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In remembrance of...
The name, Colin Fletcher, will be familiar to some, or even many members here. He was born in Cardif, Wales, March 14th, 1922. He was educated in England and served in the Royal Marine Commandos during WWII. After globe-hopping a bit he moved to the US. He loved to walk. His pack was huge and he carried so much stuff he would give a minimalist nightmares. Yet everything in his pack was trimmed down to conserve weight. He walked the entire length of the State of California, then wrote a book about it He walked the entire length of the Grand Canyon National Park...then wrote a book about it. He also wrote a great reference book in 1968 about some of the best gear a hiker could carry...he updated it 3 more times.
In 2001, at the age of Seventy nine, Colin was headed for a town meeting the way he loved best...he was walking. An SUV hit him head on at 40 miles an hour; the impact flung his wallet from his shorts pocket and sent his body flying 60 feet through the air...he landed on his head. he was rushed to a hospital. The Nurse couldn't believe that the man she was looking at was 79 years old! Because of his physical shape she later reported that he had the legs of a 20-year old! He had a broken knee, 3 broken ribs, a fractured spine, a damaged lung, and excessive road rash; but his head had taken the worse of the damage. The accident had caused his cerebral cortex to slam against his skull, severely bruising soft brain tissue. He did recover enough to go home and lasted 6 more years; long enough to finish the 4th and final reference book on Backpacking..."The Complete Walker IV." He passed away on June 14th, 2007 from complications of the head injury. He is considered to be the "founding father of modern backpacking and is a legend still today....http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-happy070.gif
References: Wikipedia; and Backpacker magazine:August 2002 issue, starting on pg.48...http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-signs004.gif
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I have owned a copy of The Complete Walker IV for years. He was a remarkable fellow.
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His book is still the bible for backpacking. :thumbup1:
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