A.T.rail Of History
A.T.rail of History tells the stories of the Appalachian Trail. It will carry out the mission of the A.T. Museum to tell the story of the A.T., by telling the stories of the founding, construction, preservation, maintenance, protection, and enjoyment of the Trail since its creation.
A.T.rail Of History
ALDHA & The 2026 Gathering
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Bill O'Brien, President of the Museum, is also active in ALDHA, the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association. ALDHA's annual meeting is called The Gathering. In 2026, The Gathering will be held on Columbus Day - Indigenous Peoples Weekend at Gettysburg College, close to the Museum. Bill is one of the Coordinators of the 2026 Gathering. He tells us about the origins and mission of ALDHA, as well as some highlights of this year's event.
This is the Trail of History, a podcast of the Appalachian Trail. A Trail of History tells the stories of the Appalachian Trail. It is a production of the Appalachian Trail Museum. The museum, located in South Central Pennsylvania, near the 18th midpoint, tells the stories of the founding, construction, preservation, maintenance, protection, and enjoyment of the trail since its creation. I am joined again by Bill O'Brien. In a previous episode, we talked to Bill about his association with the Appalachian Trail and the AT Museum. Today we're going to speak about Alda. So, Bill, welcome back. First of all, what is Alda?
SPEAKER_00Okay, Alda is uh short for the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association.
SPEAKER_01And tell us about how Alda came about.
SPEAKER_00Sure. It was uh Warren Doyle who came up with the idea to gather hikers together, especially uh long-distance hikers who've done the Appalachian Trail. And he was able to uh accomplish that, which at the time was and still is sort of considered a difficult task like herding cats, but in 1982, in the fall, he convened uh what became known as the gathering at the Appalachian South Folk Life Center in Pipestown, West Virginia, where the camping and other activities were held, and then down the road at Concord College uh would be where meetings and workshops would be held and and a uh uh uh community dance on Saturday evening. And it and it came off big time, it was very successful. Over 200 people were in attendance, really astounded a lot of people who didn't think it could happen, and that sort of formed the uh the genesis for continuing that annual get together and also creating an organization that that would focus as its main mission uh putting together that gathering every year, in addition to other uh work that it could do on behalf of the people who use the trail, uh namely hikers, day hikers, section hikers, and through hikers. So about five months later, uh he convened folks again, this time in Harper's Ferry, for an organizational meeting to create this entity, and quite a few folks showed up, judging from photos I've seen and uh people what people have written about it. I think they were close to uh 50, if not more than that, in attendance. So Warren was there, of course, uh people like Ed Garvey. There are a lot of official trail type people attended, partly out of curiosity, but also uh with an interest in seeing this get underway. Uh Gene Cashin was there, uh, the executive director of the ATC at the time uh was there, Larry Van Mieter, uh Dave Ritchie from the uh Park Service was there, uh future ATC executive director Ron Tipton was there. He was there as a uh through uh an AT through hiker from from the uh from the 70s, and uh they they put together the uh groundwork for a new organization. And the interesting part of that meeting, uh which lasted us uh a couple days, was the discussion on what to name this group. And people like Ed Garvey came up with uh titles like the 2000 Miler Society, um, others uh along a similar vein, but Warren and others wanted to make it appeal uh more to more people than just through hikers, and so they uh settled on the somewhat clumsy name at the time of Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association, or Alda for short, and uh over you know it's just become part of the um framework, so to speak, for uh people who are getting familiar with the trail. Alda is is out there to help um other hikers or would wannabe hikers do a com uh successful complete through hike of of the Appalachian Trail. And they and the gathering is fundamentally geared toward that purpose. It it it does a whole bunch of other things, which we can discuss later, but uh the primary uh focus of the gathering is to attract people who want to hike the trail, give them the information they need to do it, and thereby increase the success rate for going from one end to the other. In the years since, you know, Alda has has branched out into very uh many diverse areas, uh all related to the to the AT. Uh they they've even been promoting other trails to try to take some of the pressure off of the AT in terms of usage uh over the past few years. About gosh, 10, 15 years ago, we we prepared a list of alternative trails for people, uh mostly on the uh on the east east coast. And lately uh they've renewed that effort with uh what they call the Eastern Trails 500 award, where anyone who hikes 500 or more miles of trails other than the AT can earn a new patch that uh is called the Eastern Trails 500. Um all those trails are in on the eastern side of the country. So, you know, we're we're compiling information about what those trails entail, how to get permits if needed, resupplies, and so forth, just as a in a general way to get people start looking at those uh in addition to the AT for uh long-distance hiking.
