Old Lady on the Trail- Triple Crown at 76
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Old Lady on the Trail
By Mary E. Davison
This book is dedicated to the unsung heroes of the trails, those who volunteer their time and effort to maintain them. Without maintenance, trails disappear into wilderness. Without maintenance there would be no trails to walk.
Old Lady on the Trail
Copyright © Mary E. Davison 2018
ISBN-10: 0-9885186-5-1
ISBN-13: 978-0-9885186-5-0
Published: 15 October 2018
Vandeleigh Publishing, Flushing, MI
The right of Mary E. Davison to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the author. You must not circulate this book in any format.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy or each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Cover Photo courtesy of Karen "RockStar" Keller
Old Lady on the Trail
Chapter 1 September 8, 2017
The End
“Congratulations. But what Is a Triple Crown?”
The Appalachian Trail (AT)
The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT)
The Continental Divide Trail (CDT)
Triple Crown Recognition
Chapter 2 August 2001
Getting Started
Chapter 3 August 2003
PCT
“Pastor Mary, I don’t think we should take the rest of the church on this hike.”
Chapter 4 April 2004
AT
“Hey, I could do this even solo.”
Chapter 5 August 2004
PCT
“Lose a pound for each year past 60.”
Chapter 6 April 2005
AT
“We don’t exactly hike together; we just sleep together.”
Chapter 7 August 2005
PCT
“Two more days and, oh dear, we will be done just when we are getting in the groove.”
Chapter 8 August 2006
Transition to Retirement—PCT
“We’re going up that?”
“Aren’t you afraid of the bears?”
“That’s not a dog.”
Retirement
Chapter 9 April 10, 2007
AT
Medicare Pastor
“If there are not some nights when you are wearing everything you have brought, then you brought too much.”
Medicare Pastor Again
"Dayenu - if God had only...it would have been enough.”
“Tut, tut, looks like rain.”
Feral Horses
“You get ‘er done.”
Chapter 10 2007
Summer
Gear Upgrades and a Surprise Step
Chapter 11 August 12, 2007
PCT
“America the Beautiful”
“Animals, You’re Just Animals!”
“Hikers need a ride to Mammoth”
“There’s a bear on the trail.”
Solo
Chivalry Wasn’t Dead
“One step at a time, silly boys. One step at a time.”
Chapter 12 Fall and Winter 2007-2008
“At your age any quick turn can do it.”
More Un-Favorite Memories
“I won’t tell you not to go on your hike. But your knee will tell you how much you can do.”
Chapter 13 April 12, 2008
PCT
“Are you the Medicare Pastor? How is your knee?”
Kickoff
Fire and Angels
Naked Hikers
Cajon Pass
Wrightwood
Chapter 14 Summer 2008
PCT
Finishing Washington
“It’s Medicare Pastor.”
“What a beautiful morning.”
Chapter 15 September 24, 2008
AT
The Body I Currently Possessed
“Isn’t it nice that at our age we can be proud of our age.”
“Hello, Dear Friend.”
God’s Cathedral
Dutch Haus
Rockett and John
Shenandoah
Cold
Bathed in Yellow and Orange Leaves and the Light Shining Through Them
West Virginia
“I had a choice?”
Chapter 16 Winter 2008-2009
Decrepitude and a Dog
Chapter 17 March 31, 2009
PCT
Greeting Flowers Like Old Friends
“Hello, Medicare Pastor.”
Easter Parade
“Yer head’s leakin.’”
Kickoff Again
Snow on Fuller Ridge
Back to Walker Pass
Chapter 18 July 11, 2009
Oregon
“I feel good.”
Chapter 19 August 24, 2009
AT
“A stroke of pure genius”
Kahtahdin, Maine
100 Mile Wilderness
“So, you’re still active then?”
“I don’t think a 68-year-old woman should be doing this alone in the dark in the rain.”
Chapter 20 New York and Tramper
Chapter 21 Fall and Winter 2010
My Gym
Chapter 22 April 6, 2010
AT
Winkle
"Hey, it’s going to be rocky after a while."
An Iguana In His Shirt
"Now why did you go and do that?"
Heaven and Goin’ Home
Chapter 23 Summer 2010
GPS
Chapter 24 July 18, 2010
PCT—Oregon
Yellowstone
Hatching a Dragonfly and Feeding Mosquitoes to Ants
Chapter 25 August 29, 2010
PCT—Northern California
Grapevine
I Know Just How You Feel
“Just wait ‘till we tell Ma.”
A Beautiful Studly Woman
“Where you been?”
Bicycles
Chapter 26 Fall and Winter, 2010-2011
Knee Replacement
Chapter 27 July 24, 2011
PCT—Oregon
Snow
Dead Woman Walking
What a Difference a Day Made
“A Hell of a Day” – or Three
Chapter 28 September 1, 2011
AT - Southern Maine
Mahoosuc Notch
Chapter 29 New Hampshire
Work for Stay
Presidentials
Reboot
Wow. I’m still alive.
