Col. Smith & the American Patriot Schola rship

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I had the honor and pleasure of hiking with Colonel Smith this weekend. The colonels trail name is LongHunter. A reference to explorers of the East forefathers of the mountainmen out west.

ENS, Lyra and I were section hiking the Roller coaster portion of the AT which is south of Harpers Ferry in Virginia. We met at the Bears Den Hostel. A close friend of his LizzyB told me his story and I had a chance to meet him after he hiked in from just south of Harpers Ferry about a 14 mile day.

We next met on the trail and hiked a good portion of the Roller coaster with him. Long hunter originally planned on putting in a few more miles but decided to stay the evening with us at the Rod Hollow shelter making for a 16 mile day for him Sunday to where his wife was to meet him.

Now what is extraordinary is that the Colonel is battling Cancer. He has stage four cancer and currently undergoing chemo. The effect of the last round was to cause him to loose the skin from the bottom of his feet. He is hiking the AT to raise funds for the American Patriot Scholarship. The scholarship provides college money for the children of servicemen killed in the line of duty. Regardless as to whether they are in combat or not.

It is a great thing he is doing and I am awed at his self sacrifice in taking up such a worthy cause.


a link for more info regarding The Patriot fund:

http://www.moaa.org/about_scholarship_appalachian_trail/index.htm”

“Lyra is much older in that picture than I had visualized.



;-)”

“I think its the lighting. J/K Thats Colonel Smith and his friend LizzyB . I jokingly asked her if it stood for Lizzy Borden, prompting her to say she wondered why she always got funny looks when she mentioned the name LOL.”

“I met some real heroes this morning...A crew from the Patriot Guard was stopping for a quick bite before going to a funeral. I took the time to stop and tell them thanks.”

“Col. Smith was a great guy and it was indeed an honor to meet him and even hike with him. He is quite dedicated to his cause and to give you insight into his dedication, (as Jackstraw mentioned) he has stage 4 cancer and is undergoing chemo treatments and lost much of his skin on the bottoms of his feet. His feet are ultra sensitive and the section we were hiking was very rocky.

While hiking with him, I said that he could stick with us and get off the trail where we were getting off and we could shuttle him to where he was set to meet his wife. This would save him atleast 6 miles. I could tell he was feeling every single step and every little rock and he was hurting. He said he would rather not stop becuase every mile he hikes is more money contributed to his charity.

He was going to continue hiking another 3 or so miles Saturday night, but he was hurting so much that he decided to camp with us. We were honored to camp with him, but concerned that he would have to hike even further the following day.

He left only a half hour before we did Sunday morning and we never did catch up with him and we were hauling ass on Sunday. He must have been really hauling ass.

Also, he said his pack weight is usually between 50-60 lbs. He said he likes to take a lot of amenities. He had a Gregory Whitney filled to the brim. I advised that he could cut his pack wt down to below 25 and hike a lot stronger. He said he doesn't mind the weight and that he has been in the infantry since before I was born and is used to carrying the weight. I believe him.

He's not a young man and I was really impressed by him. I'm hoping Jackstraw has his email so I can join him for some of his hikes as he makes his way south to Springer.

He is taking on Shenadoah next. We told him about TT and asked that he keep us posted and that we thought TTers would love to know more about him. He is a very interesting person.

Say what you want about the war and this is not the forum to say it, but his cause is admirable and he is an admirable person.”