Anne and I walked out of the great Eastern forest and completed our hike of all of the Appalachian Trail on Sunday, September 22nd near the town of Groseclose, VA.  It was raining lightly but we were very happy if slightly trail worn after a 15 day and 150 mile walk across eastern Tennessee and western Virginia. 

Our end point was at the end of an exit ramp from Interstate Highway 81 (southbound) where we had begun a section hike in April of Year 2012.  We approached the interchange walking along U.S. Highway 11 for a half mile.  A car approached and stopped.  The couple within asked our situation and we told them.  The car pulled over and two trail maintainers joined us for the last few steps.  When the lady asked if they could do anything for us, Anne said they could take our photo.  So, they threw on their jackets and walked along.  Anne cried a few tears as we reached the style that was our endpoint.  We gave each other a hug and smiled for the camera.

This walk was uneventful but included numerous challenges from the weather, wildlife, and the trail itself.  We first had to manage trail logistics after arriving at the Relax Inn after the long drive from home.  This motel is situate a mere half mile from the end point of the hike.  We found it shabby but crashed there as planned.  We also planned to lodge there at the end of the hike, but events prevented that stay.

The next morning we enjoyed our Sunday breakfast at the Barn, a restaurant even closer to the end at the highway interchange.  Then we drove to Hampton to leave a food parcel at the hostel there where we planned to stay four nights later during our hike.  It had not occurred to me that Sunday morning would be a poor time to make food drops.  We could find no one at the hostel, but the owner of a nearby laundry/restaurant/computer shop agreed to allow us to leave the package there.

We drove on to Damascus, our planned second place of lodging on the trail.  There we found the proprietress of The Hikers Inn at home and happy to take our second parcel.  We realized that our stop there would be very pleasant.  Then we took a final civilized lunch in a restaurant on the Laurel Creek.  We carried out two sandwiches that would be our supper and drove back to the Relax Inn. 

We were still preparing our gear when our ride arrived.  He was early and did not rush us.  We checked our packs and loaded them in the van.  We enjoyed a ride back into and then across Tennessee to the North Carolina border near the famous Roan Mountain.  There our driver parked and wished us well.  We put on our boots and lengthened our poles.  We greeted a few hikers were loitering there.  Our plan was to hike a mile and make camp.  Serious hiking would begin the next day.  The weather was warm and humid.  We would just assume not get sweaty. 

But, on a hike the trail rules.  No campsites appeared and we walked almost three miles before finding a spot.  We met a father and son making a southbound through hike who told us of the spot within a grove of white pines.  We made camp and enjoyed the sandwiches we had carried from Damascus.  We were already sticky sweaty and not yet used to sleeping that way.  We would be soon.

We had planned a short hike for the next day, but since we had overshot our first stop we arrived there at one p.m.  So, we went on and stopped at a campsite along a stream at three p.m.  Two southbound section hiking brothers passed our camp.  We saw no one else on that day.  The weather continued very warm.

On Day 3 we planned to stop on a ridge where the map indicated water, but we could not find it.  So, we went on again and camped near falls.  Katydids roared that night.  We learned that the fading of their song came about an hour before dawn.  The silence that followed became our wake-up alarm on this hike.

Our hike was going well.  Anne suffered toe blisters.  I was experiencing back pain when the hike started and carrying a 38 pound pack was not helping.  We both suffered with these afflictions throughout the hike.  We each fell a few times but suffered no serious injuries.  One “problem” was that we were getting ahead of schedule.  We were not yet sure how to deal with that, but being ahead of schedule is always better than being behind schedule.

On the next day we walked through the gorgeous Laurel Fork gorge.  Along the way we encountered the first bear warning.  We also encountered a bear on that day, a cub in a tree.  It fled but we too were spooked and concerned with the whereabouts of mom.  We never saw her. 

