Pacific Crest Trail travelers called him "Steel-Eye," but the veteran endurance hiker was known to others as Chuck Chelin. He set off to tackle the strenuous path from California to Canada three times and wrote with humor about his setbacks and victories to encourage others.

Chelin died on July 1 at age 76 from a rare form of cancer at his home outside Sandy, Oregon. His wife, Sharon, and their three daughters were by his side.

In his writing, he described long-distance hikers -- and especially "thru" hikers who set out to surmount the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail's strenuous climbs through the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges -- as a different breed.

"Thru hikers' food consumption in trail towns is the stuff of legends," he told a reporter. "They have the metabolism of a red-hot wood stove. Who else do you know would buy a jar of mayonnaise and eat it with a spoon?"

He took inspiration, he joked, from Miss Piggy's advice on dieting: "Never eat more than you can lift."

His entertaining, informative online journals, written under his trail name "Steel-Eye," were go-to sources for hiking novices. His daughters plan to complete the book he started and reproduce all of his journal entries.

"He had such a great sense of humor and he was a good writer," Sharon Chelin said on July 8.

Charles Richard Chelin was born Jan. 20, 1942, the son of Carl R. and Ada Chelin. He moved to Oregon from Illinois and married Sharon Gilmore in Grants Pass 52 years ago. They moved near Sandy 31 years ago.

Chelin served in the U.S. Army and was a mechanical engineer with Caterpillar for about three decades.

He began hiking in the Pacific Northwest in 1965 when he worked for the U.S. Forest Service during college breaks. "His idea of camping was having a small backpack with only the necessities," said Sharon.

Although always active and in athletic shape, Chelin couldn't complete his first attempt of an end-to-end hike of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2007 because of a stress fracture in one foot. He "only" made it half way.

In 2008, he reached northern California and faced trail closures due to fires.

In 2009, he stopped with just 200 more miles to complete the 2,663-mile trail. He was willing to hobble along with his recurring foot problem, but he didn't want to "prevail on other hikers for assistance; not only disrupting my hike but theirs as well."

His family met him when he later completed the last section of the trail.

His cremated remains will be taken to the Pioneer Cemetery near Murphy where Sharon Chelin's ancestors are buried.

He is survived by daughters, Amy (Abundeo) Reponte, Kimberly Owens and Heather (Greg) Ives; four grandchildren, Emily Engels, Will and Aiden Owens, and Seth Ives; one sister, June (Ed) Harmon of Princeton; and nieces and nephews.

-- Janet Eastman



jeastman@oregonian.com

503-799-8739

@janeteastman



