I noticed something about the
through-hikers, the hikers who are going from Georgia to Maine and have been passing us.
George and I are on our way from north to south, but most people go from south to north,
from Springer Mt. in Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. I can recognize a through-hiker.
They're thin. They have muscular legs. They don't have much upper body strength. The
muscle tone is week on the top. They're just skinny. They've been using 6,000 calories a
day or so and probably eating a lot less. But another thing I noticed that is not so good
and I notice it in myself, these young people, or old people like I am, we're all stooped.
We're all used to carrying packs and looking at the ground so your feet don't stumble or
step into mud swamps. We're watching, but we're watching down. And you see them all, all
the through-hikers; we're all stooped. And I wonder if after this hike I'll be able to
straighten up again. Usually when we do stop to rest at a shelter and I get up, my son
George says, "Dad, straighten up! Straighten up, Dad!"
- Jacques d'Amboise |
