A Brief Introduction

I was not always Gray Ghost. That is a name that was pinned on my by some fine young men. My parents actually named me Royal Evans. In time, the first name was truncated to Roy. I am 50 years old and have been and still am married to the same person for more than 30 years.

I was introduced to the Appalachian Trail in 1966 when I was a Boy Scout in New York City. The idea that the trail I was hiking extended all the way to Georgia fascinated me and I promised myself that someday I was going to walk its entire length. Well, time went on as it usually does. I went to college, got married, got a job, and then proceeded to have 5 children. When my sons were old enough to want to become Boy Scouts I became a Scout Leader. It was the Scouts in the troop that changed my name to Gray Ghost because of my ability to suddenly appear seemingly out of nowhere whenever mischief was afoot.

At any rate, hiking and camping with the scouts reawakened my desire to live and play outdoors and I remembered my promise to myself. I've hiked much but by no means all of the trail and in 2003 I attempted to hike its entire length during the spring and summer. I stopped because of injury but I am planning to return 2005