Hikers

TIADAGHTON STATE FOREST - The sign on the Mid State Trail in Lycoming County stopped me in my tracks Tuesday morning during a three-day backpacking trip in north central Pennsylvania. The posting by the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said: "Environmentally Sensitive Area. Hiking Only. " Yet just a few hundred yards west of the trail, machines were bulldozing the mountaintop for a natural gas well in Pennsylvania's latest natural-resources bonanza, the Marcellus Shale, which resides more than a mile underground.

For the second time in little more than two years, state police are investigating murder on the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania, this time involving two hikers near Duncannon, Perry County. Police said other hikers discovered the two bodies about 6 p.m. Thursday inside a lean-to 200 yards off the trail about four miles southwest of Duncannon. Authorities identified the victims as Geoffrey L. Hood, 26, of Signal Mountain, Tenn., and Molly Larue, 26, of Shaker Heights, Ohio.

The hikers are free. Finally. After more than two years in captivity, Americans Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal, an Elkins Park native, have been released from Iran's notorious Evin prison. Let their journey back to the United States and their long-suffering families be a safe one, and their homecoming joyous. The two men, and a third American, Sarah Shourd, were arrested on July 31, 2009, during a vacation along a poorly marked area on the border between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran.

The footpath of rich, dark earth, fallen leaves and soft pine needles, bordered by wild azaleas, native dogwood, yellow coltsfoot and scarlet oak, grows challenging at some points and becomes easily negotiable at others. Two Fridays ago, hiking chums Rebecca Wight and Claudia Brenner were journeying south on the Appalachian Trail as it meanders through Michaux State Forest, about 13 miles west of here. They chose, for some reason, to veer onto a smaller, more remote trail called the Rocky Knob.

State police in Gettysburg said yesterday they had no new leads but were continuing their investigation into the fatal shooting of a hiker and the wounding of another near the Appalachian Trail in Adams County on Friday. Spokesman Phil Carey said troopers were continuing to look for clues in the Michaux State Forest, where Rebecca Wight, 29, of Blacksburg, Va., was killed and Claudia Brenner, 31, of Ithaca, N.Y., was wounded. The two women had been hiking along the Appalachian Trail and the Rocky Knob Trail.

Following spring northward from Georgia to Maine, the first long-distance hiker of the year passed the halfway point on the Appalachian Trail last week and is now near a somber landmark: the Thelma Marks Shelter. The trailside shelter, a log lean-to three miles from Duncannon, Pa., northwest of Harrisburg, was just another resting point until Sept. 13, when two young hikers were slain there. The deaths sent a shiver of fear the length of the 2,144-mile trail, where friendliness and camaraderie are the rule.

In a gesture coinciding with the end of Islam's holiest month, a traditional time of clemency, Iran has announced it will release Sarah Shourd, one of three American hikers accused of illegally entering the country more than 13 months ago. In a text message sent Thursday to reporters in Iran by the Ministry of Culture, officials said they would release her on humanitarian grounds Saturday in Tehran. Shourd, 31, a language instructor from Oakland, Calif., reportedly has a precancerous condition of the cervix and a lump in her breast requiring immediate attention.

WASHINGTON - Looking better fed and rested than on the day they were freed two weeks ago, American hikers Josh Fattal, of Elkins Park, and Shane Bauer, of Minnesota, came to Capitol Hill today for the first leg of a national thank-you tour. In a private meeting with Senators Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.), the hikers, both 29, expressed their gratitude to the lawmakers for their support during the 26 months that they were imprisoned in Iran on charges of espionage.

In Washington state last month, a hiker lost the trail, then lost his camp, then wandered around the Olympic Mountains for five days. After searchers had given up hope of finding him alive, he showed up at a ranger station, tired and hungry. The sound of bagpipes, he said, had led him there. Meanwhile, just to the south on Mount Rainier, two climbers from that renowned alpine training ground, Washington, D.C., became trapped in a storm on a steep, icy route called Liberty Ridge.

