Written by Angela Ballard, PCTA Communicator Magazine Co-Editor
For many of us, it’s a season to give thanks and share love, generosity and soul-nourishing food. An apt time to turn my thoughts to Ed Faubert, who I was lucky enough to have known, like thousands of other PCT hikers, as the iconic PCT trail angel, Meadow Ed.
This fall, Meadow Ed passed away quietly in Pasadena, Calif. He will be sorely missed and joyfully remembered as one of our PCT legends, having fed and communed with scores of PCT long-distance hikers over a span of at least 20 years.
Cooking meals, sharing key trail updates (especially about water sources in Southern California) and general backpacking wisdom, giving rides, writing poetry, and much more; in the late 1990s and early 2000s on the PCT, one never knew how or where you might run into Meadow Ed next.
During our 2000 PCT hike, my husband and I (then amateur hikers, at best) first met Meadow Ed in the high desert community of Anza, Calif. where he gave us a crucial water report. We spent time with him again at his favorite spot, Kennedy Meadows, where we celebrated his birthday and he cooked for us, helped us prepare for the Sierra Nevada, and kept watch over our stuff when we disappeared to attend a desert rave. I’m not sure he approved of that jaunt but he welcomed us back with a smirk and breakfast. We saw him again in Independence where he kindly wrote an international postcard to my very-worried mother to tell her he’d seen me alive and well.
Angela Ballard pictured alongside Meadow Ed in Sept. 2000 in the N. Cascades, WA
Most remarkably, we ran into Meadow Ed again on the trail – nowhere near any trailheads – in the North Cascades, the day before we reached the U.S-Canadian border. “I’m just checking up on y’all,” he said. Everything had come full circle with Meadow Ed there at the beginning and end of our life-changing journey.
There is a whole generation of PCT trekkers with stories similar to ours. Meadow Ed was a friend and generous helper to countless of us, pushing ourselves beyond our limits to achieve something memorable and seemingly impossible.
Photo provided by Jason Waicunas // Festival Producer, PCT DAYS
He loved the PCT, its community, and its places and shared that love untethered, asking for nothing in return (except, perhaps, that we pay attention to the wisdom he had to impart).
It would take years for some PCT lessons to sink in, but I was paying attention. I saw an enviably well-lived life and countless other lives touched.
I give thanks for Meadow Ed and his example. May we all have insight and courage enough to make trails and their people such a huge part of our lives.
“Walking North driving South we went our own ways it seemed and yet we are still together as long as one of us can recall times asitting down by the Fire… Times under the pine trees as one with our fellow Hikers…”
From the poem “Do Not Cry for Me Nabor Jay,” by Meadow Ed, shared by Jason Waicunas, Festival Producer, PCT Days
Barney Scout Mann, author, Triple Crown thru-hiker, PCT historian, former PCTA board of directors’ member and PCT Communicator contributor, has written a wonderful tribute to Meadow Ed for Backpacker. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
‘Meadow Ed’ Wasn’t Just a Trail Angel – He Was a Pacific Crest Trail Hero, by Barney Scout Mann
PCTA staff members reflect on the passing of Meadow Ed
“Oddly enough, my most vivid memory of Meadow Ed takes place off of the PCT. It was Christmas time in 2006 or 2007. My father and I hiked down the South Kaibab Trail to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and stayed at the campground and after breakfast, started hiking up the Bright Angel Trail to return to the South Rim. On the hike out we ran into a hiker dressed in red sweatpants, Santa hat and white beard… It was none other than our friend Meadow Ed. What an unexpected and pleasant surprise to run into him out on a trail at Christmas. Dad and I couldn’t believe it and still think back on that chance meeting, and it makes us both smile.”
Anitra Kass, PCTA Southern California Regional Representative
Meadow Ed pictured at PCT Kickoff 2015.
“Knowing Meadow Ed was a gift. On my thru-hike in 2006, I listened intently to his water report at Lake Morena. He did it from memory! I knew right away that he was one of the grand figures of the trail. At Kennedy Meadows, his love for hikers shined like the rising sun when he gathered us for a memorial service for a fellow hiker who’d passed away on-trail. In later years, Meadow Ed’s soft, welcoming touch at Kick Off was always a highlight of the weekend. Maybe nobody on the PCT was more welcoming and kind. Meadow Ed was on a very short list of people invited to the premiere of Wild in Beverly Hills. Fish out of water, the both of us, but gosh it was a great day we spent together – he was my friend, the “real” trail, walking the red carpet and demolishing the appetizers with.”
Jack Haskel, PCTA Trail Information Manager
An excerpt of the poem, “Do Not Cry for Me Nabor Jay,” by Meadow Ed, shared by Jason Waicunas, Festival Producer, PCT DAYS