Vermont
“The Lord Said to Noah, ’There’s Gonna Be a Floody, Floody’”
Are you Medicare Pastor?
Once in a Lifetime?
Chapter 30 Fall and Winter 2011-2010
CDT Planning
Chapter 31 March 30, 2012
CDT - Columbus Route
Roads, Deserts and Blisters
Pet Cows and Lightning
Chapter 32 Mountains and Cold
“I refuse to die of hypothermia at 9,000 feet. I’m gonna go to 8,000 feet.”
The Gila
“A better woman than he was man”
Tough Old Broad
Oj
os and Water Lessons
“Go away. It’s too cold to bite you today.”
Queen of the Universe
Company
Chapter 33 Northern New Mexico
“It depends”
Chapter 34 July 2012
PCT – Skipped Sections Completed
Chapter 35 August 2012
Continental Divide Trail—Colorado
Sleeping with a Sheepherder
Lightning Russian Roulette
Walking with a Dual Focus
Opinionated Hikers
The “Window”
Stony Pass and Silverton
Feeling Funny
Embrace the Brutality
“Thank you for the picture, Mr. Moose”
Highway 114
Monarch Pass
Push to the End
Chapter 36 Fall and Winter
2012-2013
Why do older hikers keep hiking?
Prep Time
An Old Lady
Chapter 37 April 18, 2013
CDT – New Mexico
Mumms
Pie Town and Toaster House
Company on El Malpais
North to Wyoming
Chapter 38 May 15, 2013
The Great Divide Basin
“Did you see us? Weren’t we beautiful? Weren’t you impressed?”
Tick City and Deafening Wind
Chapter 39 August 2013
CDT – Colorado - Hikers Four
Hikers Two
Hiker 1
Jackstraws
James Peak
Alternate Routes and Bobtail Creek
“Take the trail…Unless you just need a break or the weather sucks.”
"We don't need no stinkin' raincoats. We got umbrellas."
Last Push through High Country
Last Stitch in Trail for 2013
Chapter 40 Fall and Winter 2013-2014
Reciprocity
Chapter 41 August 5, 2014
CDT—Wyoming
Tailwinds
Cirque of Towers
“It wouldn’t be the CDT without fording rivers every day.”
The Central Winds
Weather Change and a Bailout
Alternate Plans
“I think we’re gonna die tomorrow.”
Two Ocean Meadow and Parting of the Waters
Yellowstone
Hike Out and Go Home
Chapter 42 Fall and Winter 2014-2015
Shoulder Replacement
Chapter 43 August 1, 2015
CDT—Montana
Scapegoat Wilderness
The Bob
Smoke and Ashes
Fire Detours
Glacier
North of Helena
South of Helena
Broken Ribs and a Broken Foot
Chapter 44 Fall and Winter 2015-2016
Another Replacement
“So glad you are still able.” Connie, March 6, 2016
Chapter 45 July 23, 2016
CDT
Centennials
“A restful and comfortable hike”
Geothermal Fun
“A strange hobby for someone who liked to be clean”
Big Hole Pass to Lemhi Pass
Piegan Pass
Best Ever
Chapter 46 Fall and Spring 2016-2017
Grandma Again
Faceplant
Chapter 47 July 25, 2017
The Cutoff
“What ya gonna do?” Plans change.
“Thank you that though I am old, slow, and forgetful, I can still be here.”
“Bet I’m older than you.”
A Steak-Sandwich SlackPack - What a Good Way To Do the Trail.
Rain, Hail, and Runny Cow Poo
“…out-hiked everyone my age”
Limitations and RockStar’s Hike
Bedbugs and Deadman
Nicholia Creek North
Canada
Chapter 48 Walk As You Can
“Medicare Pastor, when people suggest that I’m getting too old to thru hike, I mention you. They don’t argue after that.” Transient, August, 8, 1015
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Chapter 1 September 8, 2017
The End
Shoot. There’s still smoke. Disappointed, I started the descent from Swift Current Pass. I’d hoped the smoke would be cleared. Other hikers had told me it was clear from Many Glacier to the top of the pass, but they’d left Many Glacier two days earlier. Today, smoke from the fire that had consumed the Sperry Chalet had spread even past Swift Current Pass. It had joined with smoke from the Canadian fire near Waterton. Still, the haze was slightly less than the day before. I wanted to take it all in, intentionally observing everything, trying to soak it all into my vision and memory.
In spite of the smoke, the high country was still beautiful, all shades of brown, yellow and red ground cover in this very dry September. (The ranger on the border had said no measureable precipitation had fallen for 90 days.) The few remaining banks of snow amid rocky crags gradually became more visible as I neared them, smoky haze not obscuring everything, though no pictures I took would show the clear beauty of a blue sky. Green trees and bushes, rocky crags and ground cover were all grayed with smoky haze.
