Roland Mueser, 80, died March 8, 2004, in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey. Mr. Mueser retired after a 35-year career with Bell Labs. But it was after he retired that the fun started, his son, Ted, said. An avid skier and hiker, Mr. Mueser was a volunteer firefighter, president of the town’s library board, co-organizer of an annual 10K run and, after hiking the Appalachian Trail, wrote a book about the experience. Another son, Kim, said writing and publishing the book “Long Distance Hiking: Lessons from the Appalachian Trail,” meant a lot to his father, who completed the six-month journey when he was 66. During the months-long hike, Mr. Mueser gathered contact information from people he met on the trail. Later, he mailed them surveys that he used as material for the book.
Harry Dolphin