Hiker Keeps Going At 80

STONE’S ADVENTURES INCLUDE ALASKAN, OVERSEAS CLIMBS

Posted: November 30, 2009 at 4:27 a.m.

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PONCA — The footing is dicey on a recent autumn day along a razorback ridge high above the Buft alo National River.

Rain earlier in the week has the trail slathered in slick, greasy mud. Loose rock is everywhere and the uphill climb rates a 10 on the wheezer scale.

Sally Stone handles the ascent likes it’s a walk in the mall. Sporting a daypack and the ever-present sunglasses she wears on the trail, Stone is near the front of a party of 12 hikers sweating out the rise.

Thousands of miles on foot have her strong and fi t. At age 80, Stone has no plans to stop.

Putting one foot in front of the other has led the Fayetteville grandmother of five on some high-mileage adventures. Stone backpacked the 223-mile Ouachita Trail through Arkansas and part of Oklahoma. She’s walked much of the Ozark Highlands Trail that twists for 165 miles across Arkansas’ northern tier.

Stone has hiked at Yosemite, Alaska, Colorado and in foreign lands. A good many miles on her hiking odometer were logged with Stone’s equally adventurous friend, Betty Brown of Rogers, who just turned 70.

“Sally’s just a mountain goat,” Brown said. “She can out hike most young people. I’ll bet we could put her up against some 25-year-olds and she could out hike them, especially if it’s uphill.”

About 150 friends celebrated at Stone’s birthday party. She turned 80 on Aug. 27. Guests were asked bring a gift to mark Stone’s “second childhood,” with the understanding that the mementos would be donated to Children’s House in Fayetteville.

Among the partygoers was Carol Bierwagen, another of Stone’s close friends. Bierwagen will mark the big 8-0 in five years. She and Stone are neighbors at Butterfi eld Trail Village in Fayetteville.

“I really take her as an example as someone to emulate as I get close to 80,” Bierwagen said. “I’m privileged to be her friend.”

Biking is another love in Stone’s portfolio of activities. She rode all 225 miles of the Katy Trail hike and bike path in Missouri. Two-wheeled adventures have tread on roads all over the United States and Europe.

Hitting the trails and roads came later in life for Stone. Family and a teaching career kept her busy. Washington Elementary and Ramay Junior High schools, both in Fayetteville, were among the schools where Stone enlightened young minds. She taught for a year in Monterrey, Mexico.

“I retired early,” Stone said. “I was only 60.”

It wasn’t long before she’d amassed a pack full of stories to tell around a campfi re or at her next birthday bash.

While Stone was on the trail at Yosemite, her car was broken into — by a bear. The animal ripped a door open, but didn’t crawl inside.

During a bike trip in Ohio, her tent wasn’t staked down and it blew into the water. A fellow camper rescued it while Stone was biking.

At Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area, Stone was hiking in a new pair of boots and took a tumble. The fall had her fearing the worst — that she’d never hike again.

“I was hiking along the Shaddox Hollow Trail and tripped over a root and shattered my fibula,” Stone recalled. “I thought, ‘I’ve wasted money on these new boots. I’ll never walk again.’”

There was a seven-week Alaska camping trip Stone went on with Brown that is dear to Brown’s heart.

“We were gone seven weeks and only stayed in a motel one night. That’s only because it was raining in Hays, Kan.,” Brown said. “The deal is, if it’s pouring rain, we don’t camp.”

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