Vibe-Winter-2425 - Flipbook - Page 39
LEFT: Garland’s Limmer boots are shown here enjoying some down time. Over the years,
Garland has logged thousands of miles and a few pairs of boots, including a few re-soles.
Junk refers to “raw data.” Think of
the jagged lines made by Strava or any
basic GPS tracking device. Garland hiked
slowly and intentionally, making sure
his lines were never junk. He uploaded
the data on his computer after each hike,
scrubbing it clean. “It’s important to
catch the flow of the trail. I spent as much
time making sure the maps had flow and
spatial accuracy as I did hiking.”
He even scrubbed U.S. Geological
Survey and Department of Transportation
data so that roads and rivers on his maps
were accurately portrayed. He told me one
story of driving down Franconia Notch
Parkway with two hands on the wheel and
a telescopic pole out the window.
“His knowledge is encyclopedic,”
Thayer says. “I think of Larry as the
ultimate craftsperson, huddled over his
desk with a dim lamp, making the best
product possible. He may not have been
using the ink and pen that Bradford
Washburn used on his maps, but he had
the same dedication and passion. He’s a
part of that legendary group.”
As the afternoon goes on, Garland
slows down with the map speak. A light
shower rolls through, and the families
whose kids were making my note-taking
difficult go inside. Garland and I stay
under the awning and continue to chat.
“I was a staff of one, I didn’t have a
department,” Garland says. “I told myself
if I ever woke up and thought, ‘What
would I rather do today,’ I’d retire. I
wasn’t even close to that point.”
The AMC let him go as part of an
organizational restructuring in April 2024.
Garland’s main worry is what will happen
to his life’s work. He isn’t sure if the AMC
knew what would happen to the data.
For now, Garland’s looking for his
next driving force. He freelance maps,
serves on local committees and boards,
and attends charity events and performing arts. And he’s still hiking. When I
ask him what he did in the past week,
he says he hiked five out of seven days:
the Sandwich Wilderness, Big Rock Cave
Trail in Albany, Wildcat Ridge. He even
climbed the Presidential Range to see
if he could remember what the Jewell
Trail was like. A friend said it was better
than the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail, and
Garland needed to verify that.
Winter 2024/25
“It’s an amazing trail!” Garland
exclaims, shedding his sarcastic bent.
“It was a perfect, bluebird day. I crossed
over Bigelow Lawn and took it all in.”
I ask him what his favorite trail is
and in another romantic break, Garland
says, “The trail that I’m hiking at the
moment. If you can’t enjoy where you
are at the moment, what’s the point?”
I ask him if he carries his maps with
him when he hikes.
“I have mine with me,” he says, pointing
to his head.
A similar version of this article was
originally published in The Resuscitator,
a biannual publication of the Old Huts
Association, an alumni organization
for people who worked in or around
the AMC’s High Mountain Huts. It was
published as a portion of a three-part
series dedicated to three longtime AMC
employees who were recently laid-off.
One of them was Larry Garland.
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