Hey All -
You don’t have to spend a lot of time here on TJ to realize that there are certain people in the Trail Community who are better known than others.
My question is - what have these people done to reach this kind of "popular"status? What is their significance in the Trail Community? Why is Lone Wolf, well - Lone Wolf. Why is Minnesota Smith, Minnesota Smith? Baltimore Jack, Miss Janet, etc.
Piper
It’s all about a level of involvement. The more you hike, the more hikers you meet, the more trail events you attend, the more you post, the more you help out the new hikers and the more involved in the hiker community you are - the more people know who you are. Getting mentioned in Backpacker Magazine doesn’t hurt.
Love, Bubble Toes
Bubble Toes
Some people are known from the hiking movies and books. I know of Lion King, AWOL, Yogi, Teatree, Nemo, and many others just from watching the films and I read AWOL’s book.
m.d.
I don’t know of any… everyone is a star… I think the only trail legends are the trail angels, hostel owners, restaurant workers and unknown folks who help us along our path…
No disrespect to any of those mentioned… but they are just people who are also on the journey from point a to point b.
aswah
…UH HUH…and now i’m definitely thinkin’ that we need to contact mattel or fischer-price about a new line of “trail hero” action figures…(i wonder if the “hiker dolls” could be infused with “trail aroma”?)…yeah…when you come down to it, we ALL are just a bunch of smelly hikers, right?
maw-ee
…UH HUH…and now i’m definitely thinkin’ that we need to contact mattel or fischer-price about a new line of “trail hero” action figures…(i wonder if the “hiker dolls” could be infused with “trail aroma”?)…yeah…when you come down to it, we ALL are just a bunch of smelly hikers, right?
maw-ee
I want to put my order in for an ASWAH doll with gold painted hiking boots! And a tarp tent!
Or Baltimore Jack with a bottle. How about two WWF dolls one Ms. Janet the other Uncle Johnny!
Papa Smurf
How hilarious that Minnesota is up there with Miss Janet! His trick was that he was slow and offensive! He told me I had a thyroid or perhaps an ovarian disease upon first meeting! Hilarious. Most people had an offensive encounter with him as they passed him, and so he is a legend…
Chardonnay
Legends? Loads of legends… Think Myron Avery, Benton MacKaye, Earl Schaffer, Grandma Gatewood, Gene Espy?
What about Bob Proudman or Morgan Sommerville?
Keith Shaw, Miss Janet, Uncle Johnny, Rusty, Curtis, Damascus Dave? Dare I say Wingfoot?
All these good folks have performed a service to The Trail in one capacity or another for varying degrees of time with a broad spectrum of services.
Lone Wolf, Willie & Blue-Blazers. Blatimore Jack, Texas Jack, Stumpknocker, Lion King, Seiko, Heald & Wonderdog, Snake Eyes, Ellwood could all be called Trail legends.
Ridgerunners like Many Sleeps/Roger, Gizmo/Glen… Myself, yea, legend or something:)… Trail Crew leaders and volunteers that maintain, relocate, re-habilitate The Trail its shelters and privies. There are too many truly legendary volunteers out there to list anywhere.
The Appalachian Trail has reached legendary proportions itself so does anyone who hikes or works on The Trail become part of it as The Trail becomes part of them?
State Parks, Wilderness Areas, National Parks, National Forest, National Recreation Areas, private lands… Legendary places for people who become legend. Uncle Nick Grindstaff, is he a legend? The N.O.C. The Doyle, The Whites and Southern Maine… Gatlinburg… The Crowds of 2000, The Rains of 2003, The drought of 2007… Legend.
People, times and places become legendary due to their amazing impacts on the people who encounter them… Many people I have’nt mentioned here have performed legendary services for The Trail and continue to anonymously give their gifts to all that follow The White Blazes.
About 2 cents worth there… If you want to know what a person has done to be called “legend”, just ask. If they dont answer themselves, someone will.
R.R.
(yea! for the “rains of 2003”, by the way)…wow!..if we’re gonna attempt a “list” with actual names here, then we’re gonna need 5 or 6 pages!..think of it!..14 states!..with shelters and trail towns and festivals all packed with hikers, hostel owners, shuttle-rs, angels, motel owners, restauranteurs, maintainers, volunteers, ridgerunners, churches, outfitters, caretakers, pie and cookie bakers, atc/amc/usfs/np officials, etc, etc, etc!!!
…we’re unfortunately (but not intentionally) gonna leave somebody out…i’ve always maintained that my biggest heroes were those folks we left behind at home who sacrificed so much to help us go, send us maildrops, encourage us and transcribe our stories!..thanks to my daughter and son-in-law, my heroes : carli and michael!
maw-ee
:pimp