There are a few people on the AT that have acquired a larger than life status. Ward Leonard is the largest. He is the only person to double yo-yo (get to the end of the trail turn around and do it again) in a SINGLE YEAR and he still holds the record for fastest unassisted thru hike. Un/fortunately, I was unable to meet him first hand seeing as he was escorted from the trail several years ago at gun point and than told never to hike the trail again. You see he had a nasty habit of scaring the s**t out of hiker just for the fun of it. His last attempt to scare thru hikers went too far.
You see in 1996 two women were murdered in Shenandoah National Park. Ward approached two female hikers a few days after a suspect was taken in and said …
“you heard what happened to those women”…”same things gonna happen to you tonight” as Ward pulled his thumb across his throat in a slicing motion.
The two female hikers had heard of Ward and didn’t think he would hurt them but, the joke had gone too far and it was hard to be sure with someone like Ward. The next day the women called the proper authorities and Ward was asked never to return to the trail. From what I hear his antics typically didn’t go that far.
Mostly he loved jumping out from behind bushes and trees, scaring hikers and then disappearing down the trail. He also liked to walk into a shelter well after dark. He would then shout the sleeping hikers awake angrily and proceed to predict who was gonna complete the trail. “YOUR GONNA MAKE IT, YOUR NOT GONNA MAKE IT, YOU’LL GET HURT BUT YOU’LL MAKE IT”. He would then throw the packs of the non-finishers into the woods and take off. As I said I did not meet Ward but 2 of the best encounters with ward were told to me.
- A hiker was running down a somewhat steep trail section at a very fast pace when all of a sudden he hears something approaching behind. Wondering what could be coming up on him so quickly at his already substantial speed he turns around to find Ward. “I’m number 1 on the AT”, proclaims Ward. “Maybe when I die”, yells the other hiker as Ward overtakes him.
- A hiker came across Ward during his arrest. It was a brutally hot day and ward was wearing a full white painters outfit while in clown face. “The sun is strong today”, says Ward. Ward and this hiker than proceed to have a very pleasant conversation (no joke). Until, two police officers get out of their car, guns drawn, put Ward in hand cuffs and place him in the back of their car. The window had been cracked half way to give the prisoners some air and right before the police car drives away Ward sticks his head out the window and says, “3 square meals a day.”
lonelypolicebox 