by Jedd Ferris

Sunrise: Five days a week, John Hedrick wakes up in a tent set up at an Appalachian Trail shelter in Shenandoah National Park. As an A.T. Ridge Runner, the 64-year-old former military man from Rappahannock County, Va., is essentially a wandering patroller, educator, and caretaker, employed for the benefit of the trail and the safety of its hikers. Hedrick thru-hiked the A.T. in 2000 and wanted to give back to the trail. He works an eight-dollar-an-hour job as a Ridge Runner, covering 103 miles of the trail through the park to help others enjoy it safely and properly. His area is the longest worked by any of the other Ridge Runners, who are placed throughout the length of the Appalachian Trail. Ridge Runners are hired and organized by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and funded by the non-profit, along with the land manager (in this case the National Park Service) and local hiking clubs.

8am: Hedrick educates hikers on the principles of Leave No Trace. He teaches a church group how to properly build a low-impact fire pit and why it’s important to hang leftover food on one of the shelter’s bear poles. Then he heads out for a standard 14-mile day on the trail. This morning, he mends a few blisters on a trio of college students heading south and packs out a few scraps of trash left by some campers.

“These days I’m finding very little trash,” he says. “I’ve been impressed lately with the Leave No Trace awareness that’s making it’s way into the public’s mindset.”

9am: Hedrick drops down through Swift Run Gap in the park’s central district. “I stop and talk with anyone I see on the trail, whether they want to or not,” he says with a laugh. “Once I explain who I am, people are usually receptive, when they realize I am out there to help people. It’s always informative and never a dictatorial kind of thing. I meet and talk to at least 100 people every five days, and I’ve never really had any confrontation.”

Hedrick provides any amount of basic guidance that hikers need. He fields questions on distances to campgrounds and intersecting trails. When he passes some thirsty hikers, he directs them to the nearest water source. He says he’s astonished at the number of unprepared hikers, especially in warm temperatures. A couple in their mid-30s from England trots by and reveals they are doing a 25-mile day but are only carrying two liters of water. They resist Hedrick’s advice to stop for more water, so he tells them the location of sources ahead.

1pm: After lunch Hedrick hears some loud wrestling in the woods nearby. Mere yards ahead two fighting bears barrel across the trail, apparently two males roaring and snarling in a feud over a female that wanders by next. The female bear gives Hedrick a quick look then scurries off back into the brush. What might alarm most people is just another part of the job of a Ridge Runner. Hedrick sees at least one bear a day. “Generally they are not confrontational,” he says. “ They usually hear my walking stick clacking and run away before I get there.”

6pm: At the end of the day he pitches his tent near the Bear Fence shelter. Before bunking down he works on his weekly trail condition report. The next day he will wake up and help some of the park rangers relocate a privy. “It’s a stinky job, but I don’t mind helping. I represent the trail, and I know this is a smelly but significant way to help.”