The search for a Delaware County man who disappeared last November on a remote mountaintop in central Oregon has ended. "Closure helps," Daniel R. Curran Jr. said yesterday after law enforcement officials in Bend, Ore., told him that hikers had found his son's body Friday. "We were all pretty much resigned to the fact that we lost him. The question was if he was going to be found. " Daniel R. Curran 3d, of Springfield, would have been 25 on March 19. The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office began an autopsy on Monday and yesterday confirmed Curran's identity with dental records, Detective Don Pray said in an interview.

A hiker whose body was found near Yaki Point in the Grand Canyon National Park was that of 41-year-old Peter Reichner of Glenside, Pa., officials said. The National Park Service said Reichner's body was found Jan. 12, next to the South Kaibab Trail about one-third mile from the trailhead located near Yaki Point on the South Rim. Reichner died of injuries sustained in a fall, the Park Service said, adding the investigation is ongoing. Additional details are not yet available.

This, you know: Cross-country skiers will choose a secluded forest trail over a popular black diamond run every time. But, shhhh, don't tell: Backcountry ski trails don't come much better than those on many national wildlife refuges. That's still largely a secret. Scenic wildlife refuges ideal for winter exploration by ski and snowshoe hide in many Northern states. The terrain and difficulty level vary widely. Some refuges lend ski equipment free or rent it at low cost. Wildlife sightings are a bonus.

WASHINGTON - For 26 months, the U.S. hikers jailed in Iran had only each other for reality checks. But through family letters, and their mothers' brief visit last year, Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer had glimmerings that their plight had resonated beyond prison walls. On Wednesday, two weeks after complicated diplomatic and financial maneuvers produced their freedom, Fattal, of Elkins Park, and Bauer, of Minnesota, set out on a national tour to thank those who took up their cause.

WASHINGTON - Looking better fed and rested than on the day they were freed two weeks ago, American hikers Josh Fattal, of Elkins Park, and Shane Bauer, of Minnesota, came to Capitol Hill today for the first leg of a national thank-you tour. In a private meeting with Senators Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.), the hikers, both 29, expressed their gratitude to the lawmakers for their support during the 26 months that they were imprisoned in Iran on charges of espionage.

Yes, Josh Fattal, you can go home again. You'll be amazed at how people tried to get you back. That was the message from more than 250 well-wishers Saturday, many of them founding members of FreeTheHikers.org, as they toasted the return of the Elkins Park native imprisoned in Iran for 781 days on charges of espionage. Sharing hugs and sighs of relief, a stream of supporters, including U.S. Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz (D., Pa.) and dozens of Cheltenham High graduates, came together in a 19th-century castle at Arcadia University in Glenside to share a moment that at times seemed just a distant wish.

NEW YORK - Adding the first details to what had been a sketchy picture of their Iranian detention, Americans Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer spoke Sunday of being blindfolded whenever they left their 8-by-13-foot cell, fasting for days to force delivery of letters from their families, hearing the screams of beaten prisoners, and of the 781 days they spent "in a world of lies and false hope. " Looking gaunt with dark circles under his eyes, Fattal, 29, who was raised in Elkins Park, said their release from Evin Prison in Tehran Wednesday was a surprise.

Bound finally for the United States after two years in Iranian custody as suspected spies, Americans Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer showered praise Saturday on Oman, the Persian Gulf sultanate that played a pivotal role in engineering their ultimate freedom. The two were let go Wednesday from Evin Prison in Iran after a turbulent week of behind-the-scenes negotiations. Joined in Oman by their parents, siblings, and Bauer's fiancée, Sarah Shourd, the former prisoners spent their first three days of freedom in Oman's capital, Muscat.

NEW YORK - Adding the first details to what had been a sketchy picture of their Iranian detention, Americans Joshua Fattal and Shane Bauer spoke Sunday of being blindfolded whenever they left their 8-by-13-foot cell, fasting for days to force delivery of letters from their families, hearing the screams of beaten prisoners, and of the 781 days they spent "in a world of lies and false hope. " Looking gaunt, with dark circles under his eyes, Fattal, 29, who was raised in Elkins Park, said their release from Evin Prison in Tehran Wednesday was a surprise.