Category: Hiking the Buckeye Trail

Remembering Poppie
June 28, 2013

Remembering Poppie

June 28, 2013 In a few short years he became a legend on the Buckeye Trail. In those few short years he also became a dear friend–actually more like a brother–to me, and I’m sure some other fellow hikers and people Poppie met along the trail feel the same. On June 25th, 2013, he left us for a new trail. “Gone Hiking” were the final words Poppie (aka Bruce Purdy) left on his blackboard when he retired from teaching three years ago. He was serious about those words. I met him only two days later …
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June 9, 2013

Manly Excuses to Get Out of a Nasty-Weather Hike

June 9, 2013 There is the hard-core hiker who keeps an eye on the weather channel, waiting for the worst possible conditions before heading out to the trail. He might be heard saying, “Hey, an ice storm is coming! I can try out my new contour-hooded sleeping bag with Techloft Insulation good to 20 degrees below zero and my ice cleats with tungsten carbide studs.” Or maybe, “They’re predicting 12 inches of rain. Great! I’ll break out my 20 denier nylon rain jacket with 15.5-inch pit zips and my downpour wide brim rain hat. Just …
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John, the Human Lightning Rod
April 17, 2013

John, the Human Lightning Rod

April 17, 2013 We never know to what heights a friendship may take us . . . We were three days into our annual fall BTA (Buckeye Trail Association) backpacking trip. Children again–five strong–who still loved to hike and camp in the woods with our buddies. Our fall hikes take us off the BT into new territories. This year John was leading our little band of explorers on the North Country Trail through the Allegheny Mountains of northern Pennsylvania. This far into the journey, we explorers were noticeably tiring. The valleys and vistas were exquisite, …
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March 15, 2013

The BT Hiker Weight-Gain Plan

March 15, 2013 The other day I saw a TV commercial about diet and weight. What really grabbed my attention was that they were charging $19.99 for a bottle of tablets to make you gain weight–No, wait! If you ordered right then you could get a second bottle free (except for shipping and handling) and gain twice as much. Happy, non-paid non-actors proudly showed their new, curvy physiques, all thanks to the high-calorie weight-gain tablets. You can go that route if you want, or you can do what I did: hike the entire 1,444 miles …
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February 22, 2013

Carrying a Lighter Load

February 22, 2013 I backpacked only a few times on my trip around the Buckeye Trail, but I wanted to go back and do some more. First, though, I had to see what I could cut out of my pack. You see, each year I try to trim weight from it so that the gross weight of the pack and the hiker remains roughly the same as when I took up the sport. I usually fail–it seems each year that the total weight only grows grosser and grosser. It used to be easy to trim …
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A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
February 2, 2013

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

February 2, 2013 I love dogs, but I don’t always trust them. Especially dogs that I don’t really know. Dad instilled that wariness in me one day long ago when he explained that a dog that licks you just might be testing your salt. That whole being-eaten thing was running through my mind one day as I was hiking the BT on a lonely back road in southern Ohio. After two dogs had harassed me a couple of bends-in-the-road ago, I made a mental note to team up with someone next time–maybe the Dog Whisperer …
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