John Mills, Jr. |
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| Somewhere in Utah - 7/9/1980 (photo by Rex Halfpenny) |
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| West Plains, Missouri - 12/25/1980 (photo by Scott Davis) |
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| John Mills, Jr. & Philippe Vermeyen Harpers Ferry, West Virginia - 5/9/1981 (photo by ??) |
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| Canadian Pete, John Mills, Ben Lazarus, Chad Harris with John Stout as "The Starter" Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah -- June 30, 1980 -- (photo by Rich Warnick) |
| Commentary from John Mills: Yes..."Ruby's Inn", as I recall. I remember being talked into a rather grueling event -- running/speed-walking the rim trail (photo above) -- a few miles below the rim from Rainbow Point all the way back to the "Inn"! We (Pete McIntire, Ed Deschesne (not in photo), et.al.) were supposedly training for a marathon we never ran: the Pikes Peak marathon! (Canadian Pete and Bob Ronemus did eventually run the Pikes Peak marathon later in August.) |
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HikaNation Memories
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John Mills email to William Ewart November 24, 2008 |
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Hi Bill Ewart, Your website recently received a hit from someone that you & others probably assumed had "fallen off the edge of the earth", or more appropriately, kept on walking and drowned in the Atlantic Ocean. Actually, I'm still alive and kicking (and hiking!) in Tucson, AZ, where I have lived with my family for the last 7 1/2 years (my wife's family is from here) after spending 16 years of my life in the San Francisco Bay area. I have made numerous visits to the Washington D.C. area (Alexandria, VA), but mostly to visit family there. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to simply google HikaNation to find out if anyone had had the idea of creating a website with their photo collection (and possibly other hiker's photo's as well). Last Thursday night, although I didn't access the website until the next day (which I had off from work), my 17-year old daughter Hannah, a freshman at the Univ. of AZ here in Tucson , had the idea of googling HikaNation and ended up emailing to my cell phone a picture she found of me on that website (actually a picture of you in front of the West Virginia sign at the RR crossing over the Potomac river at Harpers Ferry-I just happen to be on the extreme left of the picture having taken or about to take the same picture). I hadn't given "the hike" much thought over the last 7 1/2 years (my own slides have been in "hiber"nation for atleast 10 years) but I spent 4 hours last Friday going over your pictures and going down memory lane. Unfortunately, and certainly not by choice, I haven't been able to attend any of the reunions (except Arkansas's White Rock Mtn. in 1982) at Cape Henlopen or the last one at Cumberland Falls S.P. in Kentucky. If anyone is planning one for 2010, I'd certainly like to know and be there if possible. Most of all I just wanted to (belatedly) thank you for sharing your pictures with everyone else, all the hard work that you put into the website, and for refocusing my thoughts on such a memorable event in each of our lives. The only hikers I have been in touch with since the hike ended are Ed Deschesne, Phillippe Vermeyen, Jerry Benson, Rex Halfpenny, Rich Warnick, Butch Henley, Stacey Waring, Cindy Bain, Lyle Bialk, & Jeannie Harmon (all a long time ago in the years immediately following the hike), and more recently, Keith & Linda Wright and Joe Schute. "Walking Bob", if he is still alive, may still live in Bisbee, AZ, not far from here, but I haven't been in touch with him. So I guess I have a lot of catching up to do! I only have knowledge of 3 people having passed away since the hike ended-- John Stout in the late 1980's, I think (not sure) Monty Montgomery, and, as I learned upon visiting the website,sadly at the same age I was at the time (my birthday is only 8 days after his), Randy Blymire, your fellow "recording artist". If anyone else has passed away, I would be interested in being brought up to date. Thats about it from here-I'm going to list my email and snail-mail addresses and you're welcome to share them with anyone interested in contacting me. Again, thanks for sharing your pictures-they make a great collection. Maybe someday soon I"ll scan my own (before the color dye in the slides fades!) so that I at least preserve them for posterity. HikaNation Forever! & Happy Trails, John Mills jmills54@comcast.net (2008) jlmills121554@gmail.com (2018) |
