HUMANITY HIKER

The American Discovery Trail have state coordinators that overlook their section of trail, lobbying to get things done for the ADT within their states, publicizing the value of the ADT and lending a helping hand to those hiking the trail.  Some are more engaged than others.

Ted Oxborrow was a relatively new state coordinator for Nevada, but he already was a whirlwind of activity. He had been in contact with us through Nevada to alert us to another ADT hiker ahead of us, Barrett Jordan.  He were supposed to meet him in Ely, Nevada in the eastern part of the state.  We finally met Barrett instead, where our journeys merged together for awhile.

We missed Ted in Ely; instead, we met him by coincidence our first night out from the town, camped at Cave Lake Campground.  I was playing guitar in our campground when this energetic guy came rushing down from the neighboring campground, saying on the run: “I just had to tell you how beautiful you play ….. Barrett!  How are you?”  Barrett was camped with us and when Ted spotted the ADT hiker he already met he cut off his sentence and immediately went over to him to chat.

Ted was supporting a former ADT hiker, Brian Stark, the first to run the ADT and was now running across the Nevada portion to raise money for Nevada parks and trail.  When I say supporting, Ted and his son was doing everything for Brian, meeting him with supplies and even marking the trail ahead of time for him where it was hard to follow.

The kindness of coordinators like Ted make a huge difference in the trail experience for ADT hikers.