HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) - A man killed by a falling tree on the Appalachian Trail was a Philadelphia environmental engineer and folk musician who frequently camped in rugged conditions, friends said Monday.
Jason Parish, 36, sustained a fatal head injury Sunday morning when high winds brought down a tree near an overnight shelter on the trail near Weverton, about 60 miles west of Baltimore, the National Park Service said.
Parish and two companions had come about 6 miles since starting their northward hike in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, on Friday, the agency said in a statement.
Appalachian National Scenic Trail Superintendent Wendy Janssen expressed sympathy to Parish's family and gratitude to those who responded to the accident, including an off-duty ranger who happened to be nearby and performed CPR.
Parish released his debut album, "A Mountain and a Hill," in January, said Ernest Tokay, owner of Little Spiders Have Big Dreams Studio, where the music was recorded.
He said Parish often went camping, even in the winter, sometimes without much notice.
"It was his thing," Tokay said. "He seemed to enjoy what the rest of us would call very torturous conditions."
Despite his rugged side, Parish was a kind man and a talented member of Philadelphia's folk music scene, Tokay said.
He said some the area's top folk musicians played on the album.