GreenHorn/FreeBird on the AppalachianTr needs help

“bj makes a good point. if he just lost his job, his home, and has no money, whats he doing hiking the trail?

of course, who am i to talk? i had to borrow 40 bucks from my dad just to finish”

“Maybe he's doing some "soul-searching" or doing it for other personal reasons before he starts his life over. Different people have different reasons for trying to complete a thru-hike.”

“The story sounds just like a con. Get real EarthNsky, this dude needs to get a job. Sounds like trouble looking for somebody to leech on.”

“well we're nothing if not cynical around here”

“I love all the big hearted people here. And I'm all for helping out.

But Sarge makes a good point.

And my first thought after reading the intitial post was, out of everyone this guy presumeably knows, only one could possibly send him help, and that one person won't take his calls? Makes me wonder which one of them, the hiker or the friend, is the flake.”

“The beautiful thing about being in America (or any other free society) is that if we want to do something rash and stupid that other people think is foolish, well we just do it. And if others want to be charitible and help out someone doing something rash and stupid, well they can just go and do that too. We don't have to fill out a permit and request the approval of any one else.

Its a beautiful thing.”

“I think what's even stupider is rushing to judgement when you weren't even there. Maybe the guy's legit, maybe he's not, but if you weren't there how could some of you possibly pass full judgement? It's one thing to be skeptical, but jeez, some of you are just downright nasty about it and are putting down EarthNSky for being a nice person first. Not cool.”

“I am reading Walk Across America as I read this thread. I just finished reading about Robbinsville, NC where Peter Jenkins was treated like a pariah and threatened with lynching if he didn't get a movin' on out of town.

Most times we think we know everything we need to know just by what our eyes can see, but each and everyone of us has had a time in our lives where our current situation didn't really say who we were deep down inside.”

“Very true Artex and Hyway.

Don't know if my initial post was considered too judgmental or not. I meant to only post my observations about something that gave me pause.

And my other observation is that ENS is a great guy. That's my full judgment on him.”

“Hey Hyway, I used to live in Robbinsville, NC. Some of the nicest folks I've ever been around. But very "set in their ways" and in many respects a little bit (or maybe a lot) ummm, backwards, so to speak. Based on what you say, Mr. Jenkins must be a black man. Racist America is still very prevalent in many Western NC communities.”

“Nope, Roam. He's white. It's been years and years since I've read the books, but weren't they suspicious of him because he was hiking and wearing a backpack and roaming around, maybe a little hippy-ish? And wasn't this in the late '70s or early '80s?”

“".....of course, who am i to talk? i had to borrow 40 bucks from my dad just to finish”
Crash Bang
1:24:10 PM
3/13/05


You still owe me two donuts, mister.

Ha ha !!”

“ill pay you back with interest! (donut holes)”

“have we become such gear snobs we cant believe somebody could survive in JEANS? omgosh he must have almost died. how did those early pioneers and settlers survive without goretex and silnylon? what brave souls!


ok, smartass font off”

“"ill pay you back with interest! (donut holes)”
crash bang
3:01:29 PM
3/13/05

Ooo, ooo, that is pure genius!!!!


I hiked the Whites.....Kankamagus highway....Sawyer Pond....or some such place in December '78.

We wore flare-bottom blue jeans...they make great gaiters after they wick moisture and freeze to about mid-calf.

I had my Army field jacket(50/50 poly-cotton) and Duofold wool blend underwear and a wool sweater.

We made a ten-mile death march on our way out of there where the snow was knee-deep on a tall fool in places.

The overnight temps were 5* to 10* and not much higher during the short days.

The three of us slept under a 10.5 X 10.5 tarp and woke up with several inches of snow on our bags.

The worst(deepest snow) part of the trail was un-broken and the white blazes were hard to tell from clumps of snow stuck to the tree trunks.

That was one of my best trips ever!!!”

“If anybody thought I was passing judgement on anyone, you misunderstood. I was giving an opinion of how to better help somebody out of a jam. That is, don't baby them, but help them to help themselves. Artex, you seem to be quick to pass judgement yourself. I guess it's only ok if you do it. I think it's AWESOME to help somebody in need, but NOTHING has been said on this thread to make me think this guy has tried to help himself. He's doing what I want to do on vacation. I realize there might be unusual circumstances, and I acknowledge that it's better to risk helping those who are scamming in order to avoid not helping those in true need. It's just that, in my opinion, from what has been said about this guy thus far it sounds like he'd be better off getting off the trail and getting a job. If bm is right, and he's "soul-searching", then he'd be much better served by being left alone to allow as much reality into his life as possible. If you want to read into my ranting, that's your choice.

Keep up the good work ENS, crashbang, and those wanting to help.
last edited: 3/13/05 3:34:04 PM”

“If anybody thought I was passing judgement on anyone, you misunderstood. I was giving an opinion of how to better help somebody out of a jam. That is, don't baby them, but help them to help themselves. Artex, you seem to be quick to pass judgement yourself.

No, I think it's you that misunderstood. Reread my post. All I said was that some were giving EarthNSky a hard time, when he was in fact just trying to be a nice guy. Nothing more, pure and simple.”

“I live 70 miles from the AT in Maryland.

I'm willing to help in a re-supply.”

“to Artex - If saying "kudos to those wanting to help those in need" is giving them a hard time, I'm truly sorry. I believe you said I (we) were being "stupid" and "nasty". Maybe you weren't passing judgement on me. If that's the case, my apologies to you.
last edited: 3/13/05 3:41:20 PM”

“I didn't mean you in particular in my original post, sarge.”

