Triple Crown 2008 Article

AttheALDHAWestannualGatheringthelegendarylongdistancehikerNimblewillNomadreceivedhis TRIPLE CROWN award.

The TRIPLE CROWN award is given to long distance hikers who have completed the three best known long distance hiking trails in North America(the IAT/SIA has not made that list yet, but someday). The trails are: Appalachian Trail, Continental Divide Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail.

Only 81 hikers have ever received the award. Nimblewill Nomad made a great contribution to the development of the IAT/SIA. Most of us got to spend some time with him and found him to be a fascinating person. His books and presentations have made great contributions to our project and to long distance hiking.

Dick Anderson was very honored to have been asked by Nimblewill to be his sponsor at the award ceremony. Since he could not attend, well known long distance hiker Yogi made the award and read a short speech that Dick wrote for her. That speech and a few pictures of the award ceremony, follow this introduction.

I am so happy and honored to sponsor “Nimblewill Nomad” for the Triple Crown award. He is the only person I have ever known that is always remembered by everyone he ever met. He has a very special quality of being extremely rememberable. I have met many hikers who remember meeting Nimblewill while passing on some trail years before, and they all recall exactly the circumstances of their meeting.

The same is true for all the residents who live along the International Appalachian Trail/Sentier International des Appalaches(IAT/SIA). No matter where you are between Katahdin and Belle Isle, Newfoundland/Labrador, everyone remembers the day they met Nimblewill. I remember the day we first met. It was in a scruffy motel in Mars Hill, Maine in 1998 when he was doing his first thru-hike of the Eastern Continental Trail (ECT). By the way, Nimblewill came up with that name of the trail from Key West to Belle Isle. I remember all the circumstances of that meeting and I will never forget them.

Nimblewill has been one of the key factors in the amazing success of the IAT/SIA. The first person to Thru-hike the IAT/SIA from Katahdin to Belle Isle(1400miles). The first person to thru-hike the ECT from Key West to Belle Isle(5600 miles). He and I also ,sort of, invented the Appalachian Mountains Trail(AMC) and he has thru-hiked that trail twice.The books he has written; 10 Million Steps and Where Less the Path is Worn http://www.nimblewillnomad.com/ have made a lasting contribution to long-distance hiking. In addition they made a major contribution in the development of the IAT/SIA.

I congratulate my most amazing friend, Nimblewill Nomad for his Triple Crown achievement;AT, CDT and PCT, What a great achievement!!!!. I thank him for all he has done for long-distance trails in the United States and Canada and I thank him for my trail name(“Nopack”).

You are an extraordinary person!!!!! I wish you a long and happy life.

Dick Anderson, Founder of the International Appalachian Trail/Sentier International desAppalaches.

Photos Taken by Monte Dodge http://www.pbase.com/mad_monte1/profile