Bob was stationed with me in Berlin in the '80's, and like me he was a Russian Linguist. While our time in the USAF pretty much overlapped, he'd had a great tour in Crete before his arrival in Berlin. He now lives in Pensacola (I fondly remember a visit there where we went to a Greek diner and enjoyed incredible seafood). After reading the post, 9-1-1 Bob told me a story about an encounter with the AT back in the '70's.
Here's his story:
"...glanced atcher blog this morning. saw the bit about the app trail. in 1973 a buddy and i hitchhiked to the start in georgia and hiked it for a little more than a week. extremely nice."
I followed up, asking about the Georgia start, which I've heard is tough because you get into some difficult country right away.
"...the terrain wasn't too tuff, of course i was about 19 also. we ate different berries and puff ball mushrooms with our freeze dried food and drank out of springs w/out purification tabs.i remember we met a fella on the trail day hiking. for retirement his kids bought him a VW camper van. he was out on the trail with a canteen, knife, and camera. we went to his van for a shot of whiskey and a pack of real cigs (my buddy and i were rolling bugler or some such crap). i remember thinking that guy had it made. we stopped at a small rocky bluff at a stream to laundry and there were some city punks there. freaked em out: i'd raise my hand and extend a finger and butterflies would alight.we ran into a boy scout group one eve and they insisted we save our food and join them for dinner. even the people we caught rides with on the hitch back in that part of the world were extremely nice. young folks, old folks, just nice mountain folk. keep in mind we were both very longhaired college types at the time.i'm to the point that my idea of camping is the holiday inn, HBO, room service, and a heated pool.the pics of yer place and that whole area look quite nice and calming."
In the final exchange, I asked him if he'd made it out of Georgia.
"...we didn't. we weren't seasoned vets, but we didn't lollygag. then again, we had no agenda to be at such and such point by whatever date. one of the best times of my life.
"...i'm gonna check out that book, but i'm into about 6 right now so it will be a bit."
The original Awol on the Appalachian Trail post is here, and there is a link to the book on Amazon if other readers are interested: http://hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com/2009/01/book-review-awol-on-appalachian-trail.html
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