Appalachian Trail hike leaves what-ifs behind

Dennis Quinn talked about his brother to a group of mostly strangers. He spoke in a matter-of-fact way made easier by the passage of 18 months:

"Kyle Quinn was my younger brother, and he was murdered at Kutztown University."

That cold reality was delivered over omelets and hot coffee at a breakfast meeting of the Horsham Rotary earlier this month. Later, it was the unavoidable truth underlying a visit to fifth graders at a Warminster school.

Dennis Quinn tells the story with what seems like an emotional ease, but in his case, the demeanor doesn't signify acceptance. That elusive condition is what Quinn will be seeking on a trail that stretches from Georgia to Maine.

The 23-year-old brother of a teenager who was beaten to death on a block of Main Street will attempt to hike the 2,178-mile length of the Appalachian Trail. The challenge is not only to raise money for a scholarship fund named for his brother, but also to settle other things.

"I feel more prepared to hike the trail than to deal with my brother's death," Dennis Quinn said.

Since Kyle Quinn, 19, of Warminster, was beaten to death in an attack by three men in September 2007, his family has trudged through the grieving process.

Each has found a way to cope. Mother Denise Quinn founded the Kyle Quinn Memorial Scholarship Fund, which helps college-bound students at William Tennent High School, Kyle's alma mater in Warminster. Sister Caity Quinn started an annual dance party to raise money for the fund, and father Leo is helping to enhance a skate park in Warminster dedicated in his son's memory.

The hike, called Miles for Kyle, is Dennis Quinn's way.

"He has a lot of guilt," Denise Quinn said of Dennis, "like we all do."

The brothers, who were best friends, were students at Kutztown. Kyle Quinn, a poet and lover of Bob Dylan music and Eastern religions, was walking to his dorm from his brother's apartment at 2:30 a.m. when he was attacked. One man pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, and the two others were convicted of aggravated assault and conspiracy to commit third-degree murder. Each was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison.

"I do think, why didn't he stay over?" Dennis Quinn asks.

But Quinn insists that he isn't wallowing in the what-if.

After his brother's death, he returned to finish his environmental geography degree at Kutztown. He continued his involvement with the university's outdoor club, which has helped fuel his love of hiking. Most days, he walked to class, passing the spot where his brother was killed.

"It made me stronger," he said.

The next step is on to the what-now.

That includes the Appalachian Trail. He will leave tomorrow. His father will drive him to the starting point, Springer Mountain in Georgia. He hopes to reach the end, Mount Katahdin in Maine, by September - the anniversary of his brother's death.

More than 10,000 have hiked the entire trail since 1948, when Pennsylvanian Earl V. Shaffer became the first reported "thru-hiker," a term that refers to hikers who complete the trail's 2,100 miles in one trip or one year. About 2,000 attempt the hike each year. About 25 percent make it.

Quinn is excited. He relishes hiking, what he calls the "real, raw experience" that took him out of the shelter of the suburbs and let him get dirty.

He will travel with 18 pounds of gear, including a tent, sleeping bag, tiny stove and tracking device so his family can follow him on the Internet.

"There are physical challenges," said Bob McCaw, author of The Thru-Hiker's Handbook, a guide to the trail, ". . . but the greater challenges are mental and emotional. You spend a lot of time by yourself."

For the first month, Quinn will hike with friend Geoff Grandfield. Then, he'll be on his own.

Quinn had long talked about a thru-hike to add to experiences hiking in Italy and Spain and throughout the United States.

Kyle had planned to join him on part of his long-talked-about Appalachian trip. Four days before Kyle died, the brothers and several friends took a one-day hiking trip up to The Pinnacle, in Berks County, which is along the trail.

Dennis Quinn showed a picture of his brother taken during the trip at the Rotary presentation. Kyle Quinn was lying on a rock and playing air guitar.

"Kyle wanted to come with me," Dennis Quinn said, "so when I'm rained on, hungry and tired, hopefully Kyle will be there for me."