A propos of nothing, but just sharing as an illustration of things coming full circle.
(For those that may be familiar with uk.media.radio.archers, this post may also be construed as a KF)

Strider 113 (April 2009) just came through my letter box, here in the Yorkshire Dales. I enjoyed the article on page 24 about Chris Dawes' Appalachian Trail experiences.
The photo in Chris' article of the boardwalk (puncheon) is in New Jersey (in an area known as the Pochuck near Vernon NJ) and has happy associations for me. Although I thru-hiked the AT in 1993 (as a 'Nobo' as noted in Chris' article, although I'm not sure that phrase crosses the pond too well, but might tie in with the KF), I have worked on AT seasonal trail (maintenance) crew for the last few summers. In 2000, I spent a very happy (& hot!) week as part of the crew that built one of the sections of the boardwalk in the photo. Nice to see the finished results.

This should not detract from Chris having nearly achieved the Triple Crown: no mean feat, especially by someone from the UK, joining what is a very small band of Brits holding that accolade.

AT crew: http://www.appalachiantrail.org/trailcrews/