Trail signs indicated that a shelter would be closed and hikers were ordered not to camp in the section of trail ahead.  So, we picked up our pace and walked into Hampton TE a day early after a long and tiring hike.  We arrived at the Braemar Castle Hostel which had no problem with our day early arrival.  We walked down the street with our laundry.  I left Anne there and made a 1.2 mile walk to the nearest beer store.  That is where I learned that TE has adopted a stupid law requiring picture i.d. for purchase of alcohol.  I had none.  My license was in my wallet in the car.  The sports wallet I carry hiking has limited space and I had no plans to drive on the hike!  So, I walked back and spoke loudly.  Someone volunteered to act as a bootlegger and illegally sell me the devil’s brew. 

The restaurant was near the beer store and I didn’t want to make the walk again.  We had an extra meal on account of our early arrival, so we cooked our own dinner at the hostel and shared conversation with other hikers there.  We called to Damascus and moved our reservation there back a day.

On Day 5 we made our planned hike and set up our tent near the Vandeventer Shelter.  A cool front passed over that night and brought a thunderstorm.  In the morning it was breezy and cooler.  We welcomed the change in the weather and arrived at our planned stop at three-thirty p.m.  We went two miles farther finding a campsite near a spring. 

On Day 6 was more lovely weather and migrating birds.  So too Day 7 which brought us to the Abington Gap Shelter.  On Day 8 we reached Virginia.  We had completed our short transit of Tennessee.  I joked that it took us ten years to hike across that state.  We had made our passage over Roan Mountain and the Iron Mountain Range as our first distance hike in the South while on a vacation from work. 

We walked into Damascus, a very hiker friendly town, a little after one p.m.  We showered at the Hikers Inn while the owner did our laundry.  We dined at The Blue Blaze Inn.  Happily the alcohol law in Virginia was friendlier to strangers than that of Tennessee.  While drinking beer I thought of a way to avoid another stay at the Relax Inn.  We had need of a ride to that motel and back to the trail the next morning.  We had been unable to obtain one so far.  I told Anne that we were a day ahead of schedule and could shave two more days off the hike.  I said that we had planned a “near o” day out of Damascus, leaving at Noon and walking only a few miles.  Instead, we would “slack pack” the next day and walk 17 miles to a road crossing.  There we would get a ride back to town and spend another night in Damascus.  The following morning we would take another ride back to where we had finished the walk the night before and resume our backpack hike.  Making the long day hike would put us exactly three days ahead of schedule.  We would no longer need to make another motel stop and would not need the food packet we had left at the Relax Inn.  We would need to purchase a couple of extra dinners at the outfitter shop in Damascus.

Anne had been sipping beer to and said yes.  Alcohol is truly corrupting.  All we needed was someone to drive us.  We returned to the inn and asked the proprietress.  She said that they did not provide rides, but she knew someone who did.  There were complications, but all issues were resolved. 

The next morning, on Day 8 we rose early but stopped for a filling breakfast.  The restaurant was on the way.  I checked our distance against the clock all day.  We had arranged to be picked up at 5:30 p.m., but our driver said he might not arrive until 6:30 because of prior commitments.  We made good time and enjoyed carrying empty packs all day.  We wore them only because there was no other way to manage our water.  We both packed bladders.  I had a one liter canteen but no sleeve for it.  But empty packs are light.  We were not sure we were going to make our arrival time until mid-afternoon.  Then we relaxed and cheered at our big-day.  We arrived at our rendezvous point, a dirt road along a cow pasture at 4:15 p.m.  It was cool but dry and we lay down at the little grass parking area and watched the cows.  Our ride showed up at exactly 6:30 and my thoughts of hiking down to town vanished.  We had been passed by exactly zero cars during our two-hour sojourn.  

The next morning we hiked with our packs to the restaurant and were finishing breakfast when our wonderful ride arrived.  It was Day 10 of our hike.  We were beginning a stiff hike up some 2,000 feet to near the summit of Mount Rogers, the highest point of Virginia, carrying packs heavy with food.  Our driver told us there was a great water source near the summit, so we went light with water.  That was a very good move.

