LETS TALK ABOUT TRAIL ANGELS

 I follow a number of strong independent fearless female thru- and section-hikers, each one an inspiration to me. Many are in my age group. Some have repeatedly soloed the long trails like the AT, the Continental Divide, PCT, Centennial, our beloved NCT and even this Sawtooth Range trail I’m currently on, the SHT.

So, through reading their blogs I’d heard the terms Trail Angel and Trail Magic and read the effect they have on hikers, but never experienced it or seen one in 1st person…until now.

Here’s what I know about this subject.

Trail angels don’t have to exist on the trail, they’re bonuses. When a “bonus” shows up unexpectedly in the form of a person rendering support of any kind, that would be a Trail Angel. They’re ordinary people doing glorious things for hikers. They, without charge or expectation of compensation, unexpectedly provide the needed, whatever that may be. It could be a ride, food, shelter, a resupply location etc.

Trail Magic manifests itself in many forms: a water cache on a long stretch of dry, hot desert, the surprise of your favorite candy bar, a cooler of ice cold pop at a trail head, unexpected companionship, Tenacious Tape to repair a piece of failing equipment. 

Like leprechauns, if you’re looking for them, you won’t find them…they just show up.

I was so blessed to have had almost daily encounters with unpretentious, sometimes oblivious Trail Angels on my section hike.

I will start at the top:

Marci. Marci is my daughter-in-law who volunteered to be my companion through the first 50 hard and often remote and rugged miles with me. She constantly reminded me to eat and to drink.

Stephen and Family. Stephen was from Switzerland, he’d been in the US one day when I boldly asked him to take Marci and me to the 270 Overlook. Our shuttle driver had failed to show up at the very last minute and had left us stranded in the northern most state park on the North Shore. Without even asking where the 270 Overlook was, or what it was, they readily agreed.  We piled into their extremely compact, compact rental car and were taken to the start line. He refused any money but we made him take $20…he did so begrudgingly. They made our trip work at the very start.

Sarah. Sarah lives 1/2 mile off the trail outside of Grand Marais. She gave me such good intell on the trail and let me use her home as a resupply location and offered cold sparkling water.

We ran across, rather Buck ran across us, on the trail. He’s a 72 yo trail runner who is the previous owner of Bucks Hardware in Grand Marais. He was encouraging and gave us good directions to navigate our way through Pincushion.

Adrian. Adrian is the Summer Host of Judge Magney SP. He let me use the overflow site FOUR times and never blinked an eye. He also brought huge DQ Dilly Bars over to Marci and me one night (that’s Trail Magic right there!).

The Man on Andy Creek Road. Before we started up the section with the highest elevation on the trail, I’d hoped we’d meet someone on trail who could give us a good idea of what we were in for, we figured it would be a bearcat of a section. Before we left our camp, a man with his German Shepherd sauntered up the road (we thought we were in the middle of nowhere…and we were). He knew everything there was to know about that section. It was a little thing, but it was gold to us that morning.

Nate and Sophia. They showed up the instant I needed them. I was pretty literally hanging onto a rock for dear life, stuck on the face of Carlton Peak in the blistering heat from an unclouded sun. I couldn’t go forward and if I’d gone backward I would have tumbled down a boulder field with a backpack propelling the fall. Bad things would have happened. With a smile on my frighten face I made light of the fact that “…I was old, pretty stuck and would love to use their hand to get out of my sticky spot”. They jumped to my rescue.

Caleb. My boy. He offered and wouldn’t take no for an answer, to rearrange his work and family schedule to drive the 7 hours over to the North Shore to finish the last couple of days with me. I love that kid. 

Ranger David of Temperance River SP. He was amazing. I saw him twice and both times he offered advice, information, encouragement and suggestions. With a wink he suggested I stealth camp on the summit of Carlton. I liked that guy, he was my kinda guy.

Ranger Amy of Cascade SP she was a Trail Angel of sorts as she opened the office long before it was time to secure the last tent site in the park for me.

And the Daddy of Them All: Harmony. She appeared with Stella (her trail dog who doesn’t like to sit and wait in the car but loves to run trail) and provided us with a plan and a ride to get back up to Magney SP to Marci’s car. She had ice cold coke and lots and lots and LOTS of encouragement and sound advice for me as a rookie solo section hiker. She made the end of our trip together work. She was amazing. I decided when I grow up, I want to be her. 

So you see, Trail Angels appear when you are least expecting them but need them the most. They are what I call, “Answers” before you even ask.