Triple Crown Tales

On Saturday January 10th, my older brother, Jim, will be giving a talk entitled, "Triple Crown Tales" at the Oak Hills Community Center located at 2400 NW 153rd Avenue, Beaverton, from 1:30 to 3:00 pm. Jim's talk includes pictures of the spectacular scenery that he encountered. Jim has been giving these talks at local libraries back where he lives in Boston and they've been popular and well attended. I attended one and was completely captivated. Jim is author of the soon-to-be published book with the same title

A Triple Crowner is someone who has hiked our country's three long trails as follows. The Continental Divide Trail (CDT) traverses five U.S. states: New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, stretching from the Mexican border to the Canadian border, passing through diverse landscapes like deserts, high peaks, and forests. The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) also goes from the Mexican border to the Canadian border and traverses California, Oregon, and Washington. The Appalachian Trail (AT) goes from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine. The total distance of these three trails is nearly 8,000 miles!

My big brother, Jim, is typically a pretty quiet and unassuming guy. Mom put it this way - "Jim doesn't say much, but when he does, pay attention because it's always well thought out, succinct, and worth listening to".

I've been rereading his Appalachian Trail journal and came across this entry for April 19th that says a lot about him and which could be titled,

"I have a confession to make - I'm not a thru hiker."

See https://www.trailjournals.com/journal/entry/450644

It brought me back to Vermont in August, 2014, much further up the trail when I joined him for a couple of days on his Appalachian Trail thru hike. We had come to a road and were hitchhiking into a trail town. A car stopped to give us a ride. I picked up his and my packs and put them into the trunk of the car. Jim then took his pack out of the trunk and put it back on the ground where it had been, then picked it up again and put it back into the trunk. Jim's a very thoughtful and kind big brother and he looked at me and said, "I'm sorry Andy but I need to carry my pack the entire way."

I hope you will join me at my brother's talk or on a mountain trail soon!