[pct-l] Why I do it (was do gooders)

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

Hello all, I am sending this on behalf of my mom, who is a stealth  
trail angel. She can't seem to get anything posted to the list,  
although she is receiving things just fine. She wanted to respond to  
the whole "fragile flowers" and "do-gooders" topic that was up recently.

Here you go:

This is my fourth attempt to get this to the list and so far am  
having no success.  By now it's so old I'm probably
way off-topic, but wanted to put my .02 in.

I'm a newbie trail angel, having hosted some hikers and given rides to
others for the first time last summer, 2009.  There are several reasons
why we got into this, the original one being because of all the magic  
my daughter
Piper received on her PCT treks in 2008 and 2009.  I wanted to repay
this amazing community in some way for all the kindness she received.
And to honor Piper for her strength and tenacity and bravery in hiking
the trail solo.

However, once we got into meeting, helping and getting to know all the
amazing people who came through the Chester area the hikers themselves
became the reason for angeling.  Every single hiker was an amazing,
interesting person and yes, to be part of their journeys was a
privilege beyond measure.  We never insisted on helping anyone (except
for one poor hiker with a nasty case of poison oak), always tried not
to intrude on their experience but did feel like the trail crossed  
the highway at difficult place, and offered rides to town whenever  
possible.   When we could help we were rewarded
with getting to know hikers of all ages with wonderful stories to
tell.  Some will be in our hearts forever.

What about other angels?  Why and how did you begin angeling and what
keeps you doing it?

BTW, it looks like Piper's Mom will be at it again this summer at the  
half-way point near Chester...

Piper's Mom