SPEAKER_01Warren Doyle is a person who is extremely well known within the Appalachian Trail community, but not everybody outside of that community knows about him. Just very briefly, can you talk about Warren and uh and his association with uh with trails?
SPEAKER_00Sure. He first became acquainted with the Appalachian Trail in a really serious way when he did a solo through hike from Georgia to Maine uh and tried to do it as as you know fast as possible at the time. He had a support van that was uh driven by his his dad, Warren Doyle Sr. And he he basically set the first known, fastest known time on the uh AT back in I want to say 1973. I don't remember how many days that was, but uh it really solidified his his love affair with the Appalachian Trail. And from that point on, in terms of Warren's life, it was you know basically AT-centered in in many ways. And he wanted to share that experience with as many other people as possible. And a couple years after his 73 hike, he organized the first of many expeditions, as he called them, where people who normally wouldn't be able to through hike the AT were now able to do so. Uh they would have a support van that would carry the bulk of their gear and meet them at uh road crossings or other places where they could hike uh camp as a group. Um you had a strict schedule for every day's hiking uh length uh and it would finish the whole trail in in you know what would be record time for most people, but um they were allowed to uh hike before the their expedition started, they were allowed to hike sections to get in shape, and once they got to those sections, they were individually allowed to skip ahead to the uh and meet up with the group uh when it caught up to that uh that spot where they uh had previous hike previously hiked. Um and and they would you know form what was known as the circle every here here and there, very key points, places. Uh, you know, I imagine in later years Macfizna became one of those places, but you know, just to kind of renew their commitment to each other and to the trail and to this through hike uh with the purpose and hope that every single member of the expedition would finish it uh uh as a group. Um and and he just kept on building uh ALDA along those years. He served as the president of ALDA, which which we call a coordinator, for two terms. Uh he organized the gathering for for many years at the beginning. Um there might have been a different program coordinator in some years, but he was always the facilities guy because it was held at Concord College where he had personal um you know ties to some of the faculty there, and were you know was able to secure very low-cost um you know fees for all the to be able to meet there and and eat there at the at the dining hall. And then starting in 1990, the gathering started moving its location every other year. We still went to Pipestem, but in those off years, we would go to another location. So started out as Dartmouth in 1990. We were back there in 92 and 94, then in 96 uh we got to um Carlisle, Pennsylvania for the first gathering outside of Pipestem or uh Dartmouth. Uh that was turned out to be the most well-attended gathering we've ever had. Uh estimates uh go up to like 600 people in attendance. Um it was an official, there's no official number, but there were a lot of people there. And also, because he lived nearby, uh Earl Schaefer showed up to his first gathering. Uh he tried to attend the first gathering in 1982, but kind of got lost and frustrated and headed back home to Pennsylvania. But he came out in in 96. We we purposely invited him, knowing that we were going to be down the road from where he lived and uh where he liked to uh sell his stuff at a flea market. And he just showed up on Saturday uh at the school where we were meeting, and then he came back the next morning with his slides. We canceled all the events that morning so that he could he could show his slideshow, and the place was packed. That auditorium seated apparently 700. We didn't quite fill it, but it was uh that's where we kind of figured there were 600 people there that weekend. And this was Sunday morning of the gathering weekend, and nobody had ever seen most almost no uh no one had ever seen these slides before, and it was just such a magical moment. Uh, he he loved talking about it. Um, and it was during that weekend that uh I took him out to lunch with with uh Scott Grierson, Maniac, and uh on Saturday, and that's when Earl first told Scott and I that he was thinking of uh through hiking the trail in two years on the 50th anniversary of his first hike, because we we were plan already planning for a big celebration at the gathering in 1998 to celebrate the 50th anniversary, and we wanted him to be there to again show his slides and stuff, but he he laughed in his usual way and said, No, I'll be I'll be out hiking. And we we looked at each other, Scott and I, like uh uh dumbfounded that he was even