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On the path to peace of mind

A couple will set out to travel the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, partly for themselves and partly for abused girls.

By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published February 1, 2006

When the car door closed that beautiful cool day in May 2002, Dori and Robert sensed that something was about to change.

The trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with its half-buried smooth stones and the scent of fresh sap in the air, lay before them.

The couple needed to climb eight-tenths of a mile to reach the shelter at Davenport Gap in Tennessee, one among many used by hikers along the Appalachian Trial.

Both Dori Brown and Robert Pic were overweight. She was 237 pounds; he was 260. And the trail was steep.

"My heart was pounding," said Brown, 45. "I was out of breath."

But on that day, Brown gained a hiking buddy in her fiance. For years she had talked of wanting to hike the Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine, alone.

"But that day," she said, "he finally got it. A light bulb went off in his head."

The pair will leave in early March to hike the Appalachian Trial.

To prepare, they sold their Bloomingdale home and moved into an apartment in Riverview, in Hillsborough County. Brown quit her job delivering newspapers. Pic, 38, will soon walk away from his job hauling gasoline in an 18-wheeler.

They know that the 2,175 miles between Georgia and Maine will test their bodies and their relationship as never before. But they are committed to reaching Katahdin, Maine, and not just for their own sense of achievement.

They are trying to raise money for Brookwood, a home in St. Petersburg for adolescent girls. The 52-bed residence houses girls and young women ages 13 to 21, most of whom have been abused.

They have doubled their fundraising goal to $10,000 so that more girls can afford to go to a concert, an ice skating rink or the movies.

Brown's own childhood of abuse inspired her to help. In an interview, she recounted the details, almost without expression. "Daily beatings. Torture. Psychological abuse."

A stepmother terrorized her and a sister, Brown said. Her father, and Air Force enlisted man, didn't help much, she said.

California social workers removed Brown from her home when she was 12. A few years later she went hiking in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The trip opened up a new world for her.

Now she wants to pass on a good experience to other teenage girls.

"I want them to visualize beyond their current situation to see that there is beauty in life, that there are good things waiting for them," Brown said. "But they have to get a taste for it first."

In the past four years, the couple have devoured every availabl e book or videotape of Appalachian Trail lore. They have bought tents and sleeping bags, spring-loaded walking sticks, a tiny water purifier and lots of dried food.

They are ready for bears. At night, they will throw a bag of anything that can be sniffed over a high tree limb. (Don't even think of smuggling a Snickers bar into the tent.)

The couple have already joined the trail fraternity found on sites like trailjournals.com and have given themselves "trail names," Mudflap and Daisy. Since that day at the Davenport shelter, Brown has lost 75 pounds. Pic has dropped 30.

Relatives will drive the couple to Springer Mountain, Ga., where the trail starts. They hope to finish in Mount Katahdin, Maine, by October. They will hike for days at a time, then go into towns to pick up supplies sent to post offices by relatives.

"Every time we go hiking we get along better," Pic said. "There is less stress and less to worry about, whereas at home there is everything to worry about."

In 2004, 1,535 hikers set out to "thru-hike" the Appalachian Trail. Only 387 made it all the way. Those one-in-four numbers are fairly typical, said Laurie Potteiger of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, which keeps track of the attempts.

Trip killers include exhaustion and depression, injuries and family emergencies.

"For many, they just didn't know what they were getting into," Potteiger said. "It's not what they expected and they're just not having fun."

Brown and Pic said they know about the risks and will not try to do too much, too soon.

No matter how excited she gets, Brown said she will not forget where she came from. Her body won't let her. Hairdressers comment on the scars on her scalp left by broomsticks. The middle finger on her left hand won't extend all the way. It got in the way of a boot.

Now she wants to inspire a group of girls in St. Petersburg into a better life.

"You have to show by example," Brown said. "If you have a goal, a dream in your head and a direction and you keep at it, you can have anything."

Brookwood relies on government and private funding, but that does not cover cultural events or entertainment. Girls line up for donated tickets to the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center or movie tickets.

"We do the best we can," executive director Pam Mesmer said, "but there's not a lot of opportunity."

Andrew Meacham can be reached at 813 661-2431 or at ameacham@sptimes.com

To support Steps to Independence, Dori Brown and Robert Pic's campaign for adolescent girls, send a check to Brookwood, 901 Seventh Ave. S, St. Petersburg, FL 33705 or call (727) 822-4789.

[Last modified February 1, 2006, 01:03:19]