The gathering is something of a homecoming for hikers and is held in different locations around the country.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — More than 400 long-distance hiking enthusiasts and Appalachian Trail thru-hikers will pass through Williamstown this weekend for the 35th annual Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association Gathering.
Hikers from all over the country will travel to Carmelite Fields this Columbus Day weekend, some by car and some by foot, for a homecoming of sorts.
"I'm ready for them," said Carmelite Fields owner and long-distance hiker Dr. Eric White, also known as "Mini Mart," said. "This is the third time they have used my property so I think we have this part down."
The ADLHA Gathering marks the end of the hiking season and is a chance for hikers to meet old friends from the trail, swap trail stories and attend myriad workshops and presentations mostly held at Williams College.
Hikers do not go by their actual names at the Gathering, but their trail names, which are not chosen but given on the trail.
ALDHA Coordinator and President Jim Sample, also known as White Sidewalls, of Pennsylvania, said the format of the gathering pretty much stays the same. People arrive throughout the day Friday and set up their tents on Carmelite Field, on what had once been the estate of novelist Sinclair Lewis.
"We are fortunate when we have a place like Williamstown here that welcomes us in and lets us use a facility with a setting like this," Sample said. "How many places are you going to go and see the top of Greylock ... and where are you going to find a college as beautiful as Williams College?"
The gathering rotates locations each year to accommodate members from different parts of the country.
Sample said he hopes there are opportunities for the hikers to venture out into the community
"We want to get more involved with the communities that really host us," he said. "We are starting to realize that when we come here it helps the community. It's good to go out and do some shopping or go out to eat. Four hundred people is a lot of people, it has an impact, and that is becoming a new focus. It benefits everybody."
Many communities, including North Adams, have become AT designated communities. White said hikers may only just pass through town but they do spend money and they can really benefit the community.
Events really kicked off around 5 p.m. Friday, and there will be a special memorial tribute to "Baltimore Jack" Tarlin, a longtime hiker who passed this year. This year's gathering is dedicated to Baltimore Jack.
Organizer Mike Wingeart, also known as Wingheart, of Baltimore, said they will also acknowledge who hiked the Appalachian Trail by year and those who literally just got off it.
"We call it the roll call of the years and ask people to stand up. We get down to the earliest hiker, say in 1970 or something, and they will get the torch award," Wingeart said. "They are the last man standing."
Then the "class of 2016" will be called up for a certificate and a patch.
There will be about 60 different workshops that are on average 45 minutes held throughout the weekend, beginning on Saturday at 9 a.m.
"A lot of them are about different trails around the world propel have hiked and they will explain what it's like," Sample said. "There will be workshops on equipment for newer hikers, or the dreamers as we like to call them. There is really a bit of everything, and we have covered the gambit."
Wingeart said many of the programs are designed for new hikers who may just want to ask questions.
"We get hikers that just got off the trail on a panel so people can ask them questions," he said. "A lot of newbies know Boy Scout method, military method or they read something online but here is their chance to talk to those guys right here."
He said these discussions often turn "lively" because no two hikers will ever agree on the best way to filter water or if you should actually bother carrying a stove.
Wingeart said there will also be presentations by "Farmer Chef," who walked the trail with his whole family. A presentation by Niki Rellon, "Bionic Woman," who became the first female amputee to complete the AT, and Tom Gathman, "The Real Hiking Viking," who will discuss his multiple thru-hikes with fellow combat veterans and on his own.
Sample said there are classes on navigation and trail safety and attendees can actually get a Long Distance Hiking Diploma if they take certain courses.
"The focus is to get as much education as we can out there because it can be a dangerous thing and the number of people on the trail every year is increasing, which has a bigger ecological impact on the trail," he said. "So we do classes on trail maintenance and search and rescue."
Sample said this is a concern of the ALDHA and Appalachian Trail Conservancy because more and more hikers are on the trail every year.
"When you start to have 8, 10, 12 or 15 going together you will have someone with a wise idea then you have a bigger chance of something bad happening," he said. "It starts to turn into a party every night, which is something we kind of want to discourage. Plus, it uses up trail resources."
Wingeart said some people have made the trail a very public journey and have brought film crews along with them to the top of Mount Katahdin in Maine, the trail's northern terminus. He said they film each other drinking and celebrating at the end of the hike.
He said AT groups have got together to discourage this and the trail has improved.
White also brought up concerns of people taking advantage of hikers and trying to sell products along the trail.
"It is just really become a problem in the past few years," White said. "People have been seen setting up commercial ventures along the trail ... it may start out as food or a beer but it can get progressively worse and that is not what the trail is about."
Wingeart said the trail can be about self-exploration and solitude and it is not fair to deprive someone of that.
"A lot of people see Katahdin and they start reflecting on it," he said. "They have been out four or five months on the trail and a lot of people actually slow down because ... they have thought about all of their issues and then they realize they haven't quite figured out what they are going to do with their life yet. So they try to extend it and they want that moment up there with the sign up there for themselves. It's not a party scene, it's a sacred thing."
The group agreed that they feel responsible for the trail. It ties them all together and shapes the gathering.
"We don't see these people often, maybe once or twice a year," said organizer Tom Evans, also known as Flatlander. "Hikers by large are like a family and it doesn't matter if you are a doctor or a lawyer you get together for one common thing and that is to hike the trail and that is why we are here."
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Wingeart said some people have made the trail a very public journey and have brought film crews along with them to the top of Mount Katahdin in Maine, the trail's northern terminus. He said they film each other drinking and celebrating at the end of the hike.
