Gone Hiking for the summer (’08)

The day after graduation, I’m headed for the trail.

Here’s where I’m hiking this summer:

1. May-June—Appalachian Trail. I’m returning to the Appalachian Trail which I finished hiking in 1998. I’m starting over at the bottom at Springer mountain Georgia the day after graduation. The last time I was on that part of the trail was 1972, when Sharon and I hiked the bottom thousand miles of the AT before I went to my denomination’s headquarters and mostly walked to coffee break for the next 24 years. It will be neat to see how that part of trail has changed in the intervening 36 years. Starting in Georgia we will head north through the tough hills of North Georgia and southern North Carolina, then lengthwise through the Great Smoky Mountains, then we walk on the actual border with our left foot in Tennessee and the right one in North Carolina for miles through the Cherokee & Pisgah National forests. I have to stop somewhere near Virginia because I am attending my denomination’s General Conference June 7-11.

My companions for this trip are:

Ethan Lennox, a Writing-English student at IWU (the student-looking guy)

Phil Woodbury, retired surgeon from Indianapolis (the guy messing with his socks)

Burt Webb, Microbiology professor at IWU the guy in blue by the lake)

In case you want to send a post card…

Address mail as follows and make sure it is there by date:

Keith Drury --AT HIKER arriving by 5/8

General Delivery

Franklin NC 28734-9999

Keith Drury --AT HIKER arriving by 5/13

General Delivery

Fontana Dam NC 28733-9999

Keith Drury --AT HIKER arriving by 5/19

General Delivery

Hot Springs NC 28743-9999

Keith Drury --AT HIKER arriving by 5/26

General Delivery

Erwin TN 37650-9999

2. July-August—Wyoming. Last year I hiked the Wind River Mountains with Burt Webb and his son mason. What a wonderful place. I promised Sharon we’d return together to hike that most beautiful of all trails in the USA (with perhaps the John Muir Trail in the high Sierras being its closest competitor). The picture above with Burt last year shows what it is like. Lots of hiking above the timberline and very remote. We’re basically driving out half way through July and linking up with a wonderful couple who graduated from IWU a few years back—Paul and Brooke Kind for a double-couple hike. Paul has been a pastor in South Dakota and is heading next fall to seminary at Princeton. I hiked hundreds of miles of the PCT with Paul back in, when was that? Years ago. We started in the Mojave desert on the PCT, hiked the whole John Muir Trail/PCT-Sierras all the way to Lake Tahoe. Actually, I think I hiked several times a year with Paul all the time he was a student. Brooke is like Sharon—never hiked overnight until she got married. We’re going to have a grand time! After the hike Sharon and I are going to wander around Yellowstone, and the Tetons for the rest of July and first week of August when she has to be home for summer graduation August 9.

My companions on the Wind River Hike: Paul & Brooke Kind and Sharon:

Address mail as follows and make sure it is there by date:

Keith Drury --HIKER arriving by 7/24

General Delivery

Jackson, WY 83001

3. August—Colorado Trail. Each year before school starts the “IWU faculty Hiking club” hikes a hundred miles of the 500 mile Colorado Trail—Denver to Durango. I’m on my second pass on this highest of all trails in the USA. We walk at 10,000’-12,000’ most of the time so it can be a challenge for altitude sickness etc. however its scenery is absolutely stunning. This year we will start at the tiny town of Creede and end at Durango. Dave Ward, IWU Homiletics-professor-now-in-a-doctoral program and Phil Woodbury will be my companions. His is a knew-buster hike, especially coming down into Silverton. But I will return form this hike the day of our Fall faculty retreat and write my first Tuesday column again.

Address mail as follows:

Keith Drury --HIKER arriving by 8/13

General Delivery

Silverton, CO 81433

Hiking companions:

Dave Ward (guy in blue shirt)

Phil Woodbury (Pictured above on AT)

Kerry Kind (couldn’t find his picture before I left)

Put SUMMER COMMENTS HERE