American adventure: Madison mother navigates continent in 3 months

It was time to see America.

Time to hear the song of faraway trees and feel the notes vibrate the soul. It was time to feel the chill of a north-country stream, and look with wonder at the purple mountains of the pioneers.

As Melanie Perl turned the ignition key in her Ford Taurus and left her Madison County home May 15, it was to do all these things and much more. During the span of three months the 45-year-old mother of three visited 30 national parks in the United States as well as Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada.

Having just received her associate’s degree from Piedmont Virginia Community College, Perl took a much-delayed summer break to indulge herself in one of her supreme pleasures — hiking. During the adventure her Vasque boots carried her through deserts, forests and onto stone-hard glaciers.

“Doing something like this has actually been a dream of mine since I was a teenager,” Perl said a few days after returning home. “In high school my best girlfriend and I would talk about having a Winnebago and driving across the country.

“But I got married very young and had children. Then about a year-and-a-half ago I met two young men who were hiking the Appalachian Trail.

“They shared pictures of their trip with me, and one of the guys had pictures he had taken in Alaska as well. I was awed by their pictures, and a few days later it dawned on me that I could do this.

“My children are grown, I’d recently been divorced and I’d have a break between finishing at PVCC and starting classes at the University of Virginia. My main objective was to see as much of the country as I could and have an adventure.”

Perl didn’t get bogged down in obsessive planning and logistical concerns. An experienced camper, she knew what essentials to bring, such as a tent, sleeping bag and small cook stove. She bought most of her food along the way, and wisely made sure she always had several gallons of water stowed in the car.

Hitting the road

“It was kind of like life in that I learned as I went along,” Perl said. “I brought way too much clothing, because I kept wearing the same things over and over.

“I’d stayed with family and friends here and there, but for the most part when I woke in the morning I didn’t know where I would be sleeping that night. I originally thought I would spend several days at Big Bend National Park in Texas, but I didn’t like it.

“It was beautiful, but it’s in the desert and was hot and I was ready to move on. I got to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico and somebody said, ‘Oh, you have to see Bandelier National Monument [in New Mexico].’ I had never heard of it. So all along the way people would make suggestions, or I would look at the map and see something interesting.”

Perl could have used any number of excuses not to take the trip. Some friends voiced apprehensions about a woman traveling solo around the country. And there were the obvious financial concerns, such as gas prices climbing from groan level to stomach-churning.

Still, she had taken to heart the quote about nobody arriving at the end of their life wishing they had worked more. And having watched her children grow up at blinding speed she knew how quickly years pass.

During a 15-mile hike through a part of Glacier National Park in Montana, Perl met a kindred spirit. The encounter reaffirmed her deep conviction that the exuberance for living doesn’t have to dim with age.

“It was a long day of hiking, and when I had about an hour to go I met this 80-year-old woman named Margaret,” Perl said as a smile came to her face. “She lived in Fresno, California, and had driven from there to Glacier, which is two full days of driving.

“She was camping in a tent by herself and hiking by herself. She was full of energy. I’m a fast hiker, and she didn’t hike quite as fast as me, but she was someone I could hike with on a regular basis.

“I told her, ‘Margaret, you are my hero. I want to be just like you when I grow up.’ I always say I’m going to die young, even if I live to be 100.”

‘Afraid of what?’

Perl said there were a few occasions when she felt lonely, but never afraid. What she found was a nation chocked full of good people.

“When I started talking about taking this trip people said to me, ‘Aren’t you afraid to do that?’ And I’d say, ‘Well, afraid of what?’ They’d say, ‘People. There’s evil people out there.’

“But I didn’t find any evil people. I found one creepy guy at a hostel, but he didn’t scare me. What I found was a country full of beautiful, wonderful people.

“I even picked up hitchhikers. I said I wouldn’t, but it goes against my nature to pass by someone in need.”

Perl had to stick her thumb, and neck, out as well. At one state park she needed to leave her car and travel to another location so she could hike back.

A woman with the park service was the first to stop. She said she couldn’t give Perl a ride, but her husband was right behind her and she would wave him down.

“After the husband picked me up he said he had to first visit the post office and get gas,” Perl said. “He then took me to his family’s cafe and treated me to breakfast.

“He had to go back there for work, but first he took me to the park entrance where I needed to get to to catch the shuttle to the trailhead.”

Perl trusted her instincts during the trip, and they didn’t fail her. When she couldn’t find a place to camp at Rocky Mountain National Park, a person she had met on the trail came to her aid.

“Through a series of events I had met this man at a trailhead,” Perl said. “He said he lived five minutes away and I was welcome to pitch my tent in his yard, or if I wanted a real roof over my head I was welcome to stay in his guest room.

“I had a good feeling about him so I took him up on his offer, and we had a great time. I learned that he was an Australian living in the U.S. His wife died in the first plane that hit the World Trade Center, and she was pregnant with their twin daughters.

“He had me in tears telling me this heartbreaking story. He’s another example of the truly good people I met.”

Perl said each of the parks she visited was special in its own way, and comparing one with another would be impossible. Although she couldn’t name a favorite, there were several that made deep impressions.

“Every park just awed me,” Perl said. “The trees in Sequoia National Park are incredible. I cried when I saw them. They were so overwhelming.

“I definitely want to go back there, and I want to go back to Yosemite. And Alaska was incredible. I learned that half the world’s glaciers are in Alaska.

“The one hike I did in Alaska was on the Harding Icefields Trail in Kenai Fjords National Park. I camped on the Turnagain Arm in a little place called Hope, and it was beautiful.

“The Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota were beautiful as well. Even Death Valley, as creepy as it was, was still incredible.”

Friends there in spirit

For the most part Perl hiked alone, but many people accompanied her vicariously through the blog she kept during her trip. Joe Lavernoich never left the Charlottesville area but followed along via the Internet.

“I think what Melanie did is one of the things that’s part of the American dream,” Lavernoich said. “Everybody wants to see our country, because we have a lot of beautiful places out there.

“I know it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. So I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to live vicariously through her, and share her adventures. I’m glad she was able to follow her dream.”

When Perl returned home Aug. 10, a number of welcome home message were waiting for her. One of the first had been sent by Jean and Sam Schuler, a retired couple she had met in a restaurant in Santa Fe, N.M.

“It was Melanie’s charisma and good energy that drew us to her,” Jean Schuler said recently via telephone from her home. “We think it’s a great, great thing she did.

“She shows all of us not to play it safe all the time. Go out and try new things and don’t be scared.

“She was a delightful person to meet, and we hope to stay in touch with her. She’s always welcome in our home.”

When Perl pulled into her driveway at journey’s end she checked her odometer. She had driven 16,667 miles, which didn’t include going to Alaska, because she had flown there.

By budgeting her money, and rarely eating in restaurants, Perl’s entire financial outlay for the trip came in under $5,000 — $2,300 of that was for gas. There was no charge for seeing a timber wolf loping through a clearing or watching grizzly bear cubs playing on a hillside.

The soul-touching concert given by the towering sequoias came without an admission fee as well. And the lasting memories of a beautiful country and the kind people who inhabit it were also given freely.

“It turned out that a really important part of the trip were the people I met along the way,” Perl said. “I now believe more than ever that everybody should do whatever their dream is.

“Don’t say I can’t do it, I can’t afford it or I don’t have the time. Somehow figure out a way to do it.

“Life is too important to work all the time and be so wrapped up in it that you can’t enjoy it.”

To read about Perl’s adventure go to http://www.hiker

meljourney.blogspot.com.