Taking the Challenge
A handful of Butler County residents rose to the Rachel Carson Trail Challenge this weekend.
The challenge, which completed its 24th year, is a 37-mile hike over a single day from Harrison Hills Park in Harrison Township, Allegheny County, to North Park, Allegheny County. Many who complete the journey will spend days recovering.
Ryan Gold, 37, of Summit Township, said he faced the challenge two years ago, but he fared much better in the challenge and the recovery afterward this year.
“The first time I did it, I was in shambles, I could barely walk for a week,” Gold said. “With the knowledge I have now, I'm doing a lot better.”
The event also features two shorter challenges, an 18-mile hike and a 7-mile family hike, all of which are promoted not as a race, but as challenges of endurance.
Christine Holt, 56, of Butler, and Trudy Neff, 55, of Boyers, also tried the 37-mile challenge two years ago, and they came up short, unable to finish in time. They spent a lot more hours training of the past couple years before rewriting that story this year.
“This time, we came back to make sure we finished it and completed it,” Holt said.The pair left just after sunrise, like most of the other hikers, and they finished just before this year's cutoff at 8 p.m. For them, it didn't matter how long it took.“My goal was just to finish it that's it,” Neff said. “It was just a challenge to myself.”Kathleen Ganster, a board member for the Rachel Carson Trails Conservancy, said she also participates in the event, which also serves as the conservancy's main fundraiser. The funds raised annually at the event go back into the trails and to managing the 120 acres made public by the conservancy.“Because it's a challenge, it's really great to see people getting out and make it their own personal challenge,” Ganster said. “It isn't easy by anyone's stretch of their imagination.”Within the conservancy's acreage is about 170 miles worth of trails, between the Rachel Carson, the Baker and the Harmony trails. The combination of trails span across Allegheny, Armstrong, Jefferson, Clarion, Indiana, Forrest, and Westmoreland counties.The challenge usually incorporates the Rachel Carson trail, which takes travelers past the conservationists's former homestead in Springdale, where she was born in 1907.“The main trail passes her birth place,” Holt said. “Rachel Carson is one of the most well-known environmentalists ever. Since we go by there it made sense to name the trail in honor of Rachel Carson.”Neff said the fundraising aspect of the was another big reason for she and Holt rise to this particular challenge.“Anything I can do to preserve trails and public lands for people to use, I'm all for it,” she said.Holt said she really felt drawn in by the namesake conservationist.“Rachel Carson wanted people to enjoy the outdoors, and we both love the outdoors, so this was the trail for us to do,” she said.Gold said the first time around, he didn't think much about the fundraising side of things. He said he just figured it was for a good cause, but now having completed the hike twice and having spent countless hours on trails for training, he has a heightened appreciation for conservation.“I think that's more in the back of my mind, what they're trying to do,” he said. “An event like this brings awareness to preserving land.”
All three participants the Eagle spoke with said they may return to the challenge in the coming years, but maybe as volunteers, having already achieved their goals.On challenge day, volunteers aren't just needed at the start and finish. There are about eight different checkpoints, where volunteers help participants get food, water and a little rest.Ganster said the conservancy's volunteers are also working year round to make sure the trails get the upgrades they need to keep looking good for all hikers, particularly on the day of the challenge.In the weeks leading up to this year's challenger, there were many thunderstorms that cluttered the trails with debris.“After the storm. We had a bunch of volunteers who went out to clean it up and have it ready for the challenge,” Ganster said.
Volunteers who completed the challenge before can also share their wisdom.Neff and Holt said they would recommend a great deal of training before taking the challenge. They said it's also important to incorporate hills and difficult terrain into training because the challenge path is not only long but also varied in terrain.“Train. Definitely take some of the training sessions they have, or go down yourself,” Holt said. “When you do it that day. Just keep moving.”In another respect, Gold said training the mind is just as important as training the body. He said this isn't the type of hike where you stop and smell the flowers. It's a constant grind that can border on miserable, but at the end, you can stand tall knowing what you've accomplished.“It's really a test of your mental fortitude and how far you can push yourself,” he said. “You keep telling yourself just to keep going, and it'll be over soon.”