considering it, but he ended up doing it. He ended up hiking uh the whole trail one more time uh in 1998. Uh we went ahead with our 50th anniversary celebration that at that gathering, and Gene Spee uh stood in for Earl as the keynote speaker, but we had several other early um through hikers from the 60s mainly and um from uh the early 70s show up uh to to help celebrate that uh anniversary and and do workshops and talks about their respective hikes. We also had Lucy Seeds, the daughter of Grandma Gatewood, who had since passed away. Um Lucy was there with a box full of Grandma Gatewood's clothing and uh equipment that she carried with her or wore at various points on her 1955 uh through hike and her subsequent two uh two other hikes. So anyway, the the um you know get the the uh mission of all the has like I said has branched out. We we started putting together uh a guidebook for through hikers called The Companion. That that first came out in 1994 under uh the direction of then coordinator Frank Log, and the first editors were Joe and Monica Cook of Georgia. Um and that's still going. Every year we come out with a new edition based on information that members of ALDA solicit from towns and services and and trail clubs, and uh you know that that book is still still published by Alda every year.
SPEAKER_01So we're one of the reasons why we're talking is that the Alda uh gathering is going to be close to the museum. Uh, first of all, tell us who should attend the gathering, in your opinion.
SPEAKER_00Right away, I I uh think of um alumni hikers. You know, it's a great place to have a reunion, uh, to see people you haven't seen in in at least a year, maybe more. So anybody who has already hiked the trail, it's a great, great place to uh come back and uh reconnect with with trail friends or make new trail friends uh from with with people who show up. On Friday night we have uh a roll call of our clap of clash years. So we go back in time starting with this year, we'll start with 2025 and go back on uh calling out each year, and the people who finished the trail that year can stand up and look around and and see who else is there from their their hiking year. And we go all the way back to whoever the last person is standing. And you know, at one point it was uh Earl Earl Schaefer when he he was able to come to a couple gatherings after that um 1999 gathering where he he did come back after his through hike to to show his slides, um, and it was a really great moment. Um in 1998, while Earl was out hiking, the last two people standing were from the class of 1951, and those those two people were the entire class of 1951. It was a really special moment in in all the, as well as in trail history, it was the uh a reunion of Gene Espy, the second person to threw hike the trail going north, and Chester Zhulevsky, the first person to through hike the trail going south. And they they had their uh they had had, I don't believe they had seen each other since 1951. And there they were at that gathering. Uh it the place just went wild, you know. Everybody gave a standing ovation as they uh came up on stage. Uh Gene said a few words, and as they're heading back, and the applause died down, it occurred to me to point out to everybody that uh when they met each other on the trail near Wind Gap in Pennsylvania, it was the first time ever that a northbounder had crossed paths with a southbounder. Of course, everybody erupted in cheers and applause again. But later on, it it occurred to me it it was even more than that, it was the first time two through hikers had ever met, which is even more significant. Um but anyway, that uh I would say the veterans of of uh AT through hiking are always welcome to come back. But also referring back to the main mission of of that gat of the gathering, anybody who's thinking about through hiking the trail next year or the year after really owes it to themselves to come to this gathering because uh we have a lot of workshops that are geared specifically toward helping them complete the the AT. We have a session where the current year, through hikers who are in attendance, you know, about five or six of them will sit down and answer any questions from people in the audience. So this is a great way for dreamers. We call these folks who want to hike the EAT dreamers in a very positive way. Dreamers get to ask any questions they want from this from this panel. Um and it ranges from gear to uh you know mail drops, and uh you name it, anything, water purification systems, and so forth. Um lately the the questions are on uh flip-flopping, you know, which if you do that, which is the best way to do it, and so forth. And and there will be people at this gathering who have flip-flopped the AT in in more ways than one. Uh so those are the two main audiences that that the gathering really, really appeals to. And anyone, like I said, all dreamers really will get a lot out of it. Because outside of these