Welcome to our first ever Friday Feature!
t’s been brought to our attention that we have so many talented and unique employees right here at Colonie Center that we wanted to create an area we can talk about them! Each month we will feature an employee here that has a unique story or an amazing accomplishment, whatever it is we want to talk about it right here! If you have an employee that you want to highlight please send an email to mmccarren@coloniemanagement.com and tell us why your employee is so awesome!
Meet Carl! Carl is currently an L.L. Bean employee right here at Colonie Center! Carl retired from NYS Department Of Transportation in July 2017 and immediately began making plans for his “Bucket List.” One of his dreams was to hike the Appalachian Trail end – to – end. Having already achieved the goals of being an Adirondack 46er, Winter 46er, and Northeast 111, and as an employee of the LLBean Outdoor Discovery School at Colonie Center, Carl has plenty of experience with the whims of nature and having the right gear to handle it. On April 5, 2018, at Springer Mountain, GA he began his adventures as a solo Northbound thru-hiker or NoBo as they say.
Carl is carrying everything he needs in his backpack — tent, sleeping bag, water & filter, food, stove, fuel, trekking poles, etc. Carl has already hiked over 600 miles and expects to reach Pearisburg, VA by Friday June 15. While a slight knee injury has set him back slightly, he is back on the trail and making good time. The entire Appalachian Trail is 2,190 miles.
He intends to finish at the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail at Mount Katahdin, Maine, hopefully by mid- September. Just in time to celebrate his 72nd birthday!
The below photo is the most recent photo we’ve received from Carl on the trail. It was taken April 26th at Clingman’s Dome, in Tennessee which is pretty much right smack in the middle of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
We are so proud of Carl and his accomplishment. We wish him nothing but success on the rest of his hike. We will be watching, Carl! And so can you, follow his progress on Twitter, @llbeanalbany, #carlonthetrail.