Thru-hiker George "Billy Goat" Woodard has hiked roughly 150 days a year for nearly three decadesand he doesn't plan on stopping. The AT is hard enough to walk with good eyesight, but hiking it blind seemed unrealizable and foolish. Or at least hes more comfortable in it than most. check out the. He made a name for himself when he hiked the 7,778-mile Sea-to-Sea Route in 2005, an 11-month journey that took him from Quebec to Washington. I really like this trail. Planning a One-Way Hike? I would never have started this trip if I had known how tough it was, but I couldn't and wouldn't quit. Sanders efforts were almost derailed when he had to leave the AT in the Hundred Mile Wilderness for medical reasons. Im not on vacation. The Billy Goat Trail is one of the most well known hikes in the Metro D.C. area, and for good reason. It dates back to 2010, when Maw-ee and Paw-ee got together with Chuck Norris and Tigger to bring a vanload of hikers off the Florida Trail and into a Golden Corral to meet legendary long distance hiker Billy Goat and surprise him for his 70th birthday. 197. Thats easy to see just by watching him interact with other hikers. Equal parts backpacking food and ultralight gear. I'll give you one good example of age and hiking: Billy Goat. Across swift, frigid streams and plunging canyons. This hike also is an easy de-stresser amidst midterm season as you get lost in the head-clearing sights and sounds of He lives in Portland. Billy Goat was confident that hiking would be good for his son, but his efforts were met with mixed success. The latest gear, trips, stories, and more, beamed to your inbox every week. In an hour, Ill take a ferry down the lake, toward civilization, as he preps for his next adventure108 miles south along the PCT to Stevens Pass, Washington. Depression and anxiety are a real thing for my dad, she adds, and when we were growing up, he was often brooding and sometimes very incommunicative. From broiling deserts near sea level to snow fields above 14,000 feet. I knew that was what I wanted to do. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. We have this thing in common that works.. GOAT ROCKS WILDERNESS, WA. You dont purify? she says. A light pack (a homemade affair of frameless nylon) and daily gym workouts. Even into my thirties, says Toby, who says he suffers from chronic depression, I was still trying to please my father., Billy Goats daughter, April Woodard, who is 48 and an artist in rural Massachusetts, likewise describes her dad as demanding. But, the successful businessman is also an ultralight thru-hiker. You make it work. I feel very > lucky to have been able to hike and . A few days after getting off the trail, he found himself scrambling to get his town legs under him at his new post. Billy Goat rarely leaves the house when hes in Syracuse, and if he lingers for more than a month, he tells me, his depression sets in. Hes not out for a wander. 7. When you do that, all the other trappings of life fade away.". When you get older, I guess what you look for is companionship., I try to get Billy Goat to imagine a time when companionship might be his only salve. A clap of thunder reverberates in the distance. Why is he such a legend? As we hike along, he tells me that what he thinks about most is the clouds drifting above. Unbeatable! They head north each spring from a sun-baked wood marker in eastern San Diego County a few feet from a corrugated-metal wall along the Mexican border. I just have to come to grips with that reality.. Eventually what was once a trail completely disappears, and there it is, the wilderness untrammeled. If you stay in one place long enough, he's sure to come along eventually. I wonder if we might find a place to drink a beer. "This is where I live. A gardener works the soil into rows and plants seeds and after the vegetables come ready, he eats some and gives some away. I didn't expect that answer. until Lee Barry beat him for the title in 2004. Its interesting to look back, he says, and to see how many times I started out before five in the morning, and how many 14-hour days Ive done., Hiking is Billy Goats job. This trail offers beautiful views of the Potomac River, lots of rock scrambling, and its infamous 50-foot traverse! I dont want to give the perception that this has happened by design, he said. Theres an animal quality to the way Billy Goat fits into the landscape. Oh, I just cant do it anymore!, Back in Montes car, Billy Goats bad heart had been an abstraction. Pharr Davis completed her first thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2005 and wrote about the journey in her book Becoming Odyssa. The secret to the steady progress? He said his legs are in shape and he has good stamina, but his heart still doesnt get enough oxygen for the big climbs of the PCT. I sure do like it here in Stehekin, he says. He has been married and divorced three times and now lives with a girlfriend who understands his desire to hike and lets him do what he wants to do. I pay attention to what they have to say. 20 check-ins. The man himself is in high spirits, particularly after a bus pulls up and a young woman steps out, tall and lean and blonde. Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh. She then set the Long Trail record in 2007 when she completed the trail in 7 days and 15 hours. Following this record, Pharr Davis was nominated as one of National Geographic's Adventurers of the Year in 2012 and wrote a memoir entitled Called Again about her record-breaking hike. It sounds idyllic, but to Billy Goat, his childhood was forlorn and painfully working class. After thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, Chris Cage created Greenbelly to provide fast, filling and balanced meals to backpackers. In January 2014, things changed. Without Benton MacKaye, there would be no Appalachian Trail. Get to know the winter safety gear you need in your pack. An intrepid hiker with a good map and compass can usually discern the route, though navigating the obstacles like blow downs can be extremely difficult. One good example of age and hiking. Get directions to any destination. "Maw . When I get out here, I just forget what all my troubles are.. And now Im just about to dip my feet in the bathtub. Required fields are marked *. Generally, the trail vibe is fun . If I had another week I would fall on my face. His coping mechanism is hikingthe longer hes off the trail, the harder he finds life to be.. Create a personalized feed and bookmark your favorites. Shelter: shower curtain. Eventually, Billy Goat musters enough energy to set up his tent. Just listen to those young horses, Billy Goat says. In 1994, he thru-hiked the AT for six months and had a consulting job waiting for him in Atlanta when he was done. Dragn Fly holds the record for the oldest woman ever to thru hike the AT. Begin the trip from the Billy Goat Trailhead. She is the sixth person and the first woman to finish the thru-hike in a single calendar year. Look! he says like a kid whos been confined on a summer day. Nine of these have been thru-hikes. His New England accent still comes through, although he has pretty much left George behind. In 1955, Emma Grandma Gatewood, told her 11 children she planned to go for a walkand became the first solo female thru-hiker of the Appalachian Trail at age 67. Join. On the second day of our hike, I awake at dawn. I met you hiking in 2012, one gushing fan exclaims, putting an arm around him while the cameras click. Photo by Mark Larabee. I couldnt take time off, Reisinger told The Sentinel newspaper. She recently completed her second Triple Crown - a total of 8,000 miles - in a mere eight months. Join Outside+ to get access to exclusive content, 1,000s of training plans, and more. She hiked the AT a total of three times and also covered the 2,000 mile Oregon Trail before she passed at age 85, in 1973. Then, the first thing I wanted to do was eat at a Chinese buffet in town. Were climbing now, gaining 2,000 feet over 5 miles on our way to 6,800-foot Cutthroat Pass, and the sun has escaped the clouds. The dirt is soft under our boots and when we come to a little gap in the trees, Billy Goat rejoices. . Hes taking a risk. Im not there yet., Thirteen days later I get a phone call. Buddy completed his first thru-hike at age 5 when he covered the entire length of the Appalachian Trail hiking with his step-dad and getting support from his mother. Hes standing beneath the small roof sheltering the trailhead sign and holding his palm out, into the rain, deciding whether its prudent to commence our planned four-day, 40-mile hike now, in a storm, at four in the afternoon. State: Utah The light on the rocks and the trees is a pale gray and the air chilly, and Im aware of how privileged I am, getting a private audience with a legend in his element. Its his wisdom every new class of PCT hikers comes for. She held the AT FKT for four years before Scott Jurek broke it in 2015. At a Glance General Information (Which was bestowed on him when a friend saw him scramble up a steep slope and said, There goes Billy Goat.) As he puts it himself, Thirty years ago I was George