Last friday, while trudging up a strenuous 3000 foot climb, I was passed by a tall, skinny, Ron Howard look-alike going southbound. He wasn’t carrying a backpack and was wearing running shoes, so I assumed he was a local out for a trail run. He passed me without looking at me or saying a word. Not but five minutes after he passed me, I got the sense that someone was behind me. One develops a pretty keen sense of the presence of others while out in the woods for a prolonged period. I got a bit
creeped out when i turned around and saw the same guy coming up behind me. I turned to the side of the trail to let him pass and so i could keep my eyes on him. When he passed by, he made some small talk about the weather and, being a fellow redhead, commented on how the rain was better than the sun because we werent getting sunburned. As he passed by, i wondered if he was wearing really short shorts or no shorts at all because i couldnt see anything under his long t-shirt. Once he passed by, two hikers by the name of Tater and Blackfoot caught up to me. They told me that the same guy had appeared at the shelter the night before. Apparently, he popped out of the woods and said, ”boy, you guys arent very observant for a group of hikers. I’ve been watching you for the past thirty minutes.” Shortly thereafter, he disappeared. The day progressed on and i didnt give much more thought to the creepy Ron Howard.
The next day when i arrived at the Dutch Haus, i sat down for lunch with Eagle, Ronin, and Copperhead, when the conversation turned to ”The Naked Hiker.” They, as well as the dutch haus owner lois, filled me in on some more details about the creepy guy i had seen the day before. Apparently, several other hikers had even more revealing encounters with the guy. Eagle, a former IBM engineer frm New Jersey, looked up to see the same guy 20 yards ahead completely naked. The guy quickly dashed off into the woods naked and barefoot. Another hiker was walking along when the guy jumped out of the woods, flasher style, to reveal himself. He stood there for a few seconds while the hiker was stunned before running off into the woods. Several other people had similar stories, including one where he actually tried to carry on a conversation with the hiker while naked. He had told a few hikers that he had lost his job and was coming out to the woods to blow off some steam. I guess his idea of getting rid of stress was a little bit different than yours or mine.
A few hours after arriving at the dutch haus, the A.T. Ridgerunner who’s responsible for that section of the trail showed up with a county police investigator. He had been speaking with all the thru-hikers in the area trying to gather some information on the guy that might identify him. Unfortunately, they hadn’t come up with much. I havent heard anything since leaving the trail, but if i come across anything more, i’ll keep you updated.