| John Mills Jr. wrote on Facebook, August 18, 2018: |
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Just for the record...that's not me! The day the group was trudging up this snowy stretch from Strawberry, CA, to Echo Summit, Jerry Benson & I were hiking an even snowier Pacific Crest Trail past (& on!...roped together on snowshoes!) the two Upper & Lower Echo Lakes just north of Echo Summit, our crossing of the Sierra crest. We had hitchiked into Meyers, CA (near South Lake Tahoe) two days before upon arriving at Strawberry with the group to rent snowshoes for our planned sidetrip "adventure". Then the next day, our supposed "layover" day, we trudged up an ever snowier trail towards 9,200' Ralston Peak in the Desolation Wilderness Area, eventually donning our snowshoes as we got halfway up to the summit. The views of the snowy Sierra Crest & Lake Tahoe from the top were incredible! We spent the night in the Ralston Pk. Basin Lakes area on 5ft. of snow, rejoining the group the next day after returning the snowshies as we hiked over Luther Pass to stay in "luxury" at Sorenson's Resort where they had bunk beds with mattresses! (bring back memories for you thru-hikers who started in S.F.?!). Mike McReynolds' photo caption was corrected by John Mills, Jr. |
| From Facbook, August 25 - 28, 2020 |
| Keith Wright to Lyle Bialk: Hello Lyle. I can still remember when you joined us on HikaNation while we were having our first "FEED" in front of the Best Western at Bryce Canyon Utah. Nothing like getting out of the cab with your backpack and then sitting down to a very delicious beef dinner. I can still taste it! |
| John Lamar Mills Jr. to Keith Wright: Yes..."Ruby's Inn", as I recall. I remember being talked into a rather grueling event -- running/speed-walking the rim trail (Canadian Pete, John Mills, Ben Lazarus, Chad Harris with John Stout as the "starter") -- a few miles below the rim from Rainbow Point all the way back to the "Inn"! We (Pete McIntire, Ed Deschesne, et.al.) were supposedly training for a marathon we never ran: the Pikes Peak marathon! |
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William Ewart to John Lamar Mills Jr.: Actually both "Canadian Pete" and Bob Ronemus ran the Pikes Peak marathon in August 1980. We hitchhiked from Dove Creek to Colorado Springs while the main group took a side trip to Mesa Verde. While Pete and Bob ran the marathon, I spent the time watching movies at various theaters. We hitchhiked back to Dove Creek and then resumed hiking to catch back up to the group in Silverton. |
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John Lamar Mills Jr.: Thanks William...you've just refreshed my memory of why I did not do it with them! I had finished Dark Canyon ahead of the group & on my 1st of 2 rest days on the Elk Plateau (Abajo..."Blue Mtns., outside of Monticello), I decided to go for a run to train for the marathon. As luck would have it, I sprained my ankle, the worst injury I suffered the whole trip. Since I knew I would never be able to go back & re-walk the next few days from that remote location, I hobbled out of there, using a stick, with Mike Halm accompanying me part of the way. When the group left Monticello (after Rich Warnick & I had been invited up to Salt Lake City by Jerry Evans, our Utah coordinator, for a few days), following Al Frost thru some canyon lands south of Monticello, we were behind the group & Rich & one of Jerry's sons had to walk the highway into Dove Creek. My still sore ankle, however, would not permit me to walk on it & thus, for the only time on the entire hike, I was forced to ride in Monty's van (I later, while the group was laying over a week in Silverton/Durango, took a bus back to Monticello from Durango & rewalked the highway 36 miles from Monticello thru Dove Creek, 25 miles, spending the night there, then another 10 miles before hitchhiking back to Durango). Anyway, I was still not healed when we were in Dove Creek but still managed to hobble along with the group when Gudy chartered that school bus to take us to Mesa Verde! I finally began to hike again from the Dolores river campsite over the Rico-Silverton trail & into Silverton (with Keith, Linda, & the late Phil Atkins, as I recall. I remember Linda, at some point, telling Phil to "Can it", lol). So that is why I wasn't able to do that Pikes Pk. Marathon with Pete & Bob! The memories are flooding back! |
