It's A Small World, After All

Without even realizing it, Rob Whiteside and his daughter camped with a nice husband wife combo somewhat related to our group early in their trek up the spine of the Eastern United States.  They got along well enough to be invited to stay at their house in New Hampshire toward the end of their quest.

But because you are known by your Trail Name when hiking, they never got any further along to find out they were hiking with the brother-in-law and sister-in-law of another Group friend and familiar face.  It turns out that Wonder and Santa are related to Martha White Collins, a familiar name to most of us (and the namesake of Daughter the Elder!). Cheryl and Kelly Collins are currently in the 100 Mile Wilderness.

Even further shrinking the small world, one of the Collins' daughters graduated from Allegheny College in Meadville (near Harmonsburg) , where Rob is from! Allegheny Run For Fun!

Wonder and Santa

From their Journal:

White Rabbit and Large

We have been hiking with a father/daughter pair from Princeton, NJ. He used to make his girls walk the streets with him because they were "practicing to hike the AT". White Rabbit finished high school a year early, got accepted to Swarthmore and then took a gap year to hike. She got her name because she's fast, times herself and is obsessed with time. Her dad came with his trail name. She hikes in and gets set up then waits for her dad. He is usually in about 2 hours after her. White Rabbit makes him dinner and fusses over him. Some hikers have named them Large and In Charge. She usually determines how far they will go each day and he goes along with the plan. It has been really fun getting to know them.

To further make the world small enough for us, the latest visitor to Coach Groves was a high school AND PSU teammate of Greg Fredericks at Wilson High School.  Scott Hagy was a national caliber javelin thrower and occasional long jumper in the PSU Class of 1971.

Coach Groves and Scott Hagy.