workshops, we and and several of those workshops will be conducted this year by Warren Doyle, who focus on the uh philosophical and the mental preparation that you need, uh, and and and prepare people for uh uh some of the uh you know mental crises they may encounter along the way. It's not just physical, it's not all about gear. You know, you really have to get your mind uh adjusted uh to be able to cope with what you're gonna face on a long distance hike on the AT. But it's not just uh those workshops. You can stop any hiker you see at the gathering. Or just sit down across from a hiker at dinner or one of the meals and ask your questions. And if there's one thing hikers love to do, it's it's talk. And they will uh you know bend your other ear on anything you want to know uh in terms of their own personal experience. These are experts, you know, especially people who just get off the trail and head for the gathering. Uh they they are the number one experts on how to through hike the trail right now. And you know, it's just an invaluable resource to be able to just walk up to some of them. You may see them at the roll call and look for them during the course of the weekend and say, hey, I'm thinking of hiking next year. Uh, what can you tell me about boots or whatever? And they'll they'll give you the whole the whole rundown.
SPEAKER_01So let's get a little more specific about the gathering. It's gonna be in Gettysburg uh this year. What are the dates of the gathering?
SPEAKER_00Okay, it's October 9, 10, and 11. That's Friday, Saturday, Sunday, uh Columbus Day weekend. So that following Monday is uh for a lot of people still working, that's a uh a holiday. Um it'll be uh the first we'll be back at Gettysburg College for the first time since our last gathering there was in 2017, uh 2009. So that's 17 years ago. Um it's a beautiful campus. Uh all the classrooms have state-of-the-art audiovisual uh equipment. The main meeting room where we'll have our Friday and Saturday evening presentations uh our uh has just been renovated and it's just better than ever. The uh audiovisual system there uh will hopefully knock people's socks off. Um there's plenty of room. You know, it seats uh at least 500 folks, if not a little more. Um we have will have access to the campus dining center, which is right across the street from the college union building where that main venue is located. Um people can purchase the meal tickets in advance, it's so convenient. Uh, and it also adds a level of camaraderie to the whole weekend, uh being able to have a meal, whether it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner with your hiking friends or with new hiking friends. Um there's something extra special about having that element to a gathering, which unfortunately we haven't had for the past three gatherings because of the the location we were at, and those gatherings did not have a cafeteria set up. Um so that's gonna be exciting. We have a campsite that's three and a half miles from campus, uh, that's all included as part of the um registration fee, which is only $40 now. It has hardly it hasn't gone up much since that first gathering in 1982, which uh was around $10 back in '82. And it just is incredible that we're only now at uh $40 for the whole weekend. Now, meals are not included uh for that $40, of course. Uh it just wouldn't be practical. But like I said, the dining hall is is very reasonable. Uh they do require the meal tickets in advance, which can be purchased on the all the website. And uh every every food station within that dining center, which is really large, is all you can eat. You can keep going up if you like a certain um dish that's being served at one station, or go to another station after you have one, try another. They have all uh each night they'll have a different uh menu. Um but it it it's just fabulous. They have a salad bar, a dessert bar, um, a Spanish food bar. It's really, really great. It's an award-winning uh cafeteria, uh so much so that they they do refer to it as the dining center. They they have a pizza, pizza bar, um, you know, hot dog bar. I mean, it's just all inclusive. Ice cream, you name it, it's just really great. And uh hikers loved it uh at the previous uh the first gathering we were there in 2007. Uh hikers loved it. I can't remember why, but we weren't able to eat there in 2009, and hikers really missed it. So if anybody has recollections of that uh first gathering, they should definitely come to this one to uh see how much it's it's even improved since then. In terms of the uh other details, there are workshops every day, uh all day long. We have a variety of topics this year, uh ranging from, as I said, uh, you know, how to hike the AT, so to speak, to uh workshops on other trails uh out there, like the Mountains to the Sea Trail will be covered, um the Long Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail. We have uh the wife of Barney Mann will be joining