On this day we crossed above 5,000 feet and entered the boreal forest in the Mt. Rogers massif.  We enjoyed the smell of the balsam and complained of its roots that crisscrossed the high country boulders.  We reached the Thomas Knob shelter at the edge of a meadow, gathered water, and chatted with a section hiker who planned to overnight there.  It was about 50 degrees and windy.  Fog was developing.  We continued a few more yards and found a campsite in a small opening where the spruce/fir forest opened into alpine meadow.  This should have been good, but the wind was coming from the direction of the meadow.  Almost immediately the wind began blowing in fog that soaked the trees and our tent.  We wore our ponchos for dinner.  We had more food than would fit in our bear barrel and I had trouble finding a tree that could hang food.  I fell throwing the line but finally raised the bag.  An industrious bear might get it, but I was too cold and tired to care.  We crawled into the tent and kept each other warm. 

The morning was cloudy and not quite dry.  We were glad to break camp even if it was a wet camp break.  We descended over tough terrain from 5,400 feet to 4,050 feet on Day 11.  The weather threatened but left us alone and warmed as we came back into what is called northern hardwoods forest.  We made camp near the Old Orchard Shelter out of the high country. 

Day 12 would be our rainy day.  We awoke to a shower.  At least the temperature was 62 degrees.  We walked five miles to the Hurricane Mountain Shelter at 11:20 a.m. and arrived in a pouring rain.  We tarried there until it settled into a steady rain.  Pouring rain came again in the afternoon.  We were sad to discover, in the rain, that the shelter we had intended to camp near was no more.   We walked on and were delighted when the rain ceased as we arrived at the Trimpi Shelter about 5:30 p.m.  Gladly the water there was good and easy to obtain.  A 14.1 mile day was over.

On Day 13 we and the trail dried out a bit.  We met a curious group of day hikers on this day.  They were planning a through hike made up of day hikes in Year 2015.  We passed the famous and lovely Partnership Shelter and toured the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area Visitor Center.  We finally made camp on a little cross ridge between Brushy Mountain and Locust Mountain.  The site was lovely and we knew it would be the last night of our first complete hike of the A.T. 

A weather forecast was posted at the visitor center indicating a 100% chance of rain for Sunday.  That was unwelcome and pushed us a few extra miles down the trail on this Saturday.  There was a chance we could hike out before the storm arrived.  So, we woke early, breakfasted quickly, and broke camp while it was only cloudy.  We made our final ascent over Locust Mountain and began a descent into the Great Valley.  A drizzle came but at 65 degrees we delayed putting on our ponchos. 

The trail left the national forest and wound along a narrow trail corridor between farms and woodlots.  The rain came.  We stopped briefly at an old one room school house now part of a pioneers museum.  The trail dropped off a hill, crossed a bridge over a creek, climbed over railroad tracks, and then climbed a last hill.  Highway noise was announcing the end of the trail.  We wound through a few more patches of trees and brush and then stepped up to the shoulder of the highway.  The Relax Inn was across the highway and to the left.  The trail went right.  The rain was heavy now and we were wearing ponchos over our shorts.  We crossed so as to face traffic.  After two weeks on the trail one is not used to addressing 18-wheelers roaring by.  The trail would follow the highway a half mile to  cross the interstate before turning back into the fields.  We would not make that turn. 

We had talked of dumping our packs at the car before going to the end but decided we wanted to wear the packs to the end.  That was a good plan and led to our meeting with the trail maintainers a couple of minutes later.  We hummed “Dancing in the Rain” and joked of many things.  The long walk was ending.  We had started this walk on October 15, 1989 at Pennmar with the children with a goal to reach the Delaware Water Gap some day.  We did that and kept on walking until this day almost exactly 24 years latter!