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Camping on the Carmelite Fields, formerly owned by the Carmelite Fathers.
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Hikers a presentation at the Williams College '62 Center.
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Gathering with old friends.
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Pitching camp.

'Gathering' Brings Appalachian Hikers Together in Williamstown

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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Dr. Eric White, left, and hiking friend Billy Goat at this year's Gathering in Williamstown.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — More than 400 hikers gathered gathered quietly in the Carmelite Fields over the Columbus Day weekend.

If you happened to drive by fields off Oblong Road, you would have come across an array of bright colors from the hundreds of lined up tents. Surrounding these tents, you would have found bearded travelers sharing tales from the road.

These elusive visitors were not typical leaf peepers or tourists, but members of the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association. The 1,800 member group has been silently entering and exiting areas throughout the country like this for 32 years.

This meeting in Williamstown marked the 33rd annual "Gathering." A three-day event at which experienced hikers, novices, and those fresh off the trail meet to celebrate the end of the hiking season with festivities, workshops, presentations, and awards.

Veteran hiker Dr. Eric White, speaking after the event, said the Gathering shifts every year between the South Atlantic, the Mid Atlantic, and North Atlantic states.

"You get to know people pretty well when you are hiking with them because there is nothing else going on in the world on the trail," White said. "You get to know each other, you disappear for a while, and then you come back to the Gathering."

White and fellow hiker James Niedbalski have been involved in the North Atlantic Gathering for some time. White said Niedbalski, a Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts professor, was critical in establishing the gathering at MCLA in North Adams in 2011. This year, Niedbalski booked Williams College for the event.

White explained it is important to have a campus near by the campsite to facilitate the workshops and campers. He said Scott Lewis from the Williams College Outing Club kindly invited the hikers in as guests.

White said some students had no idea the hikers had descended upon the campus.

"One evening, 100 hikers with beards and what not were eating in the cafeteria. Some student picks up the phone and calls security to ask 'who are all these strange people in our dining room, is this a jamboree for homeless people?' No it was a hiking group," White laughed.

The volunteer group is completely nonprofit and does it for the love of hiking. Members help with everything from grooming the trail to aiding search parties if someone gets lost.

White goes by many names. A retired orthopedic surgeon from the former North Adams Regional Hospital, he now spends his days out in the woods. Some people call him Doc White others call him Eric. However, hiking friends don't know him by any of these names.

White said as a long-distance hiker, you receive a trail name depending on the trail you are on. These names are given, not chosen.

White says he is mostly known as Mini Mart. He received this name when hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, which spans 2,663 miles between the Mexican and Canadian borders.

"I was in a big group that was starting somewhere in Southern California two or three days out. We were camping out one evening, and I unloaded all of my food out, which was instant oatmeal, Oreos, and raisins. Some guy looks at me and says 'where did you get all of that stuff, a mini mart?' and I said, 'well, yeah,' and that became my name," White said.

White explained the trail name is more than just a nickname, but a title and identity separate from the one given in society. He said the woods seem to break down social barriers and offer a clean slate.

"You are no longer a doctor from Williamstown, a professor, a homeless person, or a college dropout; all of that goes away. You are just a fellow hiker with a nickname, and if you get to know somebody you go into greater detail, but you all are starting out the same."

The ALDHA originated form a group of 18 hikers in Harper's Ferry, W.Va., in 1983. Their intent was to create a group focused on promoting the well-being of the hiking community. The group also places a strong emphasis on education. The Gathering hosts workshops and presentations that include equipment demonstrations, first time viewings of trail documentaries, and hiking techniques for specific trails.

White said one of the hot topics this year was the anticipation of two mainstream movies to come out later in the year based on books about long-distance hiking. "A Walk in the Woods" (about the Appalachian Trail) and "Wild" will star actors such as Reese Witherspoon, Robert Redford and Nick Nolte.

ALDHA fears the films may inspire swarms of new hikers who will add to the already overcrowding of the trails. White said 3,000 people start the trail from the same location over a three-week period when the hiking season starts. He added if there are more people leaving at the same time, there will be no room to even set camp and it will cause environmental issues.

Because the National Park Service runs the trail, he fears the federal government could force limits.

"We hikers don't want the government telling us what to do, and we want to avoid the government regulating the trail," he said. "You could have people charging fees and so on which really gets expensive for the government and complicated."

He said if it became an issue, the ALDHA may develop an app for smart phones that would allow hikers to check in on certain dates so people interested in hiking the trail can stagger when they start. He said people would "voluntarily spread themselves out."

This passion to keep the trails primitive and care for them has been a part of White's life for a long time. While in college in the '60s, he worked on a mountain crew in the White Mountains in New Hampshire.

Although he fell in love with the mountains and the outdoors, he eventually started his own practice and stayed off the trails for 30 years.

"I was busy with my own practice, and every day for work I had to drive across the Appalachian Trail because it crosses in North Adams so I was thinking about it. Eventually I read 'A Walk in the Woods' and I said 'Jesus, maybe I can do that,' so I did. It was more difficult to get the coverage for the practice than to actually do the trail," White laughed.

White said the trails can be lonely and it is not out of the ordinary to go days without seeing anybody. However, he said you form tremendous bonds with the people you do meet and you often keep running into them. He referred to this as trail magic.

White said he has a friend from Scotland named Billy Goat he met when he hiked the Pacific Crest Trail.

"I was having breakfast at a diner in Montana. I sat down next to this guy who I thought was a scruffy local, and I ordered my bacon and eggs. He started talking and I noticed his accent. It was my fiend from two years ago I hiked with," White said. "Good things that happen when you are on the trail, and it's not hard to find these people because they are all out on the trail somewhere."

White reiterated that those who hike together have a special bond that goes far deeper than just sharing stories and talking shop. He said this makes it much more special when you run into them somewhere else in the world.

He said this is part of the great importance of the Gathering. It allows friends to cross paths again.

"The trail literally does connect all of us hikers in a way," White said. "I guess that’s where the trail magic come from."


Tags: Appalachian Trail,   hiking,   

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Williams Seeking Town Approval for New Indoor Practice Facility

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board last week gave Williams College the first approval it needs to build a 55,000-square foot indoor athletic facility on the north side of its campus.
 
Over the strenuous objection of a Southworth Street resident, the board found that the college's plan for a "multipurpose recreation center" or MRC off Stetson Road has adequate on-site parking to accommodate its use as an indoor practice facility to replace Towne Field House, which has been out of commission since last spring and was demolished this winter.
 
The college plans a pre-engineered metal that includes a 200-meter track ringing several tennis courts, storage for teams, restrooms, showers and a training room. The athletic surface also would be used as winter practice space for the school's softball and baseball teams, who, like tennis and indoor track, used to use the field house off Latham Street.
 
Since the planned structure is in the watershed of Eph's Pond, the college will be before the Conservation Commission with the project.
 
It also will be before the Zoning Board of Appeals, on Thursday, for a Development Plan Review and relief from the town bylaw limiting buildings to 35 feet in height. The new structure is designed to have a maximum height of 53 1/2 feet and an average roof height of 47 feet.
 
The additional height is needed for two reasons: to meet the NCAA requirement for clearance above center court on a competitive tennis surface (35 feet) and to include, on one side, a climbing wall, an element also lost when Towne Field House was razed.
 
The Planning Board had a few issues to resolve at its March 12 meeting. The most heavily discussed involved the parking determination for a use not listed in the town's zoning bylaws and a decision on whether access from town roads to the building site in the middle of Williams' campus was "functionally equivalent" to the access that would be required under the town's subdivision rules and regulations.
 
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