A Backcountry Hike with Fay Welch - by Erik Williams

I was 14 and in group 5 (there were six groups in those days). It was a trip day, but, it turned out for me, not just any old trip day (before ya start in on me, they are ALL great, ok?). Even out at T we could hear the flute playing that song. I gallumped in to main camp (14 Y.O. boy, gallumping is what they do) and looked at the trip list on the corner of the porch. Well, My! Ragged Lake and Mr. Welch! A quick breakfast, abbreviated clean up and off we went out Center trail to the (then new) Rodger's Bridge. Into the swamp we went! I was suddenly less sure than I had been that this was a good idea of a trip. That feeling changed as we emerged onto a hardwood covered area which pretty quickly turned into a gentle ridge, and up we went. We seemed to simply glide along, at least Mr. Welch did. I think I did too. There was, somehow, lightness in our walk which emanated from him. I didn't really recognize it then, but, as my hiking experiences broadened over the years and miles, that sense would sometimes (if I were lucky) return. We were all quietly walking and chatting (I recall it as chatting, I expect we were actually cacophonous) and suddenly we emerged (well, that's probably not the right word- it's the top of a ridge in the 'Daks, and kinda wooded) at the summit. Like it was just a trapse out Center trail, it seemed. Lunch and back we went. Now, I do think we may have been kinda late in out return- I don't fully recall, but I think we must have been, and footsore, but filled with a joy in the hike, and with an even deeper group camaraderie. It's pretty close to 50m years later, and I have done my share of hiking, but this one still stands as a treasured trip…