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Trekking through retirement

By KAREN BOSSICK The Wood River journal-Hailey

This would be a really, really ugly way to die, Marcia Powers thought, as she put her face down in the quicksand, thrusting her body spread-eagled in the red mud.

Powers had been hopping from side to side of Dark Canyon, some of the oldest exposed rock in southern Utah towering over her, when she accidentally stepped in the mud.

In an instant, she had sunk up to her hipbone. She grabbed her husband's hand but just slipped in further, one leg totally covered by the quicksand, the other to knee level.

"I was totally surprised because nothing in the guide book had said anything about quicksand in this canyon," she said. "But I had read enough to know I was supposed to remain calm-that panicking would only sink me further. And I knew I was supposed to spread my weight out."

She took her pack off to reduce her weight and she reached one hand over her head grabbing onto a scrubby plant that she could feel but couldn't see. She pulled on it ever so slowly, pulling herself out slightly. When it came uprooted, she reached forward with her other hand and found herself grabbing onto a cottonwood tree.

“I found out later that if I'd just relaxed my legs would have floated up to the top," she said. "When I did finally get out, I had so much adrenaline going that when my husband asked if I wanted to clean up I said, 'No, gotta go. Gotta go.'"

As retirees, Marcia and her husband Ken Powers could be doing it the cushy way-seeing the U.S.A. in a Winnebago and bypassing America's canyons and quicksand. But the couple has chosen instead to see the United States on foot, crossing it from bottom to top a couple times and from coast to coast once.

They'll show slides of their adventures at 7 p.m. Thursday in a free show at the Community Campus.

The couple estimates they have walked more than 13,000 miles through 30 states since they laced up their hiking shoes seven years ago.

"We've seen the United States, just as we might have if we had bought a recreational vehicle," said Marcia, whose sister Becki Keefer lives in Hailey. "But we've been actively involved with our environment instead of just observing it. Our feet have been through the dust, in the creeks, on the snow. We get to smell the pine scent of the forest and the sage of the desert."

Marcia had never backpacked before her husband, who grew up in Buhl, took early retirement at age 54 from Chevron where he was a database analyst. Realizing they had done plenty of financial planning but no life planning, they decided to try some new things.

"Ken had backpacked with our boys when they were in Boy Scouts and I was jealous whenever they went out," Marcia said. "I envied their cute little cooking stove; I dreamed of setting up my imaginary tent..."

A day hike up Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the Lower 48, convinced her that this was indeed the life for her. Gazing across miles and miles of land that looked as if no one had ever set foot on it, Marcia made a determination: "I want to go there."

Their first backpack trip along the Pacific Coast was not ideal-it hailed, lightning flashed all around them and the snow level dropped to 1,000 feet.

"But I said, 'If I can have this much fun in this kind of weather, this is for me," said Marcia, a flute teacher and chamber musician.

Since, they've hiked the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail, the Appalachian Trail and the Continental Divide Trail. And they became the first to hike the 4,900-mile American Discovery Trail from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in one trip.

The two even scored their 15 seconds of fame on the "Today" show upon the completion of that eight-month trek.

The American Discovery Tour was certainly the most varied. They hike from town to town in the East, along hot asphalt through Kansas and through wilderness in the West.

The locals in the East rallied around their adventure, offering to let them put their tent in their barnyards or even have a hot shower and night in their guest bed.

"Still, if I had to choose between hiking from town to town and hiking in wilderness, I'd pick the wild," Marcia said. "I like the independence, the need to navigate, the adventure.

Sometimes, of course, the adventure turns out to be more than expected.

While hiking along the Continental Divide Trail, which is only 70 percent complete, Marcia was traversing on the side of a mountain near Wolf Creek Pass in Colorado when the snow broke loose and took Marcia down with it.

"Fortunately, the snow ran out and I stopped with a big burst of adrenalin," she said. "We didn't have ice axes because the locals had told us we didn't need them.

Both Ken and Marcia have organizing genes and enjoy planning their trips from their home in suburban San Francisco as much as trekking them. They send letters to postmasters along their route, telling of their plans, asking if they can hold a re-supply package for them until they can pick it up and asking about things to see and do in the area. 

The Powers skip freeze-dried food, which they say is expensive and high in sodium. Lunches include tuna on bagels or tortillas. Dinners include macaroni and cheese and other pasta and rice dishes.

They eat a lot of Pop Tarts, which pack a lot of calories for the space they take. And every afternoon at 4, they each have Ii Snickers Bar, which gives them the ummph they need to keep hiking until the light begins to dim.

They have to replace Ken's New Balance trail runners and Marcia's Montrails every 500 miles. But, even then, they end up saving money compared to what they'd spend at home.

"We calculate we spend $1.75 per mile per person on things like shoes, an occasional motel room, food, and postage - about $2,000 per month for both of us," Marcia said

"We've come to realize how little we really need to live happily. I remember sitting atop the Continental Divide between Montana and Idaho. The only thing I had with me was what was in my backpack yet I felt like the richest person in the world as I looked over the wilderness. We had food, we had water, we had each other. We were as rich as could be."