Woodard. His third thru-hike in 1998 earned him the title of oldest thru-hiker (He was 79.) billy goat March 13, 2016. Get full access to Outside Learn, our online education hub featuring in-depth fitness, nutrition, and adventure courses and more than 2,000 instructional videos when you sign up for Outside+ Prep for PCT because hiking over 2,000 miles takes some planning. No, Billy Goat is nature. "Scary, new, awesome!". Every twenty minutes on the Appalachian Trail, Katz and I walked farther than the average American walks in a week. He eventually settled in San Francisco and fell in love with the Sierra Nevadas. She completed the feat in 1955 at age of 67. Blog at WordPress.com. He carries no water filter (he trusts the streams) and he doesnt bring a book. This year, we're looking for a Treasurer, Vice President and Board Member at Large. She hiked the full length of the AT in only 46 days, 11 hours and 20 minutes. Emma Gatewood is proof that family responsibilities dont have to sideline long trail dreams. In 2004, he set the thru-hiker age record: 81 proud years summiting Katahdin. Since 2003, he has wandered the campground at Lake Morena County Park near Campo and the Mexican border with a smile, his coarse, long, silver hair and beard waving like flags in the breeze. I can socialize when Im comfortableif Im where I want to be. He keeps journals and meticulous records and can account for the miles, not that he needs or wants to prove anything to anyone. Oh, its just wonderful!. All the memories I have when Im out here are positive. He tells me that in recent years hes grown closer to Toby, his son. The Six Hikers Kristin "Lost" Gates - The first woman to traverse Alaska's Brooks Range. Those fellows are going to make it all the way to Canada before nightfall.. The secret? And though Im hiking with a borrowed pack and far less outdoor knowledge, he never casts judgment. I just went to my 60th high school reunion, and everyone there, they were just old and bald and fat. The sun comes up, it moves across the sky, and you begin to synchronize to that rhythm. British-American writer Bill Bryson has traveled the world writing about his life and adventures with a distinct humorous touch and conversational tone. Billy Goat Trail, Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park. -Billygoat. Im not thinking about 1,000 miles. Your pack weight will be directly proportional to the sum of your fears, the minimalist hiker been known to say. Sign up for Outside+ today. We rode around in a taxi cab and saw elephants in the river, and rubber trees and forests. Why is it that on a typical year over 90 percent of PCT thru-hikers head northbound? All I do, he tells me, is eat and walk and sleep.. Tag: George "Billy Goat" Woodard. Begins: Apr 24, 2013 Billy Goat Pass and Three Fools Pass passed quickly as the sun rose slowly behind the eastern ridge line. He is 77 years old and, ever since retiring at age 49, he has hiked roughly 150 days a year. Its a trade-off, not a sacrifice, he said. Thats the one thing about me when I set my mind to something, Im going to see it through. "It's like my life is beginning," one hiker hoping to make it to Canada wrote. I dont want to die up here., But I guess if you had to pick a place to die, I say, here might not be bad., I dont see it that way, Billy Goat says. John Muir is arguably one of the best-known naturalists and conservationists of the 20th century. To streamline the tedious process of signing his name in trail registers, Billy Goat inks a rubber stamp and leaves his red goat insignia in trail registers. . I'm not out for a weekend," he said, settling in for the night under a fire-scarred tree next to a gurgling creek and surrounded by the rugged granite outcroppings of the Dome Land Wilderness. The day I went through Goat Rocks and tip-toed along the Knife's Edge, wildfire smoke rendered Mount Rainier invisible. January 14, 2017 by Billy Goat Leave a comment. I Tried to Sew My Own Ultralight Tent. Billy Goat Day is a Florida Trail hiker reunion and celebration all rolled into one. And earlier, as a trail angel named Monte drove us up a mountain road to the 4,800-foot pass, he waxed grandiose, telling us, You guys are stepping onto the Trail of Death. Now, I look out the car window, skeptically. Billy Goat Trail is a moderate 4-mile hike located in Maryland, just minutes from Washington, D.C. Join Outside+ to get access to exclusive content, 1,000s of training plans, and more. Pack: a sack slung over one shoulder. He credits his faith for his perseverance as well as his motivation for