[at-l] Colin Fletcher Passed away. :(

[pudscrawler at aol.com]

Nice post/report.  I think I'm being a bit catty when I remark that our posts today are so different from what they would be about another "backpacker," Bill Bryson.  Fletcher made us think, dream, and walk away into new lives.  Bryson just made me laugh.  



Kinnickinic


-----Original Message-----
From: South Walker <southwalker at windstream.net>
To: AT-L <at-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Fri, 15 Jun 2007 1:44 pm
Subject: Re: [at-l] Colin Fletcher Passed away. :(




I was thinking about Colin recently and I wondered how much longer we would have 
im. Now I know.
That I started backpacking was entirely due to his writing The Man Who Walked 
hru Time, and a mistake by my wife. In 1984 she saw the book in a used book 
tore and  purchased it, telling me she had bought me a book about time travel. 
hen I replied that I didn't particularly read science fiction she replied that 
ince I enjoyed Star Trek, I would probably enjoy the book.
And I did enjoy it. So much so that I read it through in one long afternoon and 
ight. A couple of days later I read it again. 
By 1989,  I had read all of Colin's books, had made my first backpacking trip to 
he Grand Canyon and was preparing for my second. I wrote Colin and thanked him 
or his writings, explained about my wife's mistake and told him about my 
xperiences in the Grand Canyon.  A few weeks later I received a postal card in 
hich he thanked me for writing and explaining that he was "eyebrow-deep' in 
reparation for a source to the sea trip on the Colorado River. In 1991, after 
olin had finished his Colorado River adventure he sent me a hand written 
etter, saying he had once again read my letter and had noticed that he had 
ndicated on it that he had  "sent a post card in great haste" and was sure he 
adn't adequately thanked me for my letter. Of course that was not the case. I 
as surprised and delighted to receive the original post card and floored that 
e would follow up with a letter 2 years later. That says a lot I guess about 
he character of the man.
In memory of Colin I read again today his "Sample Day in the Rain." which is in 
he Complete Walker series.  It has always been one of my favorite stories of 
is.
South Walker
EGA '99
 ----- Original Message ----- 
 From: Paul Magnanti 
 To: AT MailingList 
 Sent: Friday, June 15, 2007 10:25 AM
 Subject: [at-l] Colin Fletcher Passed away. :(


  http://www.montereyherald.com/local/ci_6137264
  We lost a person who was definitely one of the founding fathers of our little 
ribe. 
  His COMPLETE WALKER books introduced many people to backpacking.
  More importantly, in my opinion, were his writing about his journeys. It was 
ot how many miles he hiked, or how far he went. It was about his sense of 
iscovery, about being immersed in nature, of seeing what is around the next 
end of the river, the trail or the canyon.
  There are two quotes from Colin Fletcher I always think about when I do my own 
ong journeys and return from them:
  Before a hike:
 I also realized that I'd grown soft, Things had been going to well 
 lately. Too easily. I needed something to pare the fat off my soul, 
 to scare the sh** out of me, to make me grateful, again, for being
 alive. All I knew, deep and safe, beyond mere intellect, that there
 is nothing like a wilderness journey for re-kindling the fires of 
 life. Simplicity is part of it. Cutting the cackle. Transportation 
 reduced to leg- or arm-power, eating irons to one spoon. 
 Such simplicity, together with sweat and silence, amplify the rhythms
 of any long journey, especially through unknown, untattered 
 territory. And in the end such a journey can restore an understanding 
 of how insignificant you are - thereby set you free.
 --Colin Fletcher, RIVER

 After a hike:
 It is always there, of course, when you come back from the green world. You
 have been living by sunrise and sunset, by wind and rain, surrounded by the
 ebb and flow of lives that respond only to such simple, rhythmic elements.
 But now the tone and tempo of the days switch. Instead of harmony, jangle.
 --Colin Fletcher, WINDS OF MARA
  RIP Colin.

  ************************************************************
 The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little stardust 
 caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
 --Thoreau
 http://www.pmags.com

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