In the upcoming summer issue of the PCT Communicator, PCTA supporter Laraine Downer has a touching piece about her late friend, Charles Hoeppner.
Charlie, as she called him, was an accomplished artist with a preferred medium of drawing. He supported his simple lifestyle as a botanical illustrator and was constantly sketching and painting.
Charles Hoeppner near Carson Pass in 1989.
Laraine credits Charlie with introducing her to backpacking and to wilderness in California, where their many hikes sometimes touched or crossed the Pacific Crest Trail. “This, I believe, is where my PCT hiking seed was planted, although it took a while to sprout,” Laraine writes.
She notes that Charlie, whose trail name was “Oak,” was closely in touch with nature as an environmentalist and wilderness buff. This gave him the awareness and sensitivity necessary to transfer what he saw in nature onto paper.
Charlie loved watercolor. We love his painting of Golden Bear Lake in Center Basin. He visited the lake on a short side trip off of the JMT in 1987.
In 1989, Laraine and a friend, Melouise Pfeffer, began section-hiking the PCT. In support, Charlie took out a PCTA membership. In 2000, when she began a thru-hike for pledges for the PCTA, Charlie pledged $1,000.
He continued as a Trail Guardian as often as he was able, and frequently donated in support of trail protection and maintenance. When he died, he left a large bequest to the PCTA, which is being used in 2014 to fund important trail protection programs.
Charlie’s gift to the Pacific Crest Trail will leave a lasting legacy. He continues as a man that walked the talk.
He was an accomplished nature illustrator who had an eye for bringing his wilderness passion to the page.
Charlie’s illustration from his 20-day solo on the Kungsleden Trail (Kings Trail) in Sweden.
Charlie Hoeppner lived a life devoted to art, nature, wilderness and hiking. He was especially passionate about preserving oak trees. Read Laraine Downer’s story about her friend in the Summer 2014 issue of the PCT Communicator.