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by Wanda Shirk, President, KTA Board of Directors
Performed by the Trail Chorus at the KTA Fall Hiking Weekend in 2002. Reprinted with permission.
Every weekend at the trailhead, you could see him arrive.
He was the Pennsylvania Creeper,* but fully alive.
He was known as the Father of the Mid State Trail.
And beside this legend every other will pale—BIG TOM!
He has hiked the AT up from Georgia to Maine,
But it’s the Mid State Trail that’s his claim to fame,
And his set of books about 50 Hikes,
About mountains to climb, and the vistas he likes—BIG TOM!
If the Port-a-John’s gone, he can go in the trees,
Until his fans come up and say, “Autograph, please!”**
Then he’ll get right up and oblige with a pen.
And return to the trail to plant signs again—BIG TOM!
There are “F words” Tom doesn’t like to hear.
Fahrenheit and Feet will confuse him, it’s clear.
So he measures his trails with a metric wheel.
And his temperature rises with a Celsius feel—BIG TOM!
He is not very fond of those ATVs,
That eject beer cans just wherever they please.
He would shoot ‘em with a camera, if not with a gun.
And with law-in-hand put an end to their fun—BIG TOM!
With his eyebrows raised, which was not hard to do,
He would spout his opinions to the Trail Care Crew.
From behind plastic glasses with his eyes agleam,
He would tell of another “Stop-the-4-wheelers” scheme***—BIG TOM!
Lots of Trail Care cookies were made by his wife,
Who let him out on weekends so she could have a life.
But she takes care of him and his Pacemaker heart,
And she misses him lots if they’re long apart—BIG TOM!
At the end of the day he wants an ice-cold beer.
And some chips with hot sauce if you have some near.
He eats lots of junk when he’s out with the Crew,
‘Cause at home that’s stuff Barbara won’t let him do—BIG TOM!
In the winter he would work on routing signs in red oak,
With the names of vistas or a bit of a joke,
Like the Mason-Dixon sign with its message so dear,
In a Southern accent saying, “Ya’ll come back again, ya here [sic]!”—BIG TOM!
He was a physics prof at PSU.
And he helped found the Outdoor Club there, too.
You’re his favorite team if you can beat Penn State.
‘Cause the games make traffic and he doesn’t like to wait—BIG TOM!
He was a genius of a man at playing Trivial Pursuit.
You wouldn’t play with him twice; you would shake in your boots!
He knows everything there is to know and maybe more too.
And with a roguish grin he’ll spout what no one else knew—BIG TOM!
Well, his hairline’s receded but his fame has not.
Tom’s a real great guy, and we want what he’s got—
Lots of courage and drive to make dreams come true.
For a quiet, green world. HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU—BIG TOM!
*Pennsylvania Creeper was Tom’s trail name on the Appalachian Trail.
**Like everything else in this poem, this is based on a real incident.
***One such classic scheme was to market “Tom’s ATV Oil.” Components would include sugar and sand. |