Trailing AT hikers

SALISBURY — The Appalachian Trail brings many interesting characters through the Northwest Corner. Stopping and getting to know one can be quite an experience.The trail, or the AT as it is known to many hikers, stretches from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine, a distance of 2,180 miles. Although some hikers do short stretches of it, each year many men and women (and quite a few dogs) start at the southern terminus and begin the long walk north to Maine. As they walk, they often stop in towns along the way, to check for mail at the local post office, to gather email from computers available at libraries and other public spots, to stock up on supplies and buy new hiking boots and sometimes to shower, eat a hot meal and sleep in a real bed.The trail attracts all types of people trying to attain all sorts of goals. Some just want to walk. Some just want to get away. Whatever their reasons, they find anonymity on the trail, especially thanks to the tradition of all hikers adopting trail names, which often stay with them for the rest of their lives.

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Tuning up two passions under one roof

The Webb Family in the workshop. From left: Phyllis, Dale, Ben and Josh Webb, and project manager Hannah Schiffer.

Natalia Zukerman

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In the late ‘90s, Dale Webb was working in engineering and product design at a corporate job. “I took up instrument manufacturing as a fun challenge,” said Dale. After an exhibit at The National Association of Music Merchants in Anaheim, California, in 1999, The Magic Fluke company was born. “We were casting finger boards and gluing these things together in our basement in New Hartford and it just took off,” Dale explained. “It was really a wild ride, it kind of had a life of its own.”

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Robert Cray

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