If there’s one way to get Appalachian Trail through-hikers to leave the trail, just offer them food, especially free food. In Monson last weekend hikers came off the trail by the dozens to take part in just such an event. The feed was provided by Rick Towle, the software guy for whiteblaze.net, an online bulletin board for anyone interested in the AT, the Appalachian Trail.

Of course, Rick didn’t provide and cook the food alone. His wife Tammy, his best friend Pete Mullen, Mullen’s wife Donna, and Jo Hoyle also contributed their time setting up vendor tents along with Charlie “Pipesmoke” Kinney and his wife. The women – Tammy, Donna and Jo – all cooked for the two-day feed.

The hikers probably heard about it along the trail from someone who left a message in a lean-to register. It most likely went something like, “Free hiker feed in Monson.” That was all it took. Then, Saturday around noon they started arriving for lunch, chili, hot dogs, chips and soda. The school department in Monson chipped in by providing the use of the ball field behind the school and the feed was on.

Some of the through-hikers stopped their hike in Stratton, 60 miles away by trail. Then, they hitched rides to Monson just for the food and hitched back to Stratton or Caratunk after it was over to pick up the trail where they left off. I got there late Saturday afternoon, between lunch and supper. The hikers were still arriving as I talked with Rick and Pete about the event.

They told me about the amount of food they prepared for supper. They had 300 hamburgers, with buns, three pans of lasagna (one veggie, two meat), boiled veggies and several dozen homemade toll house cookies. All free to hikers. Soon the supper was announced and the line formed at the serving tables. Judging by the total lack of conversation around the tables, the food was well received.

After supper a bonfire was lit in front of the backstop at home plate using a portable fire pan, which was basically a flattened piece of steel on a roller charcoal barbecue grill, surrounded by a steel mesh to contain the wood. School officials had said Rick could burn the old wooden bleachers, since they had purchased new steel bleachers.

Around the fire Pete estimated that they fed around 60 hikers with all the food they could eat. I asked him why it was important for Rick and him to throw this event.

“I think that for these people, where their needs are so simple, they want to be fed, dry and comfortable,” Towle said. “You can meet [those needs] very easily with a cup of coffee, or a bowl of hot chili. You might as well give them a Powerball ticket.”

When asked what does he get out of throwing the event, he replied, “It recharges me to come up here and do this for these people. I may never hike the trail, but I can help those who are.”

During the bonfire a through-hiker whose trail name is “Uncle Silly” played his banjo, while everyone gathered around and sang along to “Mulenburg County,” “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” and others. Tim, the owner of the Monson General Store, joined in on 12-string guitar. After a while, everyone headed for their tents in the outfield to spend the night.

The next morning before breakfast I talked to Rick about the amount of food they contributed and how many years they have been holding this feed. “We’ve been doing this for four years now. The first three were at Steve Longley’s in Caratunk. This is the first year here,” he replied.

As to how much food he and his friends donated he replied, “We go through two or three hundred hamburgers, hot dogs, six gallons of chili, 15 dozen eggs, pounds of bacon, two big boxes of Bisquick for the sausage, milk, gravy and biscuits, pancakes, orange juice and eight cases of soda.”

The breakfast was soon ready and hikers sat on the grass eating. I talked with one whose trail name is “Marco Solo.” I asked him what it meant to him to partake in this type of event, known in through-hiker circles as “trail magic.”

He replied, “It’s the thing that keeps hikers going, trail magic, the unexpected kindness of strangers, the free food. But it’s more than the free food, it nourishes the spirit. Even though we’re hiking alone, we’re not alone.”

Two other hikers named “Mangrove” and “J-Beard,” brothers from Pennsylvania, echoed his response.

“This feed brings all of us who have been traveling together for the past six months together for one last time. I’ve seen people here that I haven’t seen since Virginia,” said J-Beard.

When asked if he got enough to eat, Mangrove offered, “I’m stuffed, the food was great.”

For one named “Caveman” from Ohio, this was the end of the trail. He had climbed Katahdin the week before and came to the feed to see some old friends. “I never even put a backpack on, never spent a night in the woods before I left Georgia and now here I am 40 pounds lighter and going home after walking 2,178 miles,” he said.

Rick, Tammy, Pete, Donna and Jo could not have pulled the feed off without the help of the people at Shaw’s Boarding or the General Store owners or the Monson school. It was a real community effort to feed so many hungry hikers. I can’t wait for next year.