us to do that workshop. Barney himself, who is a legend on the PCT, had had another event. He was almost willing to fly back to uh Gettysburg from this event on the West Coast so he could be there Sunday, but I I said no, that's too much. Um and his uh so his wife is stepping in, and she knows just as much about the the PCT as Barney and will give a great presentation on that. It's always a popular workshop uh for especially for people who've already hiked the AT and are setting their sights on on the next big long distance trail, which is is usually either the Continental Divide or the PCT. We'll have a workshop on this Continental Divide as well. Uh and we different topics. Like we have uh one of the original members of Alda is coming back to this gathering to do a workshop on dog sledding. Um that'll be interesting and fun. Uh we'll have a couple of forums, uh one of which will be the uh Applays and Trail Conference, the chairman of the board, uh Jim Latorre, and uh the uh vice president uh uh Hawk Matheny will will be there to uh answer questions and and give updates on what's going on on the AT from Georgia to Maine. Um but people who have any questions uh or comments even are welcome to attend that forum. And here are two of the top people uh ready and willing to uh to listen to what folks have to say or or ask. Uh we'll also have a forum conducted by our our two uh main keynote speakers, the Friday night and Saturday night speakers. Uh the this this will be uh kind of a uh this will be a first for all the uh uh both of these uh speakers are are not your typical long distance hikers in in the um uh uh you know in in the in the sense of uh the fact that they're not white. Uh just to you know put uh put it bluntly, there aren't many minorities who do through hikes or long distance treks uh uh on on various trails or or anywhere. And and these two have really broken the mold and and they're really well known uh uh in the trail community. Friday night we have Derek Lugo, who is now a triple croner. He did the PCT last year to finish off the three big trails, the AT and the CDT being the others. He's written a book about those two other trails and is working on a new book about the uh his PCT hike. And he's been on a book tour for the uh CDT book. Uh that and that book tour will conclude at the at the gathering on Friday night. He's a very dynamic speaker, uh, real a lot of fun to listen to. And uh really uh between him and uh our Saturday night speaker, and also our Sunday night speaker, are are literally worth the price of admission. Um Saturday night we have J.R. Harris. Um he is a unique individual in the sense that he has gone out on his own all around the world to to tackle some really uh difficult terrain with with these long distance treks, sometimes not necessarily following any trail in particular, but he's been all over the world. Uh he goes to mountainous regions, he's been to desert plateaus. Um he just came back from Greenland, where he organized his trip around interviews with some of the native people up in the northern part of that um I you know basic uh island uh huge island getaway, um to to to talk to them about their culture and and their history. Um so he'll be he'll be talking a little bit about that on Saturday night. He is um uh and and ironically, both Derek and J.R. uh are from New York City. Um and JR uh became famous amongst uh other explorers around the world, so much so that they made him an honorary member of the very exclusive New York Explorers Club. Um he heard about Derek when Derek uh first did the AT, I think back in 2012. And he's about he he's a little over twice the age of of Derek uh in years, but he reached out to Derek uh once he knew Derek was out there, and they got together. Uh and Derek credits J.R. as being hi one of his mentors, uh and and to the point where JR gave Derek a a tour once of the uh New York Explorers Club. Anyway, it was I really want to thank uh JR too because uh or uh Derek, because he he sort of is the one who talked JR into uh appearing at this gathering as well. Well, but anyway, back to my point on Sunday, they're gonna sit down in a f during a uh a forum discussion uh and hopefully maybe with another uh uh a woman hiker who uh has shared similar experiences to talk about you know minorities on the trail and and how uh how we can uh perhaps help uh get more people out there experiencing and enjoying these long-distance trails all around the country, if not all around the world, as in JR's case. Um you know the the numbers have been have been improving, but a lot of people uh at the ATC and and elsewhere have always thought you know that would be a great goal is is to increase the numbers of of minorities uh uh on these trails. So this is all all those small contribution to that to that effort, and I'm really looking forward to that that forum discussion in addition to their two feature presentations on Friday and Saturday nights.
