Worcester Mass. Hiker Profiled

David Greenslit's article "City boy finds his country soul in hiking" in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette for 12 August 2007 profiles AT hiker and AMC local chapter hiking chair Steve Ciras.

Mostly the article reviews how Ciras got involved in and remains in hiking. It also tells this undated Appalachian Trail story:

"Speaking of the Appalachian Trail, Ciras recalled meeting a thru-hiker, one who’s hiking the entire 2,175 miles from Georgia to Maine, atop Mt. Moriah in New Hampshire. Later that day, when Ciras and his group were at a pizza parlor in nearby Gorham, they saw the hiker and asked him to eat with them.

"Someone asked the thru-hiker, who at this point was one state away from finishing, when he knew he would make it. He said he always knew because he was hiking with his grandfather. The hiker, just out of college, explained that he and his grandfather had talked about hiking the trail together, but his grandfather died that spring. So the young man was carrying his ashes to the end of the trail, where he would spread them atop Mt. Katahdin."

There's another anecdote Ciras tells about getting caught in a surprise July snowstorm in the White Mountains with 14 hockey team buddies back in the 1970's and all crowding into "a nearby camp" despite the caretaker having told them there was only room for three more.