Trail supervisor combats Parkinson's while still helping hikers

He has spent untold hours helping to clear a path for others. Now, as his life's journey turns into the dark corner of Parkinson's disease, folks who follow in his footsteps prepare to shine some light on this trailblazer.

When the Pine Mountain Trail Association marks its 40th anniversary Saturday, members also will celebrate Carl Carlson for the 20 years he has served as trail maintenance supervisor.

During the past two decades, if you saw a green Ford pickup truck along Ga. Hwy. 190, the route that runs atop the Pine Mountain ridge, you probably had caught up with Carlson. The road also is named Neal Wickham Highway, honoring the trail's founder. Carlson succeeded him as trail maintenance supervisor in 1995.

The 23-mile Pine Mountain Trail runs through F.D. Roosevelt State Park, but the association's volunteers -- not the park ranger -- maintain the main trail and its seven loops, totaling 42 miles of hiking in Harris and Meriwether counties.

That's where Carlson, a retired U.S. Army and Delta Airlines pilot, found a marvelous mix of activity and sanctuary.

Whether he was clearing overgrowth or alerting others about a fallen tree, or coordinating work days or shuttling hikers, Carlson has been essential to the association. So around January, when he told Jim Hall, the group's secretary and former president, that Parkinson's disease had taken too much out of him and he physically couldn't get on the trail anymore, the PMTA started grooming other members to cover some of Carlson's duties.

"It was so sad when he made that call to me," Hall said. " We all think the world of Carl."

'So close to it'

Carlson, 79, retired in 1993 after flying Delta jets for 26 years and Army planes for eight years. Living in Pine Mountain Valley, and with the trail just 3 miles from his home, it was a natural attraction for him.

"It's like just outside my backdoor," he said. "I'm so close to it."

As he benefited from the trail, Carlson said, "I figured I needed to contribute a little bit to it."

So he became increasingly involved with the PMTA and was ready to accept the lead from Wickham.

"Neal showed me what they did as far as re-leveling the trail," he said. "In the summertime, we got in the creek and used the sand from the bottom to throw it up on the bank.

"I've always been pretty physically fit, except for the last year or so. Parkinson's has kind of slowed me down."

But not even a tornado could slow down Carlson and his crew in 2011.

As the night of April 27 turned into the morning of April 28, an EF2 storm, with winds of 130 mph, crossed into Harris and Meriwether counties, according to the National Weather Service. The tornado touched down 2 miles northwest of Pine Mountain Valley around 11:50 p.m. By the time the twister lifted 35 minutes later, it had wreaked 24 miles of havoc with an average width of half a mile. And the most extensive damage was found in the park, where thousands of trees were snapped or uprooted and an estimated 30 percent of the 40 structures were destroyed or heavily damaged, the NWS reported.

Undaunted, PMTA members did their thing. Carlson and Hall, then the association's president, mapped out a recovery plan. The volunteers cleared the entire trail in about only 10 days, Hall said.

"We'd have crews that would come in one way and from the other way and meet in the middle, and that would be our day's work," he said. "There were a lot of times we literally had to take an orange flag and put it on a stick and hold it up and climb on top of stuff and say, 'There's the trail.'"

'By heart'

During last month's PMTA work day, Hall pointed to the shelter at the Dowdell Knob Loop trailhead. He and Carlson "and a whole bunch of other" folks built needed 26 trips to finish it in 2007, Hall said. At 1,395 feet, it's the highest point on the ridge.

As she watched her husband help Hall and PMTA member Larry Day take down a dead hickory tree, Joyce Carlson was asked what was going through her mind.

"Happiness," she said. "Satisfaction. Very content."

Because he wouldn't want to be anywhere else, even with his affliction?

"That's right," she said. "He loves this place. As he told somebody, 'I could draw this whole trail by heart.'"

About three years ago, Carl noticed an alarming decrease in his strength and stamina. The same hills the former marathon runner had traversed with ease suddenly seemed like mountains.

"He would be so exhausted when he came home," Joyce said. "It just took so much out of him."

Then came tremors in his hands.

"We couldn't understand what was going on," Joyce said.

Concerns arose about his mental acuity.

"He couldn't keep his train of thought," Joyce said. "He got to where he didn't want to do anything but sit, and I knew that wasn't like him."

After some medical tests and a brain scan, Carl was diagnosed with Parkinson's about two years ago. The disease is a progressive disorder of the nervous system, slowing and stiffening movement.

"It's not really, really bad yet," said Joyce, who volunteers at Callaway Gardens as a greeter in the butterfly center. "The doctor told us it's a slow progression."

The cognitive impairment Carl has shown was first thought to be Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia, Joyce said, but it's just part of the Parkinson's.

"He doesn't communicate a lot," she said.

'Stay involved'

Carl used to be a reading tutor at the Harris County Public Library. He also taught Sunday school and participated in the jail ministry through the Church of Christ in Pine Mountain Valley, where he still handles the church's finances and serves on the water board. For the positive impact he made in the community, he was among the residents selected to carry the 1996 Olympics torch as it went through Hamilton on the way to Atlanta.

No cure for Parkinson's exists. Medication has helped ease his agitation, and therapy has helped improve his speech, but nothing has returned Carl's ability to hike.

"I just really regret that for him," Joyce said. "He so enjoyed it."

Regardless, he still finds a way to be associated with the association. Although he can't hike with the PMTA anymore, Carl still plans the monthly work days to maintain the trail and the monthly hikes for members and the public, and he doesn't miss a board meeting.

All of which is a kind of therapy for Carl -- and another reason Joyce is grateful for the PMTA and its members.

"I'm so glad they go with this and still let him do all that," she said. "I just want him to stay involved."

Carl is welcome to do so, Hall said.

"As for one person taking over, we have not pushed that," he said. "A small group of loyal volunteers have banded together to come up with projects for each month this year and for several special projects like bridges."

Hall mentioned Ed Jones of Newnan, Larry Day of Talbot County, Joe Skinner and Mike Riffle of Columbus and Ron Golden of LaGrange, "along with help from various volunteers who show up to help," he said.

"We plan to just let this system continue," Hall said, "and Carl can take roll and bring hand tools to work start points for as long as he can."

Epilogue

As PMTA members gathered at the F.D. Roosevelt State Park headquarters, Carl was asked what he thinks about while he drives up the mountain he used to hike. He focuses on the blessing he still receives, not the one he lost.

"It's a place of history as well as beauty," he said. "I've always enjoyed the view we've got here."

Knowing his volunteer efforts over one-fifth of century have helped countless hikers enjoy that history, beauty and view, Carl acknowledged, "It makes me feel pretty good."

Mark Rice, 706-576-6272. Follow him on Twitter@MarkRiceLE.

IF YOU GO

What: 40th anniversary celebration of the Pine Mountain Trail Association.

When: Oct. 24; gather at 5 p.m.; dinner starts at 5:40 p.m.

Where: Liberty Bell Swimming Pool, large shelter, off Ga. Hwy. 354, on edge of F.D. Roosevelt State Park.

Cost: $15 adults, $5 children.

Reservations: Call PMTA secretary Jim Hall at 706-569-0497 by Oct. 19.

Info: www.pinemountaintrail.org

This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Trail supervisor combats Parkinson's while still helping hikers ."