cathieandrandy

Most folks in the long distance hiking community, be they a hiker or trail angel, have trail names. Cathie acquired hers at age six. She was dubbed “Fruitcake” by her father while hiking the Georgia AT up Blood Mountain, when she first fell in love with trails. Randy has recommended several trail names for himself - but it just doesn’t work that way. He got his trail name at the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Gathering. Not of his own choosing, of course, though he actually said it himself. Cathie had just given her trail name while we were signing in and Randy joked: “I must be nuts because I’m with you” and - there it was! We are Fruitcake and Nutz. The spelling recommendation came from our daughter Sarah.

So Cathie has been Fruitcake since childhood, but Randy only recently realized he is Nutz (for marrying her). His favorite comment: “Another fine mess she has gotten us into!” Actually, most of those “messes” over the years have turned out rather well. We hope this one does, too!

Randy and Cathie met in the 7th grade, started dating in the 11th, and married as undergrads in college. They are the exceedingly proud parents of their amazing daughters Heather and Sarah. Heather is a social worker, married to David, and Mom to two year old Maia. They live nearby in Warrenton, VA. Sarah is an architect who lives nearby, but in the other direction, in Washington DC.

A Florida Gator, Cathie grew up in the sun and on the water - swimming, paddling, sailing, water skiing and scuba diving. She chose Physical Therapy as a profession, working originally with adults, then in recent years with children in Northern Virginia. In her present position, she is an Assistive Technology Coordinator, working with families and children with special needs, implementing both low tech and high tech strategies to help kids be successful at learning through play.

Randy has degrees in Ocean Engineering and Mechanical Design, and merging these two areas of interest, he works as an engineer and program manager. His two hour traffic dodging commute fine-tunes the skills needed for his hobby of autocross. He enjoys his downtime: Tinkering in his workshop, reading, or just getting away from it all - anywhere from under the water to on top of a mountain.

Outdoors!

We aren’t green horns by any means, having a serious interest in backpacking going back nearly 20 years. There have been trips with our daughters Heather and Sarah, including high adventure trips with Scouts to both Philmont and the Grand Tetons. As a couple, we’ve backpacked numerous times on the Appalachian Trail in several states, into the National Forests of West Virginia, on the high peaks of the Adirondacks, in Wyoming’s Wind River Range, and with friends in the Canadian Rockies. And solo trips for Randy on the AT, and Cathie’s end-to-end hike of the AT in ’97 and ’98.

It pains Randy, both literally and figuratively, that Cathie got a head start on training for the PCT by having the opportunity to thru-hike Vermont’s 270 mile Long Trail in September 2006 with her friend Christine Plepys. (See the pictures on our Flickr page).

Trail Work

Pardon us if we pat ourselves on the back. The trail for which we are trail overseers - the Old Rag Ridge Trail, is part of a 7-mile loop that was ranked the second best day hike in the state of Virginia by BackPacker Magazine in February 2007. Our thanks to the members of our trail crew, the Shenandoah Bartenders, as well as the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club and the National Park Service, for helping us make that possible.