from them, and having some- one that’s already done it look at you and say, ‘You can do this’—that’s huge. As humans we can do extraordinary things. All of us can. We just have to believe in ourselves, commit to it and put in the effort.”
“As humans, we can do extraordinary things. All of us can. We just have to believe in ourselves, commit to it and put in the effort.”
A Walk on the Wild Side: Ed Talone
— Rachel Jones, first woman in the “1,000 Club” for Colorado’s Manitou Incline
What’s kept Ed Talone hiking, even after hitting nearly 1,300 trails? An insatiable curiosity to find out what’s waiting just around the bend. Talone grew up in suburban Maryland, and a pivotal childhood experience sparked his passion to explore the world by foot, an endeavor that continues to this day with each hike meticulously logged in an Excel sheet spanning hun- dreds of rows. “It was 1966, when I was 8, and my dad took my brother and I up to the C&O Canal Towpath,” Talone explained. “We were at the Monocacy Aqueduct and came to milepost 42, where my father said, ‘It’s 42 miles back to Washington, D.C., and 142 miles to Cumberland, Maryland.’ I did a little math in my head and figured those 184 miles [rtc.li/c-o-canal] would take me my whole life! And I thought that was wonderful, because that meant it would never end. I’ve now probably walked with a pack maybe 80,000 miles. I never thought I would walk that much, but that’s what started it.” In particular, Talone loves rail-trails, because they typi- cally have the tunnels, trestles and other structures that have always fascinated him (both his father and brother were engi-
neers). But for a man who typically walks alone, they also offer a sense of connection. “It’s visiting all the interest- ing little towns that you might never see otherwise,” said Talone. “Without the C&O towpath, I would have never visited Hancock or Cumberland or Little Orleans in Maryland. I would have never visited places like that unless I was doing these trails. That’s what keeps me going back—that never gets old.” A self-described “list keeper,” Talone has also kept track of all the towns he’s visited on his hikes, noting that it’s almost 9,000 now. “It’s visiting all the interesting little towns … I would have never visited places like that unless I was doing these trails. That’s what keeps me going back—that never gets old.” — Ed Talone, hiker of nearly 1,300 trails
PHOTOS: This page, from left: Colorado’s Manitou Incline follows an old cog railroad route up the eastern slope of Pikes Peak on a series of more than 2,700 steps. | Courtesy Rachel Jones; Ed Talone on West Virginia’s Blackwater Canyon Trail, a rail-trail in the Monongahela National Forest | Courtesy Ed Talone. Opposite page: Brooke Pavek, enjoying her work at a local fox sanctuary | Courtesy Brooke Pavek.
Rails to Trails MAGAZINE | FALL 2025
22
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator