Hosted by the Appalachian Trail Museum, Tim Bennett will present Appalachian Tales.

Upon stepping out of the woods, a thru-hiker encounters a peculiar sight in the empty trailhead parking lot: a pair of Hoka hiking shoes laced up and pointing north. What if the Hokas could talk? What stories might be hidden in the soles and laces? This collection of true stories from the Appalachian Trail and Vermont’s Long Trail explores the random thoughts and observations that keep a hiker’s mind occupied as they continue to put one foot in front of the other for hours on end.

The interactive format of this presentation encourages the audience to select from a menu of short story titles, each linked to photos that illustrate an ad-libbed tale, or feature a reading from the forthcoming trail memoir: One Mountain After Another.

Stories include bear encounters, rainbow dance parties, gnomes, unexpected reunions, connections with the past, mysterious mountains, and the all-important question of just how far a thru-hiker will venture off trail in search of good pizza.