PATH Pioneers

By Karl Kunkel

Bob and Lib Conner have a trunkload of memories of PATH -- and they are sharing some of those memories with the group. Not long ago, the Conners donated a stack of ancient PATH newsletters to Parthena Martin, president, so that a more thorough and detailed history of PATH and its members can be chronicled. The Conners, retired and living in High Point, still belong to PATH -- and have since about 1966, shortly after the group formed. Their most active years extended into the mid 1980s.

The Conners are rooted in hiking. In fact, it was on an Explorers Club hike that they first met, during the 1930s when they were students at Duke University. In Bob’s professional life, he was an architect. When they married, they settled down in Lib’s hometown of High Point, where he worked. There, looking for some fellow hikers in the Triad area, they stumbled upon PATH, a group that was still in its infancy.

Most of the approximately 50 members at that time lived in the Triad. Having a member on the roster living in Chapel Hill was a pretty big deal. That compact community made commuting to worktrips much easier and made recreational hiking much more practical. Look through one of those early newsletters and one will see a staggering number of planned events on each monthly schedule. Some were worktrips, but many were day hikes throughout North Carolina and Virginia. Bob and Lib described themselves as day hikers, taking in a small chunk of the AT at a time. For many years, each annual PATH meeting was held at a place on Muir’s Chapel Road in Greensboro. PATH member Harriet Mattes was always in charge of the meals at that event, Lib recalled.

Bob has many good memories of experiences and people connected with the AT. He is particularly appreciative of a married couple, Willie and Monie Repass, who had a farm near Groseclose, Va., (near I-81, where the AT crosses underneath). In those days, the AT cut through their pasture land, and the Repasses were hosts to thru-hikers and trail maintainers, alike. When PATH members were working, the Repasses always appeared with ice cream for them. The Conners recall reciprocating by bringing along extra 7-Ups for the Repasses, who were often working in the fields. Bob, a Pennsylvania native, would pass along a shoo-fly pie (molasses-based) whenever he could whip one up for them.

“They were our best friends along our section of the AT,” Bob said. “They always welcomed people to stay at their farm.”

When PATH members were stumped on how best to paint a white blaze on the Interstate underpass so it would show up to hikers, it was Willie Repass who came up with a solution. Paint a blue square on the concrete column and paint the white blaze inside it.

One of the Conners’ most memorable events was to participate in an aerial shot of some of the AT in the late ‘60s. PATH was directed to lay down large white sheets along the AT so they would be visible from the air. Shortly after that, the shots were used to help bring the National Scenic Trail Act into being, an act that would protect the AT.

Their PATH activities predate Interstate 77, gateway to Wytheville, and predate the AT’s relocation along the ridge overlooking Burke’s Garden. They have never seen the shelter overlooking the garden. At the time, the AT traversed Big Walker Mountain (U.S. 52). It was eventually relocated to the Burke’s Garden area due to lack of water for hikers.

Today, the Conners keep active in local outdoor activities, hiking when they can.

One project Bob would like to continue is to find some ancient Indian petroglyphs (drawings) on stone walls about nine miles southwest of Tazewell, Va. Tazewell is the county seat for Burke’s Garden and is located north of the garden. Pulling out a sheaf of yellowed, century-old papers that he has been studying, Bob figures these petroglyphs are in the Hungry Mother State Park area, near Marion. He said that years ago he figures he got very close to them, but was never able to find them. If any PATH members want to search with him, he would open for the expedition.

“It has been suggested we do this during the winter, though, when there are no rattlesnakes,” Bob said.

Lib keeps her editorial pen sharp as the newsletter editor for the Friends of State Parks, a non-profit group promoting North Carolina’s state parks.