So Long Appalachian Outfitters

 

Washington Post Letter to the Editor Spring 2005 (original text, reduced in published version)

 

At the corner of rt. 123 and Lawyers Rd. in Vienna a northern Virginia landmark awaits destruction. As a boy in 1969 I recall visiting Appalachian Outfitters in Vienna and marveling at the seemingly endless selection of outdoor equipment…replete with enough gear to equip an afternoon hike to Great Falls or an extended trip to Alaska. The selection of canoes, hiking boots, guidebooks and climbing gear fascinated me. Little did I realize at the time, this one store would help foster my love for the outdoors, the natural world and ultimately my career choice.

 

Six years later my collection of outdoor gear bought at Appalachian Outfitters grew. A Kelty external frame pack, flashlights, tent, cooking pots, boots, backpacking stove, ground pad, compass and sleeping bag. This equipment was my passport to the outdoors, to year- around adventure in the Appalachian Mountains. From starry summer nights on Hawksbill Peak in Shenandoah National Park and winter backpacking trips to Dolly Sods West Virginia. When gear broke or wore out I would return to Appalachian Outfitters to find exactly what I needed for the next outing. The staff was always knowledgeable and ready to foster the aspirations of young adventurer.

 By the late seventies other fine outfitting stores in the region offered similar equipment. Yet AO, as regulars affectionately knew it, embodied the outdoors in its very setting. The tatty brown park-like buildings, shaded by tall maple trees with a canoe hanging above the entrance. It was a portal to adventure through the equipment it sold and the knowledge its staff willingly shared.

 

During the eighties my experiences backpacking evolved in to a passion for rock climbing and foreign travel. AO sold a fine selection of technical climbing gear. Everything I needed to access the vertical world safely. Perhaps no other purchase equaled the sensation of a new climbing rope…a supple lifeline that allowed one to access the elusive space between ecstasy and terror on a remote mountainside. In time, I would store my climbing gear and depart for Asia, Hawaii, Europe and the New World Tropics in search of a new passion…birds and plants. On all these excursions I lived out of a Lowe Expedition internal frame pack, bought at AO in 1983.

 

These days I drive by AO several times a week. The parking lot is void of battered, dusty cars sporting environmental bumper stickers, kayaks, canoes, bikes and trunks full of climbing gear. My faded and beaten Lowe pack still fits like glove. I use it routinely when leading various natural history outings from the Chesapeake to the West Virginia highlands. AO may be history, but much of my outdoor gear purchased there lives on. I am forever endowed by countless encounters with the natural world made possible in part by this one unique store.