We greet you from the green state of Virginia!
Tomorrow we cross the 600 mile marker. Hopefully with the photos below we will be able to fill you in the past few weeks of our life on the A.T.
As cliche as the phrase is,
"It's about the journey not the destination" we have gained great motivation in making small daily goals.
Yes, reaching Katahdin is our final goal... the big picture, put together with hundreds of thousands of small pictures.
And Yes, Katahdin is still 1598 miles away but it WAS 2186 miles away before we took our first steps.
Instead we've chosen to not let the remaining miles overwhelm our thoughts and instead focus on the here and now.
For instance, getting to the top of a 5 mile uphill and being rewarded with a marvelous view (and of course, a snack), realizing how many miles we hiked this week, or giggling with excitement that we packed up camp in only 30 minutes.. and sneaking off early to not wake up the other hikers. Crossing state borders, each 100 mile marker and our most recent: our celebration of completing 1/4 of the trail. These small moments help us reach our goal.
At the end of the day we like to look at the photos we took that day and talk about our thoughts. There is a lot to take in during a full day's hike.
So here it goes: the details of 349 miles from The Northern Boundary of The Great Smokies to 121 miles north of the Virginia border.
We have had some great hiking days with absolutely beautiful scenery. With warm and bright sunny days we have been able to enjoy the views.
Pigeon River Bridge view
After the marvels of the Smokies we entered into a new realm of landscape. Scenery so intensely beautiful that we are still trying to take it in.
Gregg on Max Patch.
Heavy cloud cover.
The trail traverses across numerous grassy balds ( an area, usually on top of a mountain that is without trees).
The feeling is almost indescribable standing on top of these balds, it's like being in a wide-open grassy meadow, on top of a mountain with a 360• degree view of the surrounding mountain ranges. To one side you can see blue skies and to the other off in the distance you can the rain sweeping across the mountain tops.
At times the wind is so powerful and then there are moments of completely quiet, stillness and you realize just how small you are. I especially love this feeling!
At the bottom of Hump Mountain.
At the top.
to be cont.. my heavy eyelids are needing to rest!
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Location:Bland, VA
