Young Buck near Grayson Highlands

This young buck living in the protected areas of Mt Rodgers/Grayson Highlands obviously was not very frightened by our human presence. We saw many deer during our hike but most were quite shy (wisely so).

Mt Rodgers Nat'l Park

The weather finally cleared but turned windy and cold when we reached Mt. Rodgers (5782') State Park. Most of the area is high balds with great visibility on a day like this. By night though, the temps at Thomas Knob Shelter dropped to 30º with winds howling at 35 mph or better. Brrr...

On Thursday we finally left Tennessee and crossed into Virginia here at the Mt Rodgers State Rec Area sign. Another state down. Yeah! But VA has the most AT mileage of any state, so I'll be here a while. On to Damascus!

Reaching the 400 mile mark

On Saturday, we passed the 400 mile mark on the AT just before Laurel Fork. This of course, is my cumulative mileage picking up from last year at Erwin, TN. Another nice feature of the day was the sunshine. Yay!

Jones Falls

One of the highlights of the new AT relo north of US 19E, is the side trail to Jones Falls. The video says it all.

Drying Off in Roan Mountain

After 4 days of wet weather, Harry and I were ready to dry out and clean up. We were pleasantly surprised to find the Mountain Harbor hostel just off the AT on 19E. Very nice property and facilities run by Terry and Mary. Had a killer feast at King the Road right up 19E. Just what the trail doctor ordered.

The Trail Maintainers

Here you get a better view of Overmountain shelter, but more interestingly, we ran into the crew of trail maintainers working on this section of the AT. Harry and I noticed the great work they've been doing with relocations all the way from Unaka Mtn. to north of Watauga Lake. Especially refreshing was the relo north of US 19E to Dennis Cove. What a beautiful hike! Our hats our off to these men and women performing such difficult and vital work. This day, the AT crew was striking camp due to bad weather--not a good omen for us hikers.