Woodard left home at 17. A poor student, he had no interest in college and sought a railroad job because it was steady and paid well. Except for a stint in the Army, he would work for more than 30 years as a conductor and yard foreman for a number of railroads in the Northeast, including Amtrak.
"When I was in my 40s I was bound by my job," he said. "I would dream and fantasize about hiking all the time. And when I would finally go, I used every available moment. I would drive back just in time to go back to work."
The outdoors lifted his mood and silenced his anxieties. A roof over one's head was nothing more than a cage, he concluded. Woodard lived frugally, stockpiled money and, at 50, retired and escaped into the woods.
"We're only here for a short while. Time runs out on us," he said. "When we're in our 30s, we think we have lots of time. I'll do things later, we say. But now is later."
Mary Woodard, 63, a former chemist, met her husband in the mid-1990s when Billy Goat hiked through the Colorado town of Buena Vista, where she lived.
Today, they have a unique marriage: He hikes. She runs their home in Wellington, Nev. -- and provides support on the trail by mailing out resupplies of food, using Billy Goat's railroad pension. She also spends weeks every summer as a volunteer "trail angel," leaving out jugs of water for thirsty hikers and picking up garbage along the PCT.
When Billy Goat comes home for a break, he prefers to sleep in the garage, which is equipped with a workshop where he prepares his meals. It doesn't take long indoors for his mood to darken, his wife said.
"He doesn't want anyone to know his real name because I think he knows that George isn't really likable. . . . When he's off the trail, he's Billy Goat Gruff," she said, laughing. "He hikes because it makes him feel good. He's addicted to it."
Billy Goat's first fix of the day begins at or before dawn. Once he gets going, he rarely stops. His steady, slightly bowlegged march propels him at 2 mph for hours on end. He stops only to eat a stew made from a mix of dried groats, beans and vegetables.
His day typically ends after dark. His goal is to cover ground, not to linger and drink in the grandeur of the outdoors.
"It's beautiful and all that," he said. "But it's the walking that I'm interested in. Doing it every day and the challenge of that. I've hiked in plenty of ugly places."
