Peters police captain steps down
When Capt. Michael Yanchak of the Peters Township Police Department retires today, the 33-year department veteran will be anything but idle.
He plans on hiking the Appalachian Trail, the 2,200-mile path that stretches from Mount Katahdin in northern Maine to Springer Mountain in Georgia.
“Being able to walk through a piece of history intrigues me,” Yanchak said.
“The United States is very large, and I have gotten to see it in bits and pieces,” said Yanchak, 64, an avid hiker. “But, I feel like I’ve missed a lot.”
Yanchak has been busy prepping for the excursion at his Canonsburg home. For months, he has been dehydrating food, poring over maps, reading and talking with people who have hiked the trail. He said his wife, Melody, their daughters, Meredith, 33, a theater teacher in Texas, and Melissa, 35, a keyboardist in Arkansas, and their son, Michael, 36, of Pittsburgh, who performs as a one-man vocal band, have been very supportive. Meredith plans to hike with him in June when she is on vacation.
“My kids have all backpacked since they have been 4 or 5,” he said. “They have all been hounding me for my daily itinerary.”
Yanchak said he will begin his hike in southern New England in May and walk 15 to 20 miles a day. To prepare for his hike, Yanchak said he will begin taking progressively longer hikes with a 35-pound backpack.
Yanchak said he views the upcoming trip, which should last six to 10 months, as cathartic. He said he doesn’t know whether he will miss police work, despite being a police officer half his life. He also doesn’t know whether he will go back to work or remain retired.
“When I come off the trail, everything should be clearer,” he said.
Yanchak started his law enforcement career as a state corrections officer in Montgomery County. After three years, he enlisted in the military and became a military police officer. Following a three-year stint in the service, he returned to work as a corrections officer, but when an opening on the Peters Township Police Department was posted, he applied and got the job. It gave him an opportunity to return home to Western Pennsylvania.
“I believe we all have to give something back to society,” Yanchak said. “Me being a police officer is my way of giving back.”
Yanchak said he has been on a number of interesting calls over the years as a police officer, including one on a hot Memorial Day weekend several years ago. He was called to administer CPR on a man who was having a heart attack.
Yanchak said he saved the man’s life. But a month later, the man showed up at the police department.
“He wanted to complain to the chief I broke his ribs,” said Yanchak, who was the only person in the station at the time.
He said the man did not recognize him. “I took his name and said I would leave a message for the chief, and I did.”