As some of you may be aware my brother Steve passed away October 18th, 2010. I received this letter from a friend of his and I feel that it really does sum up who he was.  Better than I could.  I have been trying to get ahold of Jim since he wrote this letter but have been unsuccessful,  I hope he doesn’t mind my repeating it here.

G’day Brad

I’m Jim Horrocks Steve’s mate from the AT. I was so upset by Steves death, It really brought home how slim our grip is on the planet.  Steve and I had laughed about catching up at some stage and I had always taken the thought for granted that it would happen one day but we now know that’s not going to happen and its just plain sad.

I will now have to rely on the great memories I had on the trail with Steve, which I can share with  you in the future. I started looking yesterday for some photos but wasnt able to find any digital shots, they must be stuck in a box somewhere, I dont think I had a digital camera back then so if you have any on file I would love to see them.  

I think dispersing his ashes on the trail is a beautiful idea . To be brutally honest though I have a pretty poor recollection of exact places on the trail. After nearly nine years ,the five months of hiking has kind of blurred into one long narrow trail in the woods. This is more about me than it not being memorable, I was always about who I met and what we did rather than taking in the incredible scenery. 

I can easily remember the first time I met Steve, I nearly crossed the road, he was on first appearences a scarey looking dude (until you got to know him) and was on a mission to find the post office before it closed in 10 minutes time, so it was a very brief encounter. I have absolutely no idea where that was. 

A few days later we hooked up at a shelter in the woods and were both heading into a town. We were both very fit by then and buggered if I know why but I was following Steve and he started to pickup the pace, Shit this guy was fast, I was going flat out just to keep up. This continued until we were both virtually running throught the woods, jumping logs and leaping creeks. We turned a two hour hike into a forty minute jog. Finally we hit the road into town and I had to call a stop. I couldn’t keep up any longer, Steve looked at me “keep up?” “I was just trying to figure out when you were going to stop chasing me.” We sat down and laughed on the side of the road, those really good laughs that end up in stomach aches and tears. 

That was us, we spent the rest of the trail to gether, we just clicked  but can I tell you where that was, I have absolutely no idea. So where should Steve finally hang his boots its so hard for me to say, If it was me choosing it would have to be the start of the hike on Springer Mountain, its a view of everything that lays before you, and in our case a knowledge of what was achieved and I do prefer to think about beginnings and not endings. Brad if you have some place in mind please do it, I think whatever you and your family were to choose would be perfect and I would back your choice one hundred percent. It was such a fabulous part of our life as through-hikers that it would be impossible to pick a spot that wouldn’t be perfect.  

Now that I have said heaps but contributed nothing I shall leave you to it , I’ll stay in contact and would really appreciate being kept in the loop with whatever you decide to do.

Jim Horrocks