Kevin Kearns in another life-long friend from Penn State and was in fact my very cool roomate! We had a blast exploring the Appalachian woods surounding our campus and one time went on a hike north up the Appalachian Trail towards Caledonia State Park. Kevin had just previously come back from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and this influenced me to make the same basic trip. Kevin's famous words to me just before I left were, "Whatever you do, don't camp at Elk Meadows!" And indeed this is were I ended sleeping my first night there.
Kevin did come out west to the Seattle area. We had a great trip to the Cascades where we climbed Kaleetan Peak with Pete Smith who Kevin had just met a few days before in "this is indeed a small world story." After losing track of Kevin for several years, I finally found him in Maine still involved in the horticulture industry.
