We visited family in the NC mountains near the TN state line. My brother-in-law and I have been day hiking and backpacking since we first met in the early 70s. While visiting this time we did 2 day hikes along the AT and side trails. We tend