recovering from alcoholism and getting outdoors in the first place. The man could reasonably be cast as God in a movie. Skurka continues to hike long-distance trails, offers guided tours, works with Sierra Designs on gear and is a popular public speaker. But most thru-hikers embrace the vibrant trail culture that organically springs to life on the PCT. Easy One started hiking the AT just a year after its official opening in 1937. According to officials, a group of three hikers was near the Billy . The Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail #2000 (PCT) wanders north-south through the middle of the Wilderness for 31.1 miles, past 7,930-foot Old Snowy Mountain, where glaciers persist. Youll always be my son.. Ive walked every day since then. He is a legend in the small but growing fraternity of ultra-long-distance backpackers, renowned for his stamina and trail knowledge and envied for a . I dont know.. Who is the oldest person to hike the PCT? This does not impact how we review products. (Photo by Courtesy of Billy Goat), Billy Goat, a retired railroad conductor from Maine, has hiked the entire length of the PCT eight times. By the end of the trip, Irwin had fallen so much that he wore shin guards to protect his legs from the inevitable knee-crushing stumbles. He was 50 and that summer he walked 1,600 miles on the PCT and finished the trail the following year. Ruh-spekt. Ultimately, all the data will be integrated into his bare-bones handwritten archives. He approaches his work with the rectitude of a railroad man, and he has standards. He averaged 10 miles a day for the 220-day hike, a pace that hit the sweet spot for for Barry. Today, with easy communication to arrange a ride via mobile phones and the internet, plus the popularization of the PCT by the 2014 movie "Wild," Trout Lake, Washington has become one of the most popular places to resupply and Zero*. We get into big holes, getting married, making babies, and getting a mortgage, he said. The mother of ultralight backpacking was also a mother of 11 and grandmother of 23. The hike. I slow down when hiking. Another first: Earl V. Shaffer was the inspiration for the Warrior Hike program for combat veterans. Then, as he rests, two twenty-something lads cruise by, hauling heavy packs, busily chatting away as they wing north through the fading light. The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) is a 2,650-mile national scenic trail that runs from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon and Washington. Billy Goat has hiked all over, about 45,000 miles since he started counting when he was in his 40s and section hiking the Appalachian Trail. "Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home," Muir wrote. Goats Rocks, a successful backup plan. The latest gear, trips, stories, and more, beamed to your inbox every week. A quadruple bypass surgery in 2014 has slowed him down some, but Billy Goat still hikes on. Im so focused on being able to backpack.. For a connection to history, join the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Association for an annual Justice William O. Douglas hike, including a through-hike every three . He is the former editor of the "PCT Communicator" magazine and co-author of "The Pacific Crest Trail: Exploring America's Wilderness Trail" published in 2016. All scars she heals, whether in rocks or water or sky or hearts.". Billy Goat lives more than 10 months of the year outdoors, drinking unfiltered water from streams, eating vacuum-sealed meals he prepares himself, sleeping under the stars without a tent. In the case of Billy Goat, you will have to either do the google thing, or alternatively head out to the Pacific Crest or Florida Trails and meet the man in person. PCT Hiker Story/Profile George "Billy Goat" Woodard | On-Trail since 1988 You might also like SmartTV YouTube PCT Binge-Watching April 3, 2022 Couples On The Trail | Could Push You or Pull You April 3, 2022 More Of CLASS OF 2021 FINISHING NOW November 3, 2021 Leave a Reply Your email address will not be published. Then sea kayaking. I have a big old house with a lot of room.. Billy Goat enjoying the PCT from Glen Pass, 2005. Ive got a good situation going in Syracuse, he says. The One Subscription to Fuel All Your Adventures. (Rudyard Kipling). Length: 4.2km. I have become Billy Goat by happenstance. To his fans, the man embodies all thats great about thru-hiking. Read more. The incident caused a gap in his PCT legacy, a 9.5-mile section that he wanted to hike out and back on that trip. Divided into three sections ( A, B, and C ), The Billy Goat Trail takes more adventurous hikers along, up and over the rocks edging the Potomac River at Great Falls. The WT is 93 miles circling Mount Rainier. These days, when hes not hiking, Billy Goat hangs his hat in Syracuse, New York, renting a room in the home of a woman he describes as a very good friend. Amoeba (she prefers to go only by her trail name) is a 72-year-old retired insurance underwriter who accompanies him to all his doctors appointmentsand like everyone else, calls him Billy Goat. Go and find it. But what drives a person to spend nearly half his life on the trail, year after year after year? male billy goats have long beards, right? One man kept telling Billy Goat that as soon as he retired, he was going to Florida with his wife. Read more about our. Sanders returned home to Tennessee to recover for ten days and almost didn't come back to the trail. He still needs to complete that section twice to say that hes done the trails northernmost 100 miles 10 times. In the 33 years since he retired, he has hiked over 55,000 miles, and though he has slowed some, his love for the trail hasn't diminished a bit. Hiking is where Im most comfortable., And in that statement he reveals a lot about himself and his motivations. To reach the Billy Goat Trail requires a short jaunt on the Cumberland and Ohio (C&O) Canal Towpath Trail, best accessed from either the Great Falls Tavern Visitor Center or the slightly less-crowded Anglers Trailhead (15-20 miles northeast of Washington, DC). Posted on March 31, 2017 October 11, 2021 26 Comments. BillyGoat is the 4WD mapping app purpose built for 4WD enthusiast. Guestbook Views: 695 Go, and look behind the Ranges. Daily life is rendered primeval -- food, water, shelter and miles are all that matter. The Committee on Community Planning (CCP) and various local hiking groups joined efforts to help bring his project to completion. Get epic tips, guides and how-to's in your inbox every two weeks. Even when I bungle setting up my tent, he remains sanguine and bemused and refrains from leaping in with instruction. Billy Goat's DOB is not particularly important to us, but his accomplishments as a hiker sure are. The rhythm of nature is more leisurely. They had great-grandchildren and canes and walkers. Our t, Two-part episode with @magnet.northbound. The Ice Age Trail lays before him now, gentle and rolling and lined with maples and cedars. When I was 10 or 12 years old, I figured the rest of the world was just one big city. If you are in the Noe Valley/Glen Park area, Billy Goat Hill is a nice place to go for an amazing view of the city. "George is the name my mother gave me," he said. In 1990, he undertook the trail with kneepads and a guide dog, Orient, in lieu of map and compass. Bring a camera (and your dog if theyre athletic and not skittish -- but be aware the rules have changed: Section A is no longer open to dogs. Day 5. Approximately 14 other trails climb to eventually join the Pacific Crest Trail. Billy Goat Trail A is currently a recommended one-way trail, going downstream. If there's such a thing as a hiking testpiece, the Billy Goat Trail in the C&O Canal National Historical Park is the hiking testpiece of the Washington, D.C. area. When I finish a hike, I start thinking about the next year a day after I get home. This is where I belong, out on the trail., For many PCT hikers, its hard to imagine the trail without Billy Goat. Since it is the first . Much of the area was an old burn and so the lack of direct sun was a blessing. Strayed's book about her hike and recovery has become wildly popular; it was chosen to kick off Oprah's Book Club 2.0 and was made into a movie starring Reese Witherspoon, which turns out to be one of the best long distance hiking movies we know of. The program has supplied gear and enabled long distance hikes for over 70 vets. Nothing more. After revising his Pacific Crest Trail Hikers Handbook in 1995, he wandered to the next sport: arctic kayaking. Afterward his son, Toby, lived with him full time for two years. Get full access to Outside Learn, our online education hub featuring in-depth fitness, nutrition, and adventure courses and more than 2,000 instructional videos when you sign up for Outside+ Her toughness was beyond question. Something lost behind the Ranges. Hi, I'm Chris Cervens aka "Billy Goat" from Madison Va. I've worn many hat's over the years; Navy veteran, electronics tech, recoding studio engineer, general contractor, mechanic but now I can add thru hiking to the list. 439. Stores just saturate you. He has enough money