MORNING SENTINEL • December 10, 2021
Nearly 70 years ago a group of friends at Waterville High School decided to head north to climb Mount Katahdin. For one of them, Stephen Clark, that hike set him on a much longer path that would encompass much of his life. On that initial trip to Katahdin during his sophomore year of high school, Clark met Percival Baxter, the former Maine governor whose commitment to establishing a wilderness haven in Maine would give way to the creation of Baxter State Park. Before long Clark was helping to clear trails in the park, and in the ensuing decades he’s filled several different roles with organizations that oversee the Appalachian Trail, which runs through the park and famously concludes (or begins) at the summit of Katahdin. That lifelong commitment resulted in the 85-year-old Clark being inducted last month into the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame.