The A/T runs through the town where I went to JR/SR High School. Lots of interesting people passing through. I don't think that any of the local people bothered, or were bothered by, the hikers on the A/T.
My Mother and some of her coworkers and friends would set up an aid station by the trail every couple of weekends from late May thru to the end of October to help hikers with health problems. I recall that we had a single woman named Velma stay with us for a week or so in October 1967/68. She was a through hiker who got sick with a case of pneumonia. I remember that my Mother made her take about 5 showers and a lice treatment at the hospital before she allowed her in our house. She didn't have very good gear, so my Father, in a rare show of kindness, set her up with a nearly complete new set of kit before she left. I remember that she had a huge appetite and enjoyed my Mother's cooking, which was surprising since cooking wasn't one of my Mother's strengths. One day I came home from school and Velma was gone, never to be seen or heard from again. Some people collect stray cats and dogs, my Mother collected stray people.
