© Photo of "Circles" taken by Paul (AHikingDude@aol.com) Circles, a paean to my sister. Everyone who hikes the trails needs a trail name. (Oh, there are a few spoil-sports who disdain trail names, but they are few.) Most choose their own name; some let the trail choose their name. Many change their name during the hike. Many hikers sign the log books along the trail: Ga<--Herbie and I-->Me with the year below the name. This shows that “I” and his dog “Herbie” were through hikers, northbound from Georgia to Maine. I met them in Virginia last year. My sister is not a through hiker. She’s not even seriously an Appalachian Trail hiker as I am. She and I have both found great solace in hiking. She chose, as her objective, peak-bagging. She originally set out to hike to the tops of all twelve mountains in Maine over 4000’. (There are now fourteen mountains in Maine over 4000’. We don’t know how this happened. Maybe someone watered them and they grew? She’ll pick the other two up later.) Most of these hikes are circular hikes: Hike up the mountain, and return to starting point. She chose, as her logo, three arrows forming a circle (not unlike the recycling logo). Her trail name became Walks in Circles, which she later shortened to Circles. My sister is a great sister! (That means that she puts up with me.) When she finished bagging the 4’s in Maine, she bought herself a Corvette as a present. For two years, she went to the Corvette Club Show in Carlisle, Pa. I talked her into driving me fifty miles or so, in her Corvette to a trail head, so I could go backpacking. There is no room in a Corvette for a backpack! Five years ago, we decided to hike together, north on the Appalachian Trail across New England. Having finished the 4’s in Maine, she set her mind on hiking the rest of the 4’s in New England. We meet once or twice a year for hiking. In five years, we’ve hiked from Salisbury, Ct to Crawford Notch, NH (bagging eleven of the fifty-some-odd 4’s along the way.) This year, we will be hiking the Presidential Range in New Hampshire. It’s only a 27 mile hike, but there are seven or eight rather nasty 4000’ mountains along the way, including Mount Washington (“The Worst Weather in the World”). Isn’t she the greatest sister in the world, my sister Circles? © Paul (AHikingDude@aol.com)) ~INDEX PAGE~