ALDHA West Meeting 9/24-26/2010

I attended the annual meeting of ALDHA-West the last weekend of September with "Meadow Ed" Faubert and my partner, Gary Kirk.  ALDHA is an association of long-distance hikers.  Several there recieved their "triple crown" awards, meaning they had thru-hiked the 3 major US trails - the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), the Continental Divide Trail (CDT), and the Appalachian Trail (AT).  The PCT is 2,650 miles, the CDT is  2,588 miles, and the AT is 2,168 miles long.  All together that adds up to 7,406 miles!

Long distance hikers are a peculiar breed, but the folks I met at ALDHA-West were very cool, and very friendly and eager to share tales of the trail, fun and not-so-fun experiences, and their best advice on what, why, when, where, and how to accomplish your hiking goals.

I got to sketch a few of them over the weekend.  They're not great sketches, but they were fun to do at least, and these folks have certainly inspired me to consider becoming a thru-hiker someday myself!

 

All images were sketched on location with either a marker or black ball point pen. 

It's fun to do faces, but I have to admit I'm not so great at capturing the likenesses.  But, practice makes perfect!  So, hats off to all you distance hikers out there.  I cut my teeth at Grand Canyon, but you all inspire me to take on some much longer hikes in the near future!

Thanks, and Enjoy!  --L