Earth Teach Me: Happy Birthday to my Hiking Friend

My friend and hiking buddy Walt turned 90 this weekend, and on the occasion of his birthday, a whole lot of his friends got together and threw him a party to celebrate him and recognize his astonishing contribution to the community as an educator, a conservationist, an environmentalist and a master trail builder. The Mayor came and read a proclamation and gave him a key to the city. And representatives of organizations that he founded or worked with spoke in his honor. After we sang Happy Birthday, we unfurled a banner listing all the trails he had created or worked on, and that banner stretched around an entire picnic pavilion. He has created an amazing legacy. Many people brought gifts--notes and keepsake photos. My gift to him was a book of photos of our adventures together, and I thought I'd share the text and some of the photos.

I'm happy to call Walt Cook my friend. We became friends in a rather unusual way--I bid on him at a Silent Auction! I should probably explain. Walt offered a guided hike as an item for the Silent Auction for the Sandy Creek Nature Center Annual Meeting in the fall of 2016. My husband and I were new to Athens, having just moved here the year before. I had gotten involved with the Nature Center and kept hearing about this fellow, Walt, who was one of the original founders of the Nature Center and seemed to know a lot about the local trails. I thought that this might be a good opportunity to meet him and to get to know a little about the trails around Athens. I bid on the hike, never expecting that I would get it. But as luck would have it, my bid won, and as they say, the rest is history!

I didn't collect on my hike until December. Walt arranged to meet us at Sandy Creek Park to guide us along the Oxbow Loop of Cook's Trail (named after him because he built it!). We made plans to hike the loop and then get some lunch together. Walt had scoped out a favorite Mexican restaurant nearby. When we arrived at the park, Walt seemed a bit disappointed that we didn't have any kids with us because he had scouted some items that he thought would be of special interest to kids. But I think he was pleased in the end because I LOVED all of it, including the Beaver Gnaw Stick that he had put aside as a keepsake for a lucky child. It was a freezing cold morning and we saw Frost Flowers and ice on the pond as we walked. Walt told us some of the history of building the trail, pointed out twists and turns and nice view that he liked, benches that sat in the right place and those that didn't, and a hillside of Christmas Ferns. I brought my camera and Walt had his, and we pointed out lovely moss and mushrooms to each other along the way.

Spider on a Frost Flower

We finished the hike and ate a tasty lunch together, and then Walt started making plans for the NEXT hike! I almost had to pinch myself--somehow, I had hit the lottery! This was not going to be just a one-time deal--I was being welcomed as one of Walt's hiking friends. And the two of us have been hiking together every few months ever since (with the exception of during the pandemic).

It took me a while to figure this out, but Walt carefully curated our walks together, picking locations where he had build or designed the trails, or both. Many of the places he took me to were Oconee River Land Trust properties, some not accessible to the general public. Whenever we walk together, I am amazed to see how many of my favorite hiking places he has had a hand in.

A hike with Walt usually involves discussion about the grade of the path, trees and rocks that caused challenges during building, and special features along the way, like a beautiful boulder, a unique tree, a waterfall, a bridge or a spectacular view. Walt has been educating me about trail aesthetics and maintenance and I can often pick out his handiwork when I hike on my own now--a dip and hump built into the trail for drainage or an elegant meander through a particularly pretty grove. We talk about our lives, music, history, work, the things we like to do. We exchange good books. I try to pick his brain about the history of Sandy Creek Nature Center, since he founded it and I am now president of the board. I tell him about my family, projects I'm working on and trips I've taken. Sometimes we're just quiet, enjoying the day. A couple of times I helped him work, flagging trails or recording information on his maps. I'll admit that I never volunteer to help dig or build trails--I don't have nearly as much energy as he has! Walt usually leads, since he knows the property, knocking stray sticks off the trail with his walking stick and sometimes trimming an overgrown branch that might hit a hiker in the face with the clippers he often has on his belt. We have gotten lost more than once, but we always made our way back (I make sure I have my phone with me just in case). Sometimes we eat our lunch on a nice log or rock, but usually a hike ends with a stop at a favorite restaurant (Walt has a list). He introduced me to the "meat and 3".

I treasure our times together and look forward to more. Meanwhile, I have memories and photos of some of the hikes we've taken together. Thank you, Walt. Your friend, Katherine

CHARLIE ELLIOTT WILDLIFE CENTER

Charlie Elliott has an archery range with a giant tiger, a wolf and a T-Rex to shoot at

CAMP KIWANIS

SANDY CREEK PARK

BEECH HAVEN

Marking maps

BIRCHMORE TRAIL

"LOTSANOTTY"

"Lotsanotty" is a property that Walt donated to the Land Trust

Sweet Knot Fungus growing on a Beech Tree

ROCK AND SHOALS

Specialized plants that grow on Stone Outcrops

That summer there was a magnificent Coreopsis field blooming on the Outcrop

KETTLE CREEK REVOLUTIONARY BATTLEFIELD

BUILDING TRAILS AT A FRIEND'S PROPERTY

Flagging Trails

SANDY CREEK NATURE CENTER

I enjoy it when we walk at Sandy Creek Nature Center because Walt tells me a lot about the history of how it came to be. his memories help me feel a deeper connection now that I am president of the organization he helped found in 1973.

BEN BURTON PARK