CSUN University News Clippings

Photo by Rob Varela

In late May, a flu-like malady forced Scott Williams to return to Westlake Village to recuperate. Williams works out with the help of San Fernando Valley fitness trainer Michael Grimm.

Photo by Rob Varela

While hiking along a cliff in May, Matt Walker fell; a single bush stopped him from pitching down a sheer drop. He shows his battered feet at Triunfo Community Park in Westlake.

Photo by Rob Varela

Last week, Paul Rose, left, and Matt Walker were driven to Westlake Village by a volunteer so Rose could see a doctor and be treated with topical and oral antibiotics. He had lost his footing and catapulted down an icy slope, slamming into rock after rock.

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Eight hundred miles down, 1,600 to go.

A bad fall, dwindling funds and a virus have slowed them down, but three Westlake High School alumni hiking the length of the Pacific Crest Trail this summer plan to finish their odyssey, regardless of the hardships.

“Nothing will stop us,” said hiker Matt Walker.

The journey began May 6 at the U.S.-Mexico border, where Walker, 22; Scott Williams, 23, and Paul Rose, 23, took the first steps in their 2,650-mile hike to benefit Homes For Our Troops, a nonprofit organization that constructs handicap-accessible homes for disabled veterans. The hikers are calling their effort “Trek for our Troops.”

“This is so much more dangerous than we thought it would be,” Walker said.

The three have encountered rattlesnakes, blisters, falls, illness and temperature extremes in their bid to walk the length of the national scenic trail from Mexico to Canada.

Their first major problem was in late May, when a flu-like malady causing vomiting and lung congestion forced Williams to return home to recuperate. He plans to rejoin the others Saturday in Sacramento.

Until then, Williams is getting in shape with the help of San Fernando Valley fitness trainer Michael Grimm. Carrying a 30-pound backpack, Williams, 23, huffed around a softball field in a Westlake Village park Friday morning as Grimm trotted alongside him, tossing a medicine ball to him.

Grimm instructs Williams to run, lunge, run backwards and catch the ball without warning so he’ll be ready for the unexpected without losing a steady, strong gait.

“I’m trying to mimic what he has to go through,” Grimm said.

Grimm agreed to volunteer his time to train Williams after meeting the hikers during a brief visit home they made at the end of May..

“Once I met them in person, it was hard to turn away,” Grimm said. “It was their genuine spirit, their genuine passion.”

Walker and Rose have learned that passion is not without its pitfalls. While hiking along a cliff in May, Walker fell; a single bush stopped him from pitching down a sheer drop.

Then, while in the icy Sierra last week, Rose suffered a bad scrape.

Things had already been dicey for the Southern Californians, who had miscalculated the Sierra summer.

“We have no snow experience,” Rose said. “Literally all we had (for hiking during the day) were trail-running shoes, shorts and T-shirts.”

They did have down jackets with them but saved them for night time as hiking in them caused them to sweat, cool and get even colder. It was one more hard lesson from the trail, Walker said.

Still they pressed on, crossing passes that reached 13,000 feet and beyond. They shivered, their tent froze into an igloo at night and their sneakers caked with ice.

“I think I felt my toes fewer times than I didn’t feel them,” Rose said.

On June 21, they were hiking across a snowfield when Rose lost his footing and catapulted down an icy slope, slamming into rock after rock.

“I did 20 yards of sliding. I could see blood on the snow,” Rose said.

Walker scrambled down to help, examining the deep scrapes on Rose’s hips, legs and hands. Rose majored in exercise physiology, so he had enough medical knowledge to know wounds had to dry or they would become infected. Rose decided to let the sun bake his wounds by hiking in the buff.

“I figured it was June 21, the summer solstice. It’s the official ‘hike naked’ day,” Rose said.

On June 25, Rose and Walker were driven home by a volunteer so Rose could see a doctor and be treated with topical and oral antibiotics. Rose’s cuts are infected, so the trio plans to stay in Westlake until Thursday, when they will then drive to Sacramento in time to sing at an Independence Day celebration.

“We’re either going to come back and hike the miles we missed, or pick up the trail there,” Williams said.

The three have integrated singing into their effort because high school choir practice was where they became friends. After Walker graduated from UC Berkeley, Navy veteran Williams returned from Iraq and Rose graduated from CSU Northridge, they decided to do something meaningful this summer while pursuing an adventure. As a veteran, Williams had seen too many of his buddies go home missing parts of themselves, so the three decided on this cause.

The hikers raised about $25,000 before they left, short of the $100,000 they hoped to draw, but they planned to raise the rest on the road with performances planned at cities and stops along the way.

They are hoping people donate money through their Web site, www.trekfortroops.com, so they can raise about $5,000 to buy food for the rest of the journey, an expense they underestimated.

“We’ll fail if we can’t keep weight on,” Rose said. “If I get down to 155, I’ll be anemic.”

Rose, who is 6 feet tall, dropped to 169 pounds on the trip.

The three plan to arrive at a park just over the Canadian border sometime in the middle of September.

Rose’s girlfriend, Michelle Larson, 20, said she worries about him but is grateful he’s not alone.

“I know that they have each other,” she said. “That’s been a real comfort.”