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KTA Life Member Paul Shaw has been a KTA board member for only five years, but his involvement in KTA goes all the way back to the 1970’s. “I was sharing an office with former KTA President Maurice Forrester, and Maurice convinced me that, as a hiker, I should join KTA and support its efforts to promote and protect hiking trails in Pennsylvania."
Paul began attending KTA fall and spring meetings about that time, and fondly recalls the camaraderie of late-night trail tales with the likes of Maurice, Tom Thwaites, Dave Raphael, and Ed Garvey. Disaster was narrowly averted at one spring meeting in the late 70’s, when Ed Garvey fired up his backpacking stove in his camper (jammed with people beyond capacity) with promises of popcorn and liquid refreshments. After an initial flare-up and the threat of conflagration, the stove was brought under control, much to the relief of the hungry and thirsty congregants.
Paul is a founding member of the Mid State Trail Association (MSTA), and participated in the first organizational meeting of MSTA at the KTA Annual Meeting at Doubling Gap (the site of KTA's 2013 Fall Hiking Weekend!) in October 1982. He has maintained a section of the Mid State Trail for many years. During this time, Paul was appointed the Outings Coordinator for the Otzinachson Group of the Sierra Club, organizing and leading many dozens of hikes in Central PA over the years. Aside from a hiatus when he moved out of the area, he has continued as the MSTA Outings Coordinator to the present day.
Paul served as KTA Conservation Chair from 1980 until 1984, when he became the Manager/ Director of Camp Innabah, a camp and conference center near Spring City affiliated with the United Methodist Church. In 1985, during Paul’s tenure, Camp Innabah hosted KTA’s fall meeting. This weekend meeting is infamous for the heavy rains that greeted KTA hikers proving that, indeed, rain does not alter the program. Paul also remembers a slide program on backpacking in Iceland that planted a seed for future endeavors.
In 2006, Paul became KTA’s first Executive Director, serving in that capacity until 2008. During his tenure, KTA established an office in Harrisburg, secured funding streams to maintain KTA and support trail efforts by member clubs, and represented the interests of Pennsylvania’s hiking community in dealings with the state and other recreational user groups.
In 2009, Paul was elected to KTA’s Board of Directors, where he has been instrumental in organizing and directing the annual Susquehanna Super Hike and Ultra Trail Run. Paul also organized and led the first Prowl the Sproul Chuck Keiper Slackpack, and has organized and led KTA fundraising hiking trips to Ireland in 2012, and to Oaxaca Mexico this fall.
Along with KTA, Paul is a member of several affiliated hiking clubs including Mid State Trail Association, North Country Trail Association, Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the Standing Stone Trail Club.
The backpacking in Iceland presentation at Camp Innabah kindled a strong desire in Paul to do the same, which he achieved in 2003. Subsequent annual trips to various hiking destinations around the globe led, in 2010, to the creation of Treks & Trails International, with co-founder Todd Lange. Treks & Trails offers hiking adventures of a lifetime to far-flung corners of the world, ranging from northern Sweden and Iceland to Patagonia, with the UK, Ireland, Spain, the Pyrenees, Italy, Morocco, Newfoundland and Mexico in between. Most of the trips entail hiking from inn-to-inn or b&b to b&b and range from relatively easy excursions to challenging treks. New for 2014 are dayhiking among the volcanoes and glaciers of Iceland, hiking along Hadrian’s Wall in northern England, and hiking in the Cinque Terra and the Dolomites in Italy. Paul invites you to check out these and all the trips for 2014 on his website here. |