Committing to the Climb, Part 2
Wildlife encounters, “trail magic,” memorable hikers, and weather challenges
Here’s part two of our Appalachian Trail thru-hiking story written by Ron and Kelly Gaulden of Greenville, South Carolina.
Committing to the Climb, Part 2
Story and photos by Ron and Kelly Gaulden
The Wildlife
We were surprised at some of the wildlife along the way. The deer in Shenandoah National Park were so tame that we could practically reach out and pet them. We saw lots of timber rattlers, especially in Pennsylvania. They’re actually very timid.
We usually slept well on the trail, but we would wake up during thunderstorms. The peeper frogs were so loud at one campsite in Virginia that we barely slept a wink. There was also a campsite in New Jersey where this strange sound kept us up. All. Night. Long. We later learned it was a whippoorwill.
Massachusetts is where we noticed the squirrels were smaller and redder. (They were also meaner. Sometimes they would perch in trees to toss nuts and pinecones onto our tent.) Vermont was gorgeous, and the Whites were challenging, rugged, and awesome. Maine was so very special with all the ponds, moose*, and of course, Katahdin.
We didn’t have any bear scares during the nights, but we did unzip our tent one July night in New Jersey to find a huge pile of bear scat a few feet from our tent. So, even though we slept soundly through it, we did have a visitor at least once.
Kelly: The first bear we actually saw along the trail was in Virginia. I was hiking alone while Ron had hung back. I was looking down to watch my footing, and when I looked up to check for the next white blaze trail marker on the trees, I saw a black bear about 100 yards ahead. I did everything I was not supposed to do—paused, took out my camera, and snapped a photo—before following the protocol of holding my jacket over my head to look big and yelling to scare the black bear away. The bear scurried off immediately after that, and by then Ron had caught up to me.
Ron: I asked Kelly if there was a little dog or something on the trail, and she informed me that I had heard her intimidating “woop woop” that scared the bear away. By the time we reached the Shenandoahs a week or so later, we saw many more bears. On one day alone, we saw eight, including a mama teaching her cubs to climb a tree.
The Magic
We were surprised by and grateful for the “trail magic” along the way, when people would leave treats like cold drinks in a creek or a cooler of food at a road crossing. The best one was a cooler with hard-boiled eggs and fruit. After all of the packaged meals we ate, this fresh food was heavenly.
Oftentimes, we got to meet the people who offered the trail magic. One road crossing had directions to a nearby cabin where hikers could get a meal. We learned that this type of magic usually came with the caveat of listening to some preaching. One of our hiker buddies coined this type of trail magic “Jesus Magic.”
We were surprised at how ravenous we became on the trail. When we got to Manchester, Vermont, we checked in at the Green Mountain House hiker hostel. Then, we found a Friendly’s restaurant where we ate a couple of entrees each. We both ordered the large ice cream dessert that is meant to feed an entire table. We could have eaten more, but we were saving room for the pizza joint up the road!
The People
We met so many wonderful people, many of whom we still keep in contact with now, nineteen years later. Every year we exchange Christmas cards with “Blue Skies” from Denmark. “Dances with Sloths” from Texas sometimes comes back to the East Coast to hike sections of the trail, and makes a point to visit us with his dog, Match. We have fond memories of “Green Hornet” from Ohio who had served in the Navy. The “Four People” consisted of “Crazy Bear” from Arizona, “Paloma” from Ohio, “Ghetto Blaster” from Virginia, and “Carpenter” from Massachusetts. We were so glad to summit Katahdin with them. Plus, now Ghetto and Paloma are married with two kids—and their oldest is named after Benton MacKaye, the originator of the Appalachian Trail!
One day, we met “The Bird Couple” on their section hike. They were out for a short trip, birding along the way. Warren and Lisa graciously helped us identify several birds we had photographed on our digital camera. Thanks to them, we learned about the scarlet tanager, red-winged blackbird, and hermit thrush. We carried that knowledge with us throughout the trail.
Fun fact: We were recently listening to a Substack by Heather Cox Richardson. She quoted Warren Strobel from the Washington Post, and Ron said, that’s our bird guy! Ron reached out to him on social media, and he responded right away. He remembered meeting us on the trail all those years ago.
