[Cash-and-caring] Sierra Club magazine: Trevor Thomas went blind. . . hiked 18, 000 miles

Tue Dec 17 17:09:46 UTC 2013

"Sierra Magazine: The Magazine of the Sierra Club" -  January-February 2014 (Vol. 99, No. 1), "Second Sight" - Trevor Thomas went blind at age 36. He responded by hiking 18,000 miles. Text by Jake Abrahamson.

URL: http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/201401/Trevor-Thomas-blind-hiker-Appalachian-Trail.aspx
[Click here to hear the author read this article.]<http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/201401/Trevor-Thomas-Audio/SIERRA%20CLUB%20-%20Second%20Sight%20Final.mp3>

Hear the author read this article<http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/201401/Trevor-Thomas-Audio/SIERRA%20CLUB%20-%20Second%20Sight%20Final.mp3>.

This story is given much prominence in the 112 page issue, and is currently a top story on the Sierra Club website.
L Rovig: My judgment of the "blind story" is this: The ignorance of the author is overpowered by the grit of the blind hiker. On the other hand, the blind hiker is a fool to break so many bones and not research better methods of hiking - maybe by calling Erik Weihenmayer. The author does a good job of learning about and explaining this hiker's blind techniques to his readers  But, I am sorry that nothing in the story shows that a desk job is a viable occupation for a blind man with a law degree. Trevor Thomas wasn't a hiker before he became blind, so he did not choose his current occupation based on dislike of indoor work. If Trevor Thomas had received better advice and training when he went blind, he could be making steady money in a more prestigious and, for him, safer line of work than hiking and giving speaking engagements.  .

THE STORY:
On the cover of Sierra, above the nearly full-page photo for the main story, is smaller print to advertise this story inside: "BLIND HIKER 18,000 MILES AND COUNTING"

The page for the table of contents has two sections: The top section labeled "FEATURES" notes 4 stories and has a photo defining the section. One of the four begins on p;age 34:
34 Second Sight
Trevor Thomas went blind at age 36.
He responded by hiking 18,000 miles.
Jake Abrahamson.

The photo defining the Features area shows a hiker travelling on the edge of a foggy highway and moving away from us -- a hiker in shorts, wearing a big backpack, either one hiking pole or a blind man's cane in his right hand and, walking alongside him, a dog on a fat leash (not wearing a guide dog harness). The photo caption reads: "Trevor Thomas and his guide dog, Tennille, walking across North Carolina. Page 34.

Pages 34-39: "Second Sight"
The article has 3 photos, the story's first page has the man who was walking away turned to look at us and his dog is looking at him. A heavy leash is in the man's left hand and one tall hiking pole is in his right hand. He is wearing sunglasses that are not opaque
Page 36: a closeup of the man's smiling, non-pretty face (and without the sunglasses) and scrawny neck. Caption: "To make eye contact, Trevor Thomas locates the source of a voice and adjusts his gaze a few inches upward."
Page 38: The photographer at the dog's level took a show with the black lab head-on facing us, mouth open in a dog's "smile.". Caption: "Early in her training at Guide Dogs for the Blind, Tennille displayed unusual athleticism and confidence, making her a perfect match for Thomas.

My notes on the article:
His home is in Charlotte, North Carolina. His sister drove him to the beginning of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia.
"Because the sign was engraved, he was able to tell that it read . . .[first shelter, 2 miles]"
"He'll be here any minute," Trevor lied. His partner had bailed days earlier, but he couldn't tell Liz that. She was his big sister. She'd never let him go alone."
Trevor convinces his sister the partner is 2 miles up the trail at a shelter. "Now, Trevor and Liz just had to find a hiker to take him there."
Trevor and Liz begin asking hikers in the parking lot to let him trail behind them; "For several hours" they ask and 40 refuse. Then Liz asks Kevin Rondeau.
"She pointed at Trevor, who could be seen pacing amid the trees. There was no hint of his blindness. He walked in swift, straight vectors. His trekking poles, which he used like antennae on the ground before each step, were a seamless part of his hiking uniform."
Rondeau said, "that guy is blind?". . . "If that guy is actually blind, he can walk with me as long as he wants."
They hike together for a week before splitting up.
"Trevor has never backpacked before."
He had researched the trip for one year before beginning it. His Appalachian trail name is Zero/Zero, the opposite off 20/20.
Trevor "floated between hiking partners, but he also hiked solo for long spans."
"He fell constantly-he stopped counting at 3,000-and broke many bones, including several ribs that he had treated by a veterinarian in a Maine town with no doctor. To finish the trail, he walked 200 miles on a broken foot and with four cracked ribs. It took him six months to reach Mt. Katahdin."
"Trevor started going blind in the summer of 2005."[home with parents, age 36, just graduated from Las Vegas law school] "He was preparing to enter the Navy as judge advocate."

Five years later, "he completed the Pacific Crest Trail," He could not complete the Continental Divide Trail because of snowstorms. "He'd been filmed for several short documentaries and written about in newspapers and magazines. He had a foundation and Facebook fans and speaking engagements. He had people telling him to do a feature-length film and a book." He is sponsored by a shoe company and a sock company.
The author:  "Can you tell me anything else about what you're hearing?" . . . [Trevor does a great job at describing the clearing.] As we trekked, Thomas told me of other soundscapes-"
About the dog: "She had her own sleeping bag, her own backpack, her own sponsors."
Author: "Do you miss being able to see?"
Trevor: I wouldn't change what happened to me." [Before blindness, Trevor had a photographic memory, very fast reader, took tests for other students for payment. His sister says, "He "was very curt and wanted instant gratification, and everything was all about Trevor. 'Trust no one' was his motto."]
[He learned braille and other blindness skills in an unnamed training center for blind persons.]
"If he worked hard enough, they told him-if he learned to spell and move and control his temper-he might be able to get a job packing boxes. But Thomas did not want a job packing boxes."
"He started going into the backyard...figuring out how to set up this tent...to cook, working on all the little things that would go inside his backpack."
The article ends with another story showing Trevor Thomas being a man with grit when his trail hike and a camp at night are a rainy disaster.

Cordially,

Lorraine Rovig, Assistant to
Chairperson Patti Chang, Esq.
NFB Scholarship Committee
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
200 East Wells Street at Jernigan Place
Baltimore, MD 21230
Office:  (410) 659-9314, x2415
E-mail:  scholarships at nfb.org<mailto:scholarships at nfb.org>
Website:  www.nfb.org/scholarships<http://www.nfb.org/scholarships>

P. S.: The application period for 2014 began November 1, 2013, and ends March 31, 2014.

The National Federation of the Blind wishes you a joyous and safe holiday season. We would appreciate your including the NFB in your end-of-year giving. Make your contribution<https://nfb.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1> now.

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