Joe Barella was born 1937 and grew up in Glenwood, located in the village of Bakersville in the town of New Hartford, Connecticut.
By Tim Baker, Register Citizen Staff
NEW HARTFORD - Bakerville resident Joseph Barella, 54, likes to take long walks to relieve stress.
A hike he completed in late July ought to keep him tension-free for some time to come. On July 26, the dry-wall contractor completed the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, the second time he as done so.
At right: Bakerville resident Joseph Barella has conquered
the Appalachian Trail twice.
Photograph by John Murrary, Register Citizen staff
photographer.
In 1985, he finished the trek on the same date and was the first of the season to reach the crest of Maine's Mount Katahdin - the finishing line of the longest continuously marked footpath in the world.
"I think I kind of needed it," Barella said about his latest walk. "It's too crowded here," he said of life in Northwestern Connecticut.
He said he was more relaxed during this hike because he was familiar with the trail. Unlike his first time, Barella walked late into the evenings in order to gain a vantage point to witness the sunsets of 14 different states.
The trail runs the length of the Appalachian Mountains from Georgia to Maine.
On his first walk, Barella said crossing the Kennebeck River in Maine gave him his greatest challenge. The violent waters knocked him down several times.
This time around he met his most difficult physical challenge again in the state of Maine - which Appalachian trekkers call "R&R" for "root and rock," Barella said. This time a storm atop Mount Washington was his greatest hurdle. Barella camped on the mountain near the timberline about 4,000 feet above sea level.
Storms traditionally get more violent at that height, Barella said. "The weather's erratic up there." Before he made camp, a storm kicked in with 60-mph winds reducing visibility to 5 feet.
"I thought my backpack straps would break," he said. Barella finally found shelter in a building where he was safe for the night. Barella's diet consisted of freeze-dried foods like rice and powdered soups which he mixed in boiling water at camp. He also carried a bag of apples most of the time. Fellow hikers thought he was crazy to shoulder the extra weight, but "I love apples and I didn't need to carry water," he said.
Barella kept a quick pace at about 25 miles per day. He began the trip on March 31 and finished about 4 months later. His pace allowed him to diverge from the trail when he felt like seeing the sights without losing much time. Barella was the fifth to finish the walk this season, said his wife, Pat, a nurse at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital.
A runner who has completed the Boston Marathon, Barella said the recent trip put him back into shape and lifted his spirits.
"The flowers down south were just incredible - whole mountain sides of trilliums from white to deep purple," Barella said.
His favorite part of the trek: "Just watching nature," Barella said. "When you're out there that long, you start to understand just how it works."
Barella camped in his small tent most nights. Occasionally, he would stay at one of the shelters that are scattered along the length of the trail. While in the Connecticut section of the trail in West Cornwall, his son, James, picked him up and Barella stayed two nights in his own bed at home before he finished the walk.
When he reached Katahdin, Barella turned around and walked the 283 miles of Main trail again in order to say farewell to some of the trekkers he met along the way.
While on the trail, acquaintances go by nicknames. This time around, Barella was known as "Italian Scallion" because of his habit of munching on wild onions he found along the trail.
Barella said he doesn't know if he'll walk the trail again. If so, the decision will be spontaneous like the first two were.
While walking, Barella carried no watch and doesn't keep track of the time or date. "We're on schedules all our lives; out there I'm free and loose."
From left to right: Perette Barella and her friend Amanda,
Patricia Barella, and Joe Barella. Photo by Brenda Make
