I ENJOY READING YOUR magazine, but I do not appreciate the social engineering that has invaded your publication (Winter 2021). Thanks for listening; kind regards.

I’M AN ATC MONTHLY DONOR, thru-hiker (’05) and director of advancement at Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC) in North Carolina. I absolutely loved the “Looking Forward by Looking Back” Winter 2021 issue. It is an incredibly important and timely issue that places JEDI work where it should be — right up front. Thank you!

THE WINTER ISSUE JUST showed up today and I can’t put it down. I’ve been a lifetime member of the ATC for over 40 years (thanks Dad!), and this is easily the most important and timely issue I’ve ever read. Thank you for tackling so many challenging and thoughtful topics all at once. Let’s keep talking about the difficult past so that we can build a present where the Trail feels welcoming to everyone.

IT HURT TO LEARN ABOUT Shalin Desai’s experience with racism in the town where I live (“Acknowledgement” Winter 2021). While it happens everywhere, I’m so sorry it happened here. As a member of Franklin’s A. T. Community Council — a group that works hard to welcome all people that the A.T. leads to us — I know there’s more to do. We need to talk with our friends, family, and colleagues who don’t welcome people from other places with different histories. It’s hard work and it might be easier to place blame and responsibility on others and say we’re already doing our best, but my hope is that this article motivates us to work a little harder to make sure everyone is welcome.

I VERY MUCH APPRECIATE the Winter issue, with articles about Native Americans and People of Color relating to the Trail.  However, there is one error in the article on the American Chestnut, to “Indigenous people and European-Americans.” African Americans should have been included there.

GLAD TO SEE THE WOMEN recognized who helped to move the organization forward, along with the men (“We Were There, Too” Winter 2021). I started section-hiking the Trail in 1973, finishing in ‘85. I’m 91 now, but I remember each of those women…and still enjoy a hike, if not more than five or six miles.

THE WINTER MAGAZINE, Looking Forward by Looking Back, was truly a wonderful read and I want to thank you, the staff, and leadership for relating the ATC to important discussions about racism that have to happen in our nation. From the President’s Letter to the end, I found the issue deeply engaging. As Mills Kelly writes, “If hikers, Trail clubs, and the ATC take ownership of the entire history of the Trail’s past, rather than a partial understanding…then the possibility of change becomes real.” The Native Land Territories Along the A.T. map made a particularly strong impression on me as a visual guide to Indigenous territories.

THANK YOU FOR THE WINTER issue’s focus on BIPOC hikers. I “met” Shilletha Curtis (“Preparing for the Trail”), who shared her experiences with your readers, on Facebook near the inception of her enthusiasm for hiking and her desire to hike the A.T. I told her not to worry; that most hikers, especially thru-hikers, were cool and that the only encounters with racists or homophobes would be in town … because that was my experience. But as Shalin Desai pointed out in his excellent article (“Acknowledgement”) not everyone will have the same experience when they hike. Because I (a white cisgender hetero male) didn’t notice any racism or homophobia on the Trail, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. We like to imagine people we interact with in a positive way think similarly to us, and that they would never say the presumptuous and downright rude things that people like Shalin and Shilletha experienced — and that is a product of our privilege. We assume that allies exist everywhere when they do not. As a yearly section hiker chipping away at 100 miles of the A.T. at a time, I hope during the decades I spend hiking I will notice a profound change in not only the people who feel comfortable and welcome hiking on the Trail, but also in the attitudes and decency of those they encounter.

I CONGRATULATE ATC ON ITS work at recognizing its past (Winter 2021), which was not inviting to nonwhite groups and even women. Without looking at this past, the ATC can’t go forward very authentically. I am so glad that the ATC is developing programs to get more people from more backgrounds out on the Trail and into nature. The more human beings love nature, the more of us will work to foster a world that preserves it. We are facing such danger from climate change. Nature needs every human’s support.

Trail Talk