May 2008 - My Walk with Rodger

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I was sipping coffee at Starbucks in Stuyvesant Plaza last fall when Rodger sat down, excited and ready to go. To be frank, I wasn’t much interested in a hike to the base of the Kaaterskill Falls with Rodger that day, but his invitation was a kind act of friendship that I found hard to refuse. I knew he’d hiked and solo camped in the Catskills extensively over many decades, but now, in his 60s he has more doctors than I have fingers and toes, and on top of that, he can’t use his legs very well because he can’t feel them very much anymore. You see my dilemma.

But I was prepared to soldier on anyway, until he insisted on driving us in his Prius, with the “hand throttle” and “hand brakes” he had added because of his legs. “No way! Let me drive,” I said determinedly, to which he replied even more firmly, “No, you will ride and gawk, and I will drive.” And so it went.

Turned out that Rodger is a pretty good driver and so while I gawked at the mountains surrounding us, he lectured on the geology, natural history, flora and fauna of the region. Slowly it was dawning on me that this was becoming a nice trip. But how on earth was he going to negotiate a mountain trail? And how was I, for that matter, going to help him on my two worn-out, 56 year old, ex-skier’s knees? “We’ll go slow,” he instructed and said he didn’t plan on going all the way to the base of the falls anyway; he’d hike with me until he got tired then turn back and wait at the bottom while I hiked on and took photographs. 

Well, it was a good plan anyway.

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