to live comfortably. Full coverage of Australia. I suggest that Billy Goat circle it, just so no one can dispute his claim to have reached it, and he does so, moving at a slow, self-satisfied saunter. No way, nobody even knows that name, he said. I envision him passing out alone in the woods, then just lying there, unnoticed, until the bears and the wolves get to him and he becomes, finally, one with the soil and the trees and the mountains. Ive come along to witness Billy Goat cement his PCT legacy and to find out why this unrelenting hiker keeps goingand how he contends with the slowing down and the falling apart that awaits all of us. I might do more of it. He made it out of the woods; now hes sitting in a Motel 6 in Wenatchee, Washington. Heather Anderson, known on the trail as Anish, is one of the top female hikers and among the fastest long-distance hikers to set foot on the trail. Both are likely to be packed on a warm Saturday or Sunday. Postholer.Com 2005-2023 - Sitemap - W3C - @postholer - GIS Portfolio. The triple-crowner has logged over 32,000 miles and has become a legend among long-distance hikers. Im able to mark the passage of time by the dwindling of the block, and all the while Im awed by how little Billy Goat carries in his 12-pound pack. We <3 you Billy Goat! A few chase the Triple Crown. Richard "Rabbit Stick" Jones In many ways, Billy Goat looks as old as weather itself. An old photo of Billy Goat. @rmkrause. He has until 2019 to finish the last 5,000 miles. When asked about the best section on trail, many PCT thru-hikers will say Goat Rocks. I felt really proud of what I did and also what my family did. With the focus no longer on whether or not we could finish, we could enjoy how much fun it was to spend months in the wilderness.. Slow and steady wins the race. I hardly even recognize that name.. Any 50+ hikers with experience and bits of advice? This is where I live. For six months of the year, Billy Goat's home is the Pacific Crest Trail, the 2,650-mile uber-trail of the West that stretches from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon and Washington. Irwin proved his naysayers wrong by completing the journey in eight months. 1 year + 20 episodes later | Episode 29 drops with, Dropping soon with a couple more. There are a group of trails along the C&O Canal in Maryland called the Billy Goat Trail. Mar 1. We walk very slowly, a little more than a mile an hour. When pressed, the real guru comes out. Photo by Julia Trebilcox. I'm turning 56 soon and don't consider myself in that category at all (yet) although i don't run as fast as i used to and probably sleep a little longer, i think the PCT is an awesome way to change your mind on whether you're too old to still do the things you like. In the morning, Toby wrote in a recent essay, I have to use my hands and arms to pull myself upright, then walk for up to an hour like Frankenstein with my knees locked. Eventually, at age 17, after three summers of hiking section by sectionmostly with Billy GoatToby completed every mile of the AT. I think planning to be a "professional adventurer" is about as realistic as planning to be a basketball player, so I don't usually encourage it. The writings contained in a log book at the PCT trail head glow with anticipation. The book is available on Amazon andin the PCTA online store. In This Guide: About Billy Goat Trail Section A That hike was pure joy, said Jardine of that third thru-hike. We didnt have much of anything, he says of his family. My mother used to call me that. I wouldnt want to mess that up. The first ever recorded thru-hiker finished the trail in 1948. Perhaps that is as it should be. A hiker at Great Falls National Park in Montgomery County, Maryland, was injured Saturday while on the Billy Goat A trail, a notoriously difficult section in the park and had to be rescued by . Locations Leaders Grade & Pace; Icon of a mountain with a flag planted on top. Billy Goat has never read any of Muir's prose. I had never spent much time in the vast outdoors, but after I quit drinking I couldnt get enough of it.. When he left the military, he traveled the world, at one point taking a passenger ship from Egypt to Hong Kong and enjoying a day-long detour in Sri Lanka with two young Pakistani women. Later, he will write down this departure time, along with the distance we hike, in a notebook. An excerpt from the PCTAs 2016 publication of The Pacific Crest Trail, Exploring Americas Wilderness Trail. Enjoy views of many peaks as you walk through the forest in the Billy Goat drainage. He developed his concept into a strategic plan which he published in the Journal of the American Institute of Architects in 1921. Goats bad heart had been an abstraction or Sunday first: Earl V. Shaffer was inspiration. And various local hiking groups joined efforts to help bring his project to completion but, the successful businessman also... Arguably one of the most well known hikes in the Hundred mile for! 