She is just starting out. The name caught my eye, but I don't know a thing about her. I doubt I'll watch much, but I wanted to give her a shout out. She is from Gilmanton, locally famous as the eventual home of Grace Metalious, nee deRepentigny, author of Peyton Place. She was uh, known to our family and I wrote about her in 2006. But perhaps there's no scandal anymore. Grace died when I was ten, after all, and no one reads Peyton Place anymore. Maybe Taylor will be the name the small town is known for now.
This is her second through-hike, and she had a third interrupted.
She is originally from Hopkinton, MA, where the Boston Marathon starts.
I’ve done this and other sections of the AT. (Through hiking, to borrow from your class discussion re: Peyton Place, is a surprisingly privileged pastime; though I did meet a homeless guy trail named “Teddy Bear” doing it, it was mostly rich kids who could afford to not work for months at a stretch without anyone suffering from it.)
ReplyDeleteThe Georgia parts are really tough, especially because the body isn’t accustomed but also for physical reasons. At Blood Mountain where US 129 crosses the trail, there’s a tree with many pairs of shoes hanging from it. Some are from people hiking south who abandoned destroyed shoes there, but many are from those headed north who gave up and called for a ride home.
Do you get bears?
ReplyDeleteOnly occasionally in my neighborhood, but on the trail in NH, plenty. Or were you asking Grim?
ReplyDeleteIf you meant to ask me, yes, we definitely do. I have bear on my land, and do what I can to protect them from hunting. They’ve been good neighbors in return.
ReplyDeleteThe AT also has them, especially in and around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Here’s one such encounter from 2015:
https://grimbeorn.blogspot.com/2015/05/return-from-wild.html?m=0
Just worried for the lady walking around where there are bears. But the last movie I saw was Cocaine Bear so it’s probably on my mind
ReplyDeleteThat movie is based on a true story that happened right here! However, the bears are not usually on cocaine.
ReplyDeletePer Wikipedia, the dead bear does pose a continuing threat:
ReplyDelete“According to the bear's owners, the Cocaine Bear has the authority to officiate legally binding weddings in the mall where it is kept due to Kentucky's marriage laws.[3] This claim is only partly true; the bear does not have the authority to solemnize weddings, but the state of Kentucky cannot invalidate marriages performed by unqualified persons if the parties believe that the person marrying them has the authority to do so.[13] As such, it is a belief in the Cocaine Bear's authority that allows it to officiate legally binding weddings in Kentucky.”
So if you got Double-Rainbow guy or something thinking this was legit, you might have a problem, but short of that, it's just another weird loophole in a law designed to solve weird loopholes.
ReplyDeleteThe opening several pages of Peyton Place with the description of the town is truly elegant writing.
ReplyDelete