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Pleasanton Couple Treks

'Triple Crown' of Trails

Ken and Marcia Powers of Pleasanton have welcomed the 21st century by hiking three of America's longest trails.

In year 2000 they trekked the Pacific Crest Trail, 2674 miles from the Mexican border to British Columbia. Two years later they hiked the Continental Divide Trail, 3000-plus miles from Mexico to Canada. This year they walked 2174 miles from Springer Mountain, Georgia, to Mount Katahdin, Maine, via the Appalachian Trail.

The three are sometimes called the American trail system’s “Triple Crown.”

The Powers’ feat is particularly significant because the couple is far from young. Ken a retired data base analyst, is 59. Marcia is 55; she’s a flutist who has retired from teaching, but still plays. They took up heavy hiking only five years ago when she turned 50, celebrating it by climbing Mount Whitney.

"Our Pacific Crest Trail hike in 2000 was supposed to have been an adventure-of-our lifetime type of thing, but it turned out to be so enjoyable. We found we liked the adventure, the solitude, the spectacular scenery, and the whole lifestyle, so we decided to do other trails," Marcia relates.

They're only the third couple to have completed the Triple Crown, as far as is known. Ken says at least 50 individual hikers can claim the accomplishment; 37 are officially known.

Each hike took four and a half to five months, each beginning in April and ending in mid-September. Ken and Marcia walked an average of 17- 20 miles a day. They didn't camp out 100% of the time. They stayed at a motel once a week during the Pacific Crest and Continental Divide treks.

Because of unceasing rain, the motel stays increased to twice a week on the Appalachian Trail. Ken says the trail is so heavily forested that it has been nicknamed "the long green tunnel." "This trip boiled down to hiking 1800 miles in a hardwood forest, with no sun and raindrops hanging up in the leaves. It was always wet. We stayed in motels more simply to get off the trail so we could give our gear a chance to dry out."

In addition to the motel stays, Ken and Marcia would leave the trail to enjoy little side trips to ice cream shops, pizza places, landmarks and the like. They'd often find other hikers there, and greatly enjoyed the socializing. These "diversions" increased on the Appalachian Trail, where there were such attractions along the way, including a number of historical sites. They carried detailed guides that informed them when they were approaching a land- mark or town they might like to leave the trail to visit.

There was danger and adventure, too, especially on the Continental Divide Trail, where they found themselves almost totally isolated. They met only 15 other backpackers along the entire length of the trail. In comparison, on the Appalachian Trail they met that many hikers each day.

"We were never by ourselves on the Appalachian Trail," Ken relates. "But on the Continental Divide Trail

there was no one around. If we were to get in trouble, we had no one but ourselves to get us out of it. We were in constant danger."

Near Butte, Montana, they found themselves completely exposed in a hailstorm, with no shelter at hand. The situation turned desperate when Ken became hypothermic. How- ever, he spotted in the distance what he thought to be a house. It turned out to be a trail crew storage tent. They forced their way inside. Ken recovered while Marcia cooked up some hot mashed potatoes.

High winds besieged them on a Colorado mountainside. "I looked down the steep sides and thought I’d be blown away like Mary Poppins,"

Marcia says. "It was very tense." In grizzly country in Wyoming near Yellowstone, two bears came to dinner. Marcia had just finished cooking dinner when the two appeared. She relates, "I yelled and grabbed the pepper spray I had for encounters like this. Ken grabbed his camera. My yell seemed to scare the bears, who promptly ran up a tree."

It was on this trip, too, that a moth flew inside Marcia's ear and became stuck there. She had to live with it for five days and some 100 miles of walking. A doctor at Yellowstone finally removed the dead moth.

Ken and Marcia have begun looking at possibilities for their next hike. There's a new American Discovery Trail, 5000 miles from Point Reyes to Delaware that interests them, among several others. They may go to Europe where a l200-mile trail called the Via Alpina is coming together by connecting all of the continent's existing trails.

Summing up their treks to date, Marcia observes, "We've hiked through a total of 22 states. What a cool way to see the United States! It's up close, and we're touching it!"

A diary and photographs of Ken and Marcia's trips may be accessed at two websites: www.TrailJournals.com/GottaWalk and www.GottaWalk.com.