This was my last day to complete the Continental Divide Trail for my Triple Crown, no putting it off until another year. At age 76 I couldn’t be sure I would have another year with the ability or opportunity for a multi-day backpack. This was the year to complete my goal, a journey begun fourteen years ago, before I knew a Triple Crown existed. I’d walked nearly 8,000 miles for the Triple Crown and 2,000 miles more on other long trails. Who knew how many more trails I would be able to walk?
As I descended, I could see two moving white dots on the opposite hill. Goats. Mountain goats. Walking a little closer I could make out heads, too, reaching down to graze, and barely seen legs moving white dots across dry forage between rocky cliffs. I was excited and happy to see the goats.
The best was yet to come. I turned a corner around the shoulder of a ridge, singing old Girl Scout songs at the top of my lungs as a warning to bears that I was on the trail. And, WOW. A grizzly bear popped out of the trees on the lower side of the trail, 50 to 75 feet in front of me. The grizzly didn’t even glance at the walking singer, just lumbered gracefully across the trail and up the gulley. Stunning!
I watched in awe, but the bear was not interested in me or a threat to me. I also saw another bear up the gully. These were mature grizzlies. Though I’d been walking in grizzly country since northern Colorado five years ago, I’d never seen a grizzly before. I was thrilled.
How quickly the grizzly covered ground, even though he seemed in no particular hurry. Big boulders and a few trees kept getting in the way of a clear view. I didn’t want to spend precious moments trying to focus a camera. I only wanted to watch the grizzlies until they turned the corner out of sight in a rocky cleft above the trail.
What an amazing gift for my last day on the Continental Divide Trail.
After the grizzlies disappeared, I continued down the trail and turned another corner. Swift Current Basin opened up. The trail was cut along cliffs, switchbacking down to the valley below. Four thin waterfalls plunged hundreds of feet into the high mountain bowl. Even through smoky haze I could look above the waterfalls to glaciers. Yes, there was smoke. No, the pictures wouldn’t be as spectacular as they would have been without the smoke. But even a smoke-filled valley couldn’t completely obscure the grandeur of the view as I made out the outline of Bullhead Lake far below me.
It was an awesome way to end the Continental Divide Trail. On a personal high, I walked the rest of the way to Many Glacier. Last day on the trail and two magnificent grizzly bears. Pretty hard for a 76-year-old lady to beat that.
There were lots of day hikers from Bullhead Lake to Many Glacier. Several spoke to me. I was the one with a big smile on my face, carrying a
backpack. I was only too happy to announce that I thought I might be the oldest hiker to complete the Triple Crown.
Several of them said I was an inspiration as they, in their 50s and 60s, were thinking their hiking days might be over. They said if I could complete a Triple Crown at 76, perhaps they could continue to hike. I recommended they recognize their limitations, not try to do what young hikers do in exactly the same way, or even what they themselves used to do, but plan their hikes according to what they could do now, get light-weight equipment and keep on hiking.
It can be done. I know. I am an old hiker. I have three joint replacements and the usual assortment of conditions common to those in their 70s. Yet I completed the Triple Crown of Long Distance Hiking at age 76.
Some people I have met along the trails and years, as well as on that day, suggested I write a book. I hope they and others will enjoy reading this book. It is not a how-to book. It is the story of my journey to the Triple Crown, the story of an aging hiker completing the Triple Crown in spite of problems common with advancing age. Come, adventure with me. Discover the joys and challenges of three of our National Scenic Trails.
With light-weight equipment, a love of walking through wilderness, a certain skillset for living outdoors and moving safely on the trail, and creativity in adapting expectations to abilities, older hikers can hike long trails.
If you are one of those older hikers, Huzza for you. If you are an armchair reader, may you enjoy the trails vicariously as you meet your own challenges, discover your own possibilities, and celebrate your age.
“Congratulations. But what Is a Triple Crown?”
When I reached Many Glacier that last day of my trek, I found my friend and hiking companion, RockStar, in our room in the Many Glacier Hotel. A Congratulations Banner hung on the wall, and the room was draped with crepe-paper streamers and trimmed with a paper border depicting balloons. With glitter paper and poster board she’d also made me a crown shaped like a bishop’s miter. And she’d carefully drawn the trail symbols for the Appalachian Trail, The Pacific Crest Trail, and the Continental Divide Trail on the crown.
She and I both thought I should celebrate such an achievement. So I gleefully wore the crown to dinner in the hotel and around the lobby afterward. No one else had a crown, so of course it was a conversation starter. Some knew what the Triple Crown was, and others did not. People came up to me, shook my hand and said, rather tentatively, “Congratulations.” (I was obviously celebrating something with a crown on my head.) “But what is a Triple Crown?” Their question gave me an opportunity to tell them about the three long trails that make up the Triple Crown of long-distance hiking.