“lets just all hug”

“WWJD”

“what would (baltimore) jack do?”

“He's jack these guys up!!!”

“oh wait, you mean jesus

jesus would turn the poor guys heavy stove into an msr pocket-rocket and his big heavy canvas tent into a henryshires tarptent”

“LOL Crash.”

“What would Jimi do?”

“probably wouldnt be a good idea to turn water to wine, tho. at least not til he got to camp”

“Jimi would give him some acid, and they would both float down to Springer.”

“Maybe, but he would dang sure play some blues.........pure joy.”

“im goin down to climb ole springer”

“Roam, Jenkins is a college educated white boy that was hiking through America to see "what was wrong with it" but soon found that everything was not too bad. He ran out of money and was looking for a town to stop for a few months and get a job. the first night he met a cop that let him stay in a trailer next to his house but by morning the rest of the town was convinced he was a drug dealing hippie yankee there to corrupt their children.”

“some of you people (cynics) need to get a clue. This thread wasn't meant for you. If you don't want to help then fine, go away and go about what you were doing before. sheesh
last edited: 3/13/05 5:04:45 PM”

“hyway ... support your paranoia...
past is gone forever... future is your fantasy”

“alot of the people who finish the trail have money and/or know people money and can easily afford to finish the trail with out little impact on their lives. This guy had lot of shist go wrong for him all at one time. Ever happen to you? Kinda sucks. Maybe being out on the trail and seeing new things and seeing nature first hand is what he needed to get through a tough time. Is that so bad? Is he a bad person? He told us he never done anything like this before, hence his name, Green Horn. He was a nice guy and he stops on the trail and works when he can. That's one of the reasons it took him so long. No he doesn't have a lot of gear. Not everyone can afford the gear we use, not everyone has a gear closet that looks like the bat cave. This guy had nothing, nothing to lose and took a giant gamble. I commend him for what he's doing. He's very brave. If I invited him into my apartment, I think he would turn me down. He wants to be out there on the trail. He's homeless, but he's not a bum. He just doesn't have all the resources we have and you guys are knocking him for it. That's really sad. The AT is not a country club and is not only for the fortunate. We can help him, it won't give the trail a bad name. If anything, it will show that trail talkers are not just a bunch of stuck up snobs. If you don't want to help then fine. I wasn't asking you to help. I was only asking those who wanted to help to help.
last edited: 3/13/05 5:15:55 PM”

“ This guy had lot of shist go wrong for him all at one time. Ever happen to you? Kinda sucks

yeah, i know that feeling and I can't really think of a better way to get your head on straight and really figure out the next step than to head off down the AT, or something similar, like just wander around the smokies, or RMNP, or Glacier for as long as you see fit.

reasonable to at least question that he might be a "bad person" but I'd trust ENS's impression.”

“Holy crap is this thread causing a stir.
I hiked in from the gap and headed north at about 11:30, there were no fresh tracks comming out, so I was positive I would meet him. I hiked about 4 1/2 miles in (according to my gps) and then waited for about 45 min. I started heading back a little before 3 pm. I know he couldnt of passed by, and there was no way to make it to the next shelter before dark. I am assuming he stayed an x-tra day at william penn or mabey he backed tracked and got a ride. Anyway I hung food in a bag directly over the trail and left a note for him. If he heads south from the shelter he will have it. I saw a local woman on the way out and told her the story. She was walking her dog which my dog tried to have his way with, but thats another story. She will hike in on wednesday morning and see if my gift bag is gone. If not, she will take it down. she will also check the rausch gap shelter to see if he passed through. If he gets my stuff, then he will contact me and I'll help him set up mail drops.
there ya have it.”

“this guy isn't looking for our help. He didn't ask us for help. He had planned to look for work in Duncannon and he was telling us that he heard of a guy in Virginia that runs a hostel and would put people up and give them some work. He's trying to work his way down the trail. He worked for a while with a plumber when he was up in Vermont. If you guys met him, you'd like him.”

“Nice job CP, a little effort goes a long way!”

“thanks a million Crazy Pace. I didn't get your email earlier. Try me at rdanner202 at aol . com .

-

I'm going to be in West Virginia next weekend. Is there anyone that can set up a trip and try and look for him? I am going to do this the following weekend, I imagine he will be in Duncannon by then or possibly long past it. So we may need to estabolish contact before then.
last edited: 3/13/05 5:31:08 PM”

“I was really hoping to meet up with him. there goes my perfect weekend rescue record.
why is everybody busting the balls of the people trying to help ? I will help anybody wearing a backpack, thru-hiker, or bum. this is a backpacker site!!! hellooooo.”

“Maybe the police finally caught up to him? Sounds like a prisoner on the lamb, trying to start another Liberia scam.”

“when you get the mail drops set up, let us know. id like to contribute.

typically, maildrops to thru-hikers are addressed like this:

Person's real name
"General Delivery"
Town, State, Zip
"Hold for Hiker ETA _____"”

“ens - no wonder you got no e-mails, I was sending to rdanner2377@msn. ho wthe heck did I get that one ?”

“"on the lamb"? thats not a crime in the south, maybe thats why hes headed for georgia”

“get real waterdog. If you don't want to help then don't, it's that simple.”

“Hey did you know a hiker named beatbox ?”

“yeah CP, that is my email address too, but for some reason, the spam filters are on over drive and I don't get all of the emails intended for me.”