82-Year-old Albany Area Man Completed Appalachian Trail Hike

It took a few years to do it, but 82-year-old Delmar resident Jim Tschinkel completed his hike of the Appalachian Trail in September.

He was joined by Joan and Christopher, his wife and grandson. They joined him on the last three days of his hike. The trail is 2,181 miles long and runs from Maine to Georgia, including parts of Vermont and Massachusetts, not far from the border of New York State.

Jim is a "section-hiker." He didn't do it in one trip. It took several trips over 20 years to complete.

He did get a certificate from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, that considers him a "2,000-Miler."

Jim is a member of the "Catskill 3500 Club." This is for anyone that has climbed on foot each of the 35 Catskill peaks above 3500 feet in elevation.

Just a little side note about hikers on the Appalachian Trail, every year there are thousands of brave soles who try to hike the trail, but about one out of four people actually complete it. Is this something that you'd like to attempt?