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Paula Guerrein-Klice asked on Facebook, December 9, 2024: So, other than the beginning and end, what moment/event first comes to mind about your time on HikaNation? What memory do you most treasure?John Mills, Jr. responded on Facebook, December 25, 2024: Just saw this. For me it was the highs & lows, both mentally & physically that were surmounted along the way. The mental ones were, like for most if not all of us, summoning the will & determination to keep walking when enduring inclement weather (drenching rain one day in Arkansas after that Sierra Club-sponsored chili cookout plus our last day in Kentucky I believe, snowstorms at Cave-in-Rock & the Mt. Rogers area in Virginia, & below 0¡ nights in Missouri) or long-mileage days (like pounding the pavement on that 2nd day crossing the Bay Bridge on blistering feet or often self-inflicted when I did 2-day's mileage on 1 day to get an extra rest day, lol!).Then there were the quite literal "highs": "peak-bagging" along the way: climbing, on rented snowshoes, Ralston Pk. (9,239') overlooking Lake Tahoe, with Jerry Benson from Strawberry while the group was taking a rest day (so we wouldn't get too far behind them-we weren't with them going over Echo Summit), detouring off-route to climb up & over a mountain range in Nevada, just before getting to Pioche & Panama, with Rich Warnick & Ed Deschesne, once again detouring off-route just after entering Utah onto the originally scheduled route (changed by state coordinator Jerry Evans due to the heavy snowpack) through the Pine Valley Mtns., once again with Jerry & Ed (we walked on snow in these 10,000' Mtns for 3 days, not catching up again to the group until reaching the Markagunt Plateau after climbing up out of the Kolob Canyon in Zion N.P.). Another off-route highpoint in Utah was Mt. Ellen (11,527'), highest point in the Henry Mtns. (other hikers that I remember being with me overnight...yes, we spent the night...on this mountain were Ed, Randy Blymire, & Toni Martinnazi). Then, just before leaving the Aquarius Plateau in Utah (the night before Oak Creek Cpgd.), Ed & I climbed up to the top of the plateau at just over 11,000' & spent the night (the group was down below at Deer Creek Lake I believe). Then, while crossing the Blue Mtns. (also known as the Abajo Mtns.) just before Monticello, Utah, I limped up Abajo Peak (11,362'), having sprained my ankle (only injury on the hike) on the Elk Plateau (after Dark Canyon) attempting to train for Canadian Pete's proposed Pikes Peak Marathon (which he went on to do with several others!). In Colorado, there were 3 notable ascents, to take advantage of the highest hiking along our cross-country route. The 1st was the Rio Grande Pyramid (13,827') in the San Juan Mtns. along the Continental Divide...I remember bagging this one with Gudy Gaskill, our CO state coordinator (& later founder of the CO Trail) along with Marce Guerrin, Cindy Bain, & Ed. Then later Ed & I, while the group was taking 2 rest days at the Great Sand Dunes, had Monty & Marce drive us south down to the trailhead for Blanca Peak (14,351'), the 4th highest peak in Colorado as well as the Rocky Mtns. This was also the highest elevation I attained on the entire hike. Then, less than a week later, knowing this would be my last opportunity to climb a significant mountain before leaving the mountainous western U.S., I joined a few others (I recall Gudy, Marce, Cindy, & Ed) in scaling West Spanish Peak (13,631') near Walsenburg, CO while the group took a rest day at Lathrop State Park. The only other significant highpoints reached by me on the rest of the trip, & also by I believe everyone else hiking with us at the time for the rest of the trip were White Rock Mtn. (2,309') along the Ozark Highlands Trail in Arkansas, Tom Sauk Mtn. (1,772') in Missouri (also the state's highest point & traversed on the Ozark Trail on a frigid day in January!), & Mt. Rogers (5,729'), Virginia's highest point reached by most of us (or a location close to it) during several days when we got the most snow along the entire route! Another memory, mentioned by Doug in the above comments, was the 100K run/walk along the C&O Canal from Wash. D.C. to Harper's Ferry. So for me, attaining the summit of these prominences mentioned above were definitely memories that I cherish, being the "Peak bagger" or "high pointer" that I am! I've gone on to summit 46/50 State Highpoints in the U.S. (will I EVER finish them?...time will tell since I'm not getting any younger having just turned 70! Plus the 4 remaining are some of the toughest (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, & of course Denali in Alaska...doubtful!). I recently attained my highest elevation ever, the roof of Africa, Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,341') with Sharon & Stacey last January! |