 26 people of Franklin stopped to talk. "Ya'll out on the trail?", "How long ya'll been out hikin'?", "Seen any bears, have ya?", "You two plan on eatin all that food?"- All kinds of questions! The people of Franklin were really interested in our adventure. When we told people that we had plans to hike all the way to Maine their eyes widened and their jaw dropped as they would say something along the lines of "Ya'll better get movin' or yer gonna be hikin' in the snow!" or people, not just in Franklin loved to tell us that we were at the "end of the pack." Most everyone was genuinely nice and interested in our story. Backtrack offered one of our 50 bazillion snickers to a cute little old lady with big hair; she hesitated for a moment as she drooled over the thought, then said sure as she started to get money out of her purse to pay us for it! We told her that she was doing us a favor by cutting down our pack weight!
We met an awesome soccer mom-not really sure if she has kids and if so if they play soccer- but she had the suburban and the "look." Her name is Kim and she offered the two of us a ride back to the trail, but we were moving slow that day (shocker) and still had a lot of sorting we had to do. Kim then said she had to take care of some stuff and that she would be back in 20 minutes but for us not to feel rushed. Who does that? Who goes out of their way to take anyone anywhere, much less come back for them?! So we finished sorting and Kim picks us up. We told Kim that we too had some stuff we had to take care of like the laundry, the library, kmart, and pizza. Kim shows us where everything was that we needed and drops us off at the "Happy Family" laundry mat. Both of our hands were full and Kim shoves a $20 bill in Backtracks hand and says "lunch on me!" We try to tell her we couldn't accept it and give it back, but she insisted, hopped into her SUV and drove off while wishing us good luck as she drove off.
Later that day when we finally finished everything and headed back to the mat to get out packs (we made that our home base while in town) we were sitting there trying to decide how we were going to get back into town, it was already late and we didn't feel like hiking. Pretty sure that was our first 'zero day'. This woman Shawna was in there with her mom Kathy and her three sons with about 500 baskets full of clothes. We chit-chatted a bit and she had to take a call so she passes her 1 yr old to me to hold! It hit me....I was standing there in Franklin, NC in a laundry mat holding someones baby that I just met not 20 minutes ago! This my friends, is trail life! The best thing about Shawna and Kathy was that they offered to take us where we needed to go on one condition....we helped them fold the 500 baskets worth of clothes! Done deal!!

This brings us to the Ron Haven part of Franklin. Not only is he an ex pro wrestler, the unspoken owner on Franklin (he owns pretty much every hotel and apartment complex in Franklin), but also one of the coolest and most popular trail angels. Franklin is the "Gem of the Smokies". Apparently the worlds largest ruby was found there in Franklin and is now in some museum there. We happened to be in Franklin the weekend of the 'Gem Show.' As a result, every single room was taken in the booming town of Franklin seeing as how the Gem Show was...well, "kind of a big deal." The town of Franklin was buzzing with vans (creepy vans) transporting these gems to the show. People from all over were there. India, Russia, Korea...you name it and there was a gem to be shown and sold there. Good old Ron Haven put Backtrack, three other hikers and myself up for the night in one of his empty apartments hostel style, not before he drove us anywhere any of us needed to go. Great guy!
And of course there is Falgman...one of the many people outside of the Post Office. He is a thru-hiker of 2001 and offered us a ride to Damascus, VA for trail days. We of course agreed to that!

There really are so many great people out here who just want to do anything they can to help out the hikers. They're not doing it to break any records or impress anyone....they don't even get a patch for what they do! These people do it because they want to and because it's fun. They have the opportunity to meet people from all over and they hear so many different stories. It's funny because they are not out here on the trail, but they know who is out here, who's been hiking on a hurt foot, or who has seen a bear, or even who had their tent T-P'ed while they were getting water! They know all of the funny, sometimes not so funny stories of so many hikers and most the time never officially meet them. I really think a lot of these people live vicariously through the hikers. It's a win-win situation and it's awesome. I haven't even begun to mention all the trail angels I have come across, but I just wanted it to be known that they do exist and they are the real legends out here!
-Tumbleweed