From one friend to another.

2013-04-06 13:33:12.000 – Charlie Hawkins,  Summit Volunteer

Friends

This is my third time volunteering on the summit. The first two times were with my best friend Brad Bradstreet. Brad always loved being on top of the highest place in the north east but a year ago today he went to be in the highest place of all. Brad passed away and left me with a hole in my life but he will be with us all the time. I’m spending my week on the summit with a good friend John Donovan. We starting talking online a couple years ago about the Seek the Peak (STP) hike and we got to see each other for the first time at the after party. We always talked online and would only see each other at the after party’s so we both came up with the idea of doing a week together on the summit. There was no doubt that a friendship started with the first contact talking about Seek The Peak.

Even though he is a good friend I still miss being up here with my buddy Brad. I started talking to Brad on the MWOBS forum back in 2007 when a group of members were talking about what trail they were going to hike. I was unable to go that year but I kept in touch with everyone on the forum and then face book. The next year Brad asked me to hike with him for STP and after a year and a half of just talking on the forum we set off for the best day of my life on the morning of STP.

I did not make it to the summit that year but something better happened– a friendship that would make me a member of his family and a friendship with the people that support the MWOBS. There is a group of us that get together a lot because of Brad and the very nice people that work for the MWOBS. The MWOBS is a big part of all our lives and we love all coming together for the STP weekend. On the summit this week I took on the job that my buddy Brad had when we came up here which is to clean and do the dishes. He said he would do this because he could not cook. I do miss him each day but he has put together a group of friends that would have never got to meet each other if it wasn’t for him and the MWOBS.

Rest in peace my brother, you will never be forgotten.

Charlie Hawkins,  Summit Volunteer