[MA-RPC] Bio - Hal Wright

[Hal Wright]

Short Biography -- Hal Wright, Allentown Hiking Club

My interest in hiking and backpacking was sparked about seven years ago 
by a couple of week-long backpacking trips with my sister and son (one 
in the Adirondack High Peaks and one on the Long Trail in Vermont). I 
joined the AHC and BMECC shortly thereafter, because I had been doing a 
lot of weekend hiking on their sections of the AT. I happened to go to 
an AHC meeting first -- don't remember why -- and was immediately 
hooked by the friendly, civil and productive tone set by everyone 
there. After attending meetings for awhile and participating in some 
hikes, I volunteered to manage the AHC website, a duty I still perform 
today.

I am the volunteer webmaster for Churchville Nature Center (CNC), which 
is about 5 miles from home in lower Bucks County, PA. I have led 
numerous day hikes and backpacking trips for both the AHC and CNC, and 
have section-hiked 930 miles of the AT, from Bland, Virginia to 
southern Massachusetts. I've done some AT trail maintenance and a few 
outreach meetings for the AHC, mostly to educate boy scouts and leaders 
about backpacking equipment and etiquette.

Serving as an advocate for the AT is part of a broader attempt by me to 
identify my most closely-held beliefs and to live in accordance with my 
convictions. (Some guys buy Corvettes in mid-life, I bought one of the 
first Ford Escape hybrids sold in the US.) In the early 90's, I left my 
job as an engineer to pursue a career in teaching. I am in my ninth 
year as a physics teacher in a suburban high school near Philadelphia. 
When I'm not teaching, hiking or posting web content, I play guitar and 
sing (rather badly). My wife Judy, a registered nurse, and I are proud 
and thankful that our son and daughter will soon be graduating from 
their respective hideously expensive universities.

Health problems have kept me off of the trail for awhile, so I will be 
happy to meet everyone and enjoy the trail vicariously.

Here's me near Buena Vista, VA:

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