Trail Name: Captain

Nights Out: 46, as of 05/2015

Age (2009): 60

Occupation: Northern Kentucky University staff; ex-journalist (now defunct Cincinnati Post)

Favorite Beverage: Old Rip Van Winkle

Favorite Trail: Caine Creek Wilderness section of the Sheltowee Trace Trail. This was from my first trip, and this section of trail contrasted sharply with the first part of the hike, which passed through some land ripped up by strip mines and other abuse. But the Caine Creek area demonstrated what hiking in Kentucky could, and should be, if we protected and preserved the wild places. This was Spring 2005.

Worst Trip: No worst trips really, but I’d put Spring 2008 and the Red River Gorge at the bottom of my list because the Gorge needs fewer visitors and more preservation. It is overused, and the trails are too short and too readily accessible by car.

How I got my Trail Name: Think Star Trek. Kirk is an abbreviation of my real name and the Captain got added in the neighborhood and then followed me to the trail, shortened to “Captain” or “The Captain.”

Random Thoughts or Advice: Go to the woods, but leave them as if you did not visit – not a trace. But you will find again and again that someone before you didn’t follow that rule. So pick up something they left and carry it out. Don’t do it for the slacker who left the trash. Do it for the woods themselves, and also for the generations of hikers ahead of us who, because the post-Information Age will be Orwellian to the nth degree, will need the woods even more than us. And we need them sorely.