Trail Magic Ten Years Long

This is a really neat piece. Be sure to click through to the newspaper and read it.

In the Great Falls (MT) Tribune of 1 March 2007, Karen Land (trail name Spork), who is the paper's outdoor columnist, writes under the headline "Letter from the trail sparks memories" about having received a letter -- not an email, but an actual paper and envelope letter -- from someone she met very briefly during her thru-hike in 1997.

"Spork" got hit with giardia while climbing Mt. Greylock. She had to get off the Trail and head to a hospital, leaving her pack on the side of the Trail.

Except that on the way down the mountain she and her partner met up with a stranger who reached the pack and marched it off to Bascom Lodge where it could be shuttled to the hospital.

Now, 10 years later he writes to her with a poignant message.

Like I said, click the link or whatever it takes to get to the column, and read it.