How I met Perry McKay
- Paul Pritchard
It is a real contradiction to look over at a bank teller and see an Appalachian Trail hiker in his shorts, high socks, and his professional boots strapped to 40 pounds of gear. Yet, that was my perception of Perry McKay.
Perry was that smiling face. He was always greeting me when I walked into the local branch of my One Valley Bank in Shepherdstown, WV. He knew I had been the first Executive Director of the Appalachian Trial Conference and he wanted to hike the trail. Every time I cashed a check, made a deposit, or carried out any transaction, it cost me at least 10 minutes of time to answer questions for Perry. Did he have the right gear? What was the best time to go? What will be the highlights of certain parts of the trail? All questions as if I had done that dream of being a thru hiker, someone who starts in the spring in Springer Mountain, GA and ends up in the late fall in Katahdin, ME, 2,000 miles later, foot by foot step by step.
As Perry and his branch manager and I talked in preparation for his departure, we suddenly realized that he was as much committed to other national parks as he was to the Appalachian Trail, a unit of the National Park System. He offered how could I help the National Park Trust protect places that are special like the Appalachian Trail? So began the great journey together as weekly I wait to hear where he is and how he is doing.
If you
would like to sponsor Perry's quest to hike the Appalachian Trail,
please click
here
