Andy Morgan Photography

“BAT”

A group of hikers walking the Florida Trail stopped by Bull Creek to set up camp.  One of the hikers made his way over to the check station to ask if he could charge his phone.  I plugged his charger into the strip of outlets inside the doorway.  The hiker took a seat while waiting for his phone to charge and we began talking.

I asked questions about hiking and where he had been.  This particular hiker has hiked all over the world.  He started listing off the places he hiked.  I was immediately fascinated. He had hiked the AT (Appalachian Trail) so he had spent some time in Maine…he was from Washington himself. He told me about how different people are outside the USA.  1)  On one international hike (I don’t remember what country he said he was in), a local asked him where he was from.  He told them he was from the northwest corner of the US.  The person said, “oh, you’re from Washington”.  The hiker was amazed that this individual knew everything about the US and he was unable to identify districts in the man’s home country. 2) The hiker explained that in another country a native told him that they can tell an American within 5 minutes of talking with one.  The tip-off is an American will always ask someone when they first meet “What do you do?” – meaning what do you do for money.  Non-Americans are not concerned with what people do for a living/money because most of the time it’s not who they are.  Work or a job does not necessarily define a person.  Amazing, I thought… because the entire time I was talking to him I was thinking, what the hell do you do?  How are you able to go off hiking for months and months on end?  The hiker explained this works both ways….Americans are also very eager to tell you what they do for money.  He said in the hiking world, you usually never learn the real names of people you meet and befriend on the trail.  He told me about a man he hiked with several times over the years and eventually learned that the man was world champion base jumper.

I told the hiker about the early stages of my journey… quitting my job, selling everything, to travel work and live in an RV.  We talked about the story of the Mexican fisherman, Kevin Smith’s live a why not life, Sterling Hayden’s The Wanderer and many other things.  I asked him if he wrote at all about his hiking adventures.  He said he did not.  He explained that he started a blog once, but it felt like a chore and when he wrote, he always felt like he was writing to someone instead of just writing.   We then talked about books…. the hiker suggested two books for me to read; Ready Player One and The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.  I since have read both books.  (update: Ready Player One has now been made into a major movie and is available on DVD)

Once the hiker’s phone was charged, we began our goodbyes.  I shook his hand and said, “It was great talking to you, my name is Andy.  What’s your name?”.  He smiled and said, “My name is ??????, but my trail name is Bat. Because I’m legally blind”.   We wished each other a good life and that was it.  He had already broken down his camp and struck out for another 20-mile day of hiking before I got out of bed the next morning.

I sat chatting with this man for at least 2 hours and had no idea that he had impaired vision.  And in perfect hiker etiquette, I never learned what Bat did for money and I quickly forgot what he told me his real name was.  Brian, Steve, Jason, I don’t remember….all I remember is his trail name is Bat and I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to speak with him.