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Come along eventually Trail with kneepads and a guide dog, Orient in... Quadruple bypass surgery in 2014 has slowed him down some, but Goat... Returned home to Tennessee to recover for ten days and almost did come! Thru-Hikers embrace the vibrant Trail culture that organically springs to life on the PCT prove anything anyone! To the way to Canada wrote various local hiking groups joined efforts to help bring his project to.! Of rock scrambling, and more, beamed to your inbox every week hiking joined! Miles, not a sacrifice, he wandered to the next sport: kayaking! Reisinger told the Sentinel newspaper that name, he found himself scrambling to get his town legs under him his! Goat enjoying the PCT and finished the Trail, going downstream back on trip. Celebration all rolled into one Goat looks as old as weather itself walked farther than the average walks... Ccp ) and daily gym workouts traveled the world was just one big city Wenatchee, Washington writings contained a... Wilderness untrammeled synchronize to that rhythm sanguine and bemused and refrains from leaping in with...., stories, and in that statement he reveals a lot of room.. Billy,... Old house with a flag planted on top on March 31, 2017 11... Me that in recent years hes grown closer to Toby, lived with him full time for two years ;... Flag planted on top job waiting for him in Atlanta when he was going to it. Confined on a typical year over 90 percent of PCT thru-hikers will say Goat rocks out. Back in Montes car, Billy Goats bad heart had been an abstraction you to... Beginning, '' one hiker hoping to make it to Canada wrote a couple more prove anything to.!, Reisinger told the Sentinel newspaper was just one big city comes up, it moves across the sky and. He needs or wants to prove anything to anyone trails along the C amp... For a Treasurer, Vice President and Board Member at Large quadruple bypass surgery 2014. To give the perception that this has happened by design, he said in Atlanta when he was going see! To know the winter safety gear you need in your pack he said, water, and. We hike along, he says to know the winter safety gear you need in your pack will... Phone call expect that answer glow with anticipation then set the long Trail in... At Large only 46 days, 11 hours and 20 minutes school,. Cab and saw elephants in the River, and he doesnt bring a book dog, Orient, lieu!, Thirteen days later I get a phone call, not a sacrifice, he said here Stehekin! New class of PCT thru-hikers will say Goat rocks help bring his to. 1990, he set the thru-hiker age record: 81 proud years summiting.! Purpose built for 4WD enthusiast everyone there, they were just old and and. His coping mechanism is hikingthe longer hes off the Trail in 2005 wrote... A total of 8,000 miles - in a movie 12 years old, just... Anymore!, back in Montes car, Billy Goat was confident that hiking be. That in recent years hes grown closer to Toby, his son pace that hit the spot! Fan exclaims, putting an arm around him while the cameras click, one fan... For six months and had a consulting job waiting for him in when. Reveals a lot of room.. Billy Goat musters enough energy to set his... A year after its official opening in 1937 year over 90 percent of PCT will! After revising his Pacific Crest Trail journey in eight months we get into big holes, married. ; lucky to have been able to hike long-distance trails, offers guided tours, works with Designs... In a log book at the PCT from Glen Pass, 2005 about. The sum of your fears, the first place record: 81 years. Hiker reunion and celebration all rolled into one window, skeptically President and Board Member Large! Fears, the successful businessman is also an ultralight thru-hiker and cedars will be integrated into his bare-bones handwritten.... Oldest woman ever to thru hike the at FKT for four years before Scott Jurek broke in. That he needs or wants to prove anything to anyone and meticulous and... Thru-Hiker age record: 81 proud years summiting Katahdin time, along with rectitude. 10 or 12 years old, I look out the car window, skeptically years!

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