Not Quite Thru: Appalachian Trail 2012

Being invited to speak at the 2nd annual “Spring on Springer” Dahlonega Trail Festival sparked a chain of events that propelled me forward to be standing on a mountaintop today with my sweetheart, the Appalachian Trail our journey. And thus the trail magic begins. My old friend and co-author Johnny Molloy recommended me as a …

Looking back to where John was, I could see the pain in his eyes. No fire, just a weary lost expression. We were headed for Wayah Bald and kept being fooled by false summits. The trail clung steeply to the hillside. The skies drizzled on us. Gutsy kept pace behind him. We were pushing a …

As a youngster, I played in the woods, scrambling over boulders and walking a trail through lush leafy glades to school each day. Looking out my bedroom window, I could see a mountain where people walked with backpacks. They chased the spring blooms northward, following the Appalachian Trail. 75 years since its first blazes were …

One of the most appealing aspects of jumping north to Harpers Ferry to continue our hike was finally immersing in history. While walking with spring was beautiful, the leafy green tunnel of the trail has a certain sameness after a while. History is writ large across the Mid-Atlantic Appalachians, although the peaks are not high. …

In the low elevations of North Carolina, spring is in full leaf. As we’ve walked north from Georgia we’ve watched the understory transform from a smattering of wildflowers to a symphony of colors and textures. In one day, in one sweeping glance, trillium nods in white, pink, yellow, and scarlet. Explosions of troutlily fill damp …

It was not a good start to the day. John had a deep, deep cough and couldn’t stop sniffling. The drizzle that we walked in the day before turned to a downpour for the afternoon, drizzle overnight, and drizzle in the morning. We’d had a roof over our head at Standing Bear Farm – the …

One of the major delights of our thru-hike has been my ability to slip into the moment and stay there. One foot in front of the other, soaking in our surroundings, noticing the little things: a snail nibbling off the top of a mushroom, a colorful leaf on the forest floor, a piece of bark …

Long distance hikers take “zero days” – that is, days where you don’t hike any trail miles – to take care of off-trail tasks like grocery shopping, laundry, medical visits, and the like. Usually zero days include eating better food than you can haul along the trail – or food you wouldn’t normally eat in …