WEST ENDERS BEGIN THRU-HIKE ON PACIFIC CREST TRAIL

The tulips that former Portland Parks Department employee Mary Cameron planted last fall on the Western Prom are blooming, but she’s not here to see them. Instead, she’s setting off with fellow USM alum John Baldwin to hike 2,663-mile Pacific Crest Trail.

This trail stretches from the Mexican border up through California, Oregon, andWashington, where it crosses into British Columbia. Three years ago, Cameron (who is known on the trail as “Lawn Ornament”) thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail as a volunteer for the Maine Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. While her goal was modest—under a thousand dollars—she finished with a sponsorship base of over 250 donors, having raised approximately $9,000.

This summer, as Cameron and Baldwin will trek through 700 miles of desert, several hundred miles of the Sierra Nevada, vistas of volcanoes and Cascade Range glaciers, historic mining sites, and temperatures ranging from below freezing to the low hundreds, theywill be raising money for the American Heart Association. Both hikers have relatives who have suffered from heartdisease.

You can follow Cameron and Baldwin through their online journal at http://www.trailjournals.com/redornament/.

If you are interested in supporting their fundraising efforts, you may send a pledge to P.O. Box 4758, Portland, ME,04112 or visit the Heart Walk link from their online journal. For more information about the American HeartAssociation’s work in Maine, please visithttp://www.americanheart.org. To learn more about the Pacific Crest Trail, visit http://www.pcta.org.