Hiker meets Edgewood-Colesburg students who wrote him letters while on 2,125-mile trek

COLESBURG - The first thing the fifth-graders wanted to know about when long-distance hiker Rod Schreck visited their classroom Wednesday was his encounter with the bear.

'I don't think I was ever that scared - just mad because it ate all my food,”, said Schreck, 62, of Manchester, who met the Edgewood-Colesburg students for the first time after corresponding with them during his recently completed 5 1/2-month-long, 2,125 mile hike on the Appalachian Trail.

When Schreck asked for questions following a short presentation, about 45 hands shot into the air, signifying the students' interest in learning more about the adventure they had shared via correspondence with the hiker.

Their questions, most of which got answered in the 90-minute session, ranged from his arrangements for bathing and sleeping to how he would rate his trip on a scale of 1 to 10.

'The beauty of the scenery rates a 10. The people I met rate a 10. My enjoyment of the physical challenge, maybe somewhere around 7,” he said.

Schreck, who had earlier hiked the entire trail in 1975 at age 23, said it was infinitely more difficult with 62-year-old legs.

'It was harder physically than I thought it would be, and I would not try it again,” said Schreck, who twice had to rest for three days, waiting for the inflammation in his knee to subside.

Schreck showed them the backpack he carried every day, one of the two pairs of hiking boots he wore out on the trip and the walking stick that accompanied him on the 14-state hike, which began April 7 in Georgia and ended Sept. 23 in Maine, In one of his several letters to the class during the hike, Schreck enclosed a photo of his walking stick, which he had decorated with scraps of cloth, string and ribbon gathered from campsites along the trail, and asked the students to suggest a name for the stick.

The most popular submission, he said, was 'Woody,” but he decided to go with 'King George,” which sounded more elegant and historical.

Actually, according to fifth-grader Cerria Drips, who suggested the name, 'I took the ‘George' from ‘Curious George' (a monkey in a series of popular children's books) and just added the ‘King.'”

Schreck sent his letters to fifth-grader Nathaniel Gaul, a friend from church, who brought them to the class.

'We put a large map of the trail on the classroom wall and tracked his progress,” said fourth-grade teacher Annette Lenz, who hiked a section of the trail 10 years ago.

'It really put our social studies curriculum into perspective. The students felt like they were traveling the trail with him,” Lenz said.

'They have been so excited for him to visit,” said fifth grade teacher Judy Lueken.

In return for his correspondence, the students sent Schreck edible goodies and more than 150 letters and handmade cards with messages such as 'good luck,” 'you can do it” and 'Git ‘r' done.”

Schreck thanked the students for their encouragement and moral support.

'I don't know if I would have made it without the cards - really,” he said.