SPEAKER_01Uh this year the uh the gathering is uh over in Gettysburg, which is just a very short distance from the location of the museum. Uh, how's the museum going to be involved with uh the gathering?
SPEAKER_00Sure. Um starting uh starting on Thursday before the gathering, so October 8th, uh we're gonna have an open house at the gathering in the afternoon for any anyone who's on the way to the gathering. Um they can spend that Thursday night either at the hostel or at the at the campground. Uh but from one to four uh roughly, we'll have an open house with tours of the museum for for anyone who wants to uh you know check it out since they'll be a half hour away from Gettysburg. And then during the course of the weekend, the museum will be open all weekend long, uh, including Monday. For anyone who uh wasn't able to make it to the open house, they can still drive up there. And uh it's it's it's like just two or three roads uh between Gettysburg and and the museum. And uh they can they can check out the museum uh during its open hours over the weekend. And then at the gathering itself, uh Julie Queen, the manager of the museum, will be doing a workshop on uh a segment of the International Appalachian Trail that she is she herself has uh visited. And she'll have a uh booth at the hiker fair uh on the museum itself to uh answer questions and and uh you know provide any other information anybody wants. The hiker fair I didn't mention, um we have this event uh as part of the gathering now every year, where uh trail clubs and authors and and uh merchants, uh any anybody who uh has an interest uh or um something to promote that's trail related can set up a booth at our hiker fair and uh all you know all through uh up until you know early Sunday afternoon, um they people can stop by and and talk and and you know buy an autographed copy of uh an author's book or or some other merchandise that's trail-related that catches their fancy. We'll have a uh a huge sheet. Every year now we have uh a huge signature sheet for attendees to sign whatever they want on there, their trail name, little logos, uh whatever. Uh it'll it'll depict uh image of of Gettysburg on this uh on this banner. And we'll we'll roll it out, so to speak, at future gatherings for for people to uh look and see where they uh sign their name. But that'll be uh sort of part of the hiker fair as well. Um it's it's uh you know personally speaking, it's it's a um it's an event that uh I first became aware of and attended during my first through hike, which was a southbound hike in 1989, and I heard about the the this thing called the gathering and all the while I was in the wilderness in Maine heading south. I had not heard of it before that. Somebody had left a flyer in the cloud pond lean to, which I know was is is is frowned upon, but it changed my life literally. I made a note of it and started communicating with the hikers who were ahead of me that I knew were heading south from the registers. Again, 1989, there were no cell phones, no internet. Uh I only had the U.S. mail and the registers to spread the word. And I thought it'd be a great idea for Southbounders to head for Pipestem uh for that weekend, whether they were still on the trail or finished by then. And most of us were were still on the trail by the time the gathering occurred, again on Columbus Day weekend. Only a couple had finished the whole trail by then. But but we were able to get like 12, maybe 15 southbounders at that gathering, which was almost unheard of at the time, not just because um you know we were doing the trail backwards, so to speak, but there were so few southbounders to begin with back in 1989. Uh I wanna there were no more than than 25 or or 30 even that I knew of that year. So we had had about half there. Anyway, it was a great experience. Um, it really kind of renewed my devotion to to through hiking. I couldn't wait to get back to the trail. Uh, made all sorts of new friends and met the Southbounders for the very first time. You know, I had been following them in the register so religiously every night that uh when we finally got together at that gathering, if if any of them had uh arguments over where they were for a certain event or something or other, I stepped in and said, No, I know exactly where you were and what happened because of your register entries. So anyway, it was really um great, great experience. Um, you know, I met I I got to uh see uh Warren Doyle at that gathering, uh was very inspired by his workshops. Um I I uh met Noel de Calvicante again at that gathering. He gave one of the testimonials. Uh we had met earlier in the year, he was a northbound through hiker in 1989, and I was heading south, and we spent one night together uh at Conden Camp in Vermont, which became sort of an infamous night. Uh it was raining like heck. The cabin was enclosed at the time. There was one window, it was dark as pitch in there, and every bunk was full with two people. One had a dog in addition to the two people. It was just a miserable night altogether. I slept on a table. Noel and his hiking partner slept on the floor beneath me, and I don't know who besides the dog got much sleep that night. But anyway, there he was again at this uh gathering. And uh, you know, that was just really the beginning of a very close bond. I I I really credit Noel with with um getting me further involved with all the in the years afterwards, and you know, he eventually served as as coordinator and and I succeeded him as coordinator, but so many other people too. Over just year after year, going back to the gathering, um met Ed Garvey after my second through hike at the 1992 gathering in Dartmouth, and again, you know, became um very close friends with him for the rest of his life, uh try you know, driving him to different trail events like trail days and so forth. Um so I uh the all that got its hooks in me early. Um the 1990 gathering, uh, which again was at at at Dartmouth, um that that was a very uh emotional event because just a few weeks before the gathering, we had the uh the the murders of Jeffrey Hood and uh Molly LaRue uh on the trail near Duncan. And I had met them uh on the trail. I had to make up um some miles up north in Maine because of a sprained foot on my uh in '89 um and uh ran across them. And uh, you know, you just never forget people, even if you've just spent five or ten minutes on the side of the trail with them. And uh Friday night they called for anybody to. Uh speak about Jeff and Molly, you know, in a little impromptu tribute. And I'm looking around, waiting for someone else to get up, and nobody did. So I stood up, and that was the first time I ever addressed uh an older gathering was that night, um, trying to do my best to uh pay tribute to those two beautiful people.
SPEAKER_01Well, Bill, you've uh done a great job of wetting our appetite for the upcoming gathering in uh in Gettysburg. Uh we are gonna have some information on uh how to register for the gathering in the show notes for this episode. Uh what are other ways that people can find out more about the gathering and register and that sort of thing?
SPEAKER_00Well, uh it's mainly the Alda website. Uh we've we've been posting some updates now and then on on our Facebook group pages. Um we have some more updates uh coming uh for the Facebook page. But it's it's mainly the uh Alda website, and uh people can also sign up for the Alda e Newsletter, which is called the Blaze, and that comes out uh every month with uh information, uh updates and so forth on the gathering. But all the nitty-gritty on term in terms of uh you can you can uh sign up on all the website, uh pay for your registration, pay for your meal tickets. If you already signed up for the gathering but forgot to get meal tickets, you can go back and and and get just the e uh the meal tickets for um for eating. You know, that there is a deadline for those meal tickets because the dining center needs to be able to uh prepare for us in advance. So that deadline is is in late September. So folks, if you haven't uh already done so, uh now would be a good time to to get those tickets uh uh signed up in your name. Yeah, it's it's alda.org slash the hyphen gathering is the is the web address. But as you say, you'll you'll list that as the in the notes for this this podcast.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's right. And once again, that's Alda, which is aldha.org. If you just put that into a search engine, you'll find the home page, and then it'll be very easy for you to get to uh the specific page about the gathering. Bill, this has been very helpful, and I hope uh that it has uh whetted a lot of people's appetites uh to attend the gathering. Uh I'm certainly going to go, and I hope many other people are gonna go. Thank you uh once again for uh joining us today.
SPEAKER_00My pleasure, Jim. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for listening to this episode of A Trail of History. Please visit our physical museum located in South Central Pennsylvania within Pine Grove Furnace State Park between Carlisle and Gettysburg. We're open each year from April through October. We schedule many special events throughout the year. For complete information, visit our website at Appalachian Trail.museum. You can also follow us on several social media sites. We want this to be an interactive podcast. If you have ideas for topics we ought to cover or people we ought to interview, please let us know. Contact us at atm podcast at gmail.com. The music for this podcast is courtesy of Randy Wintalker Motes. For the AT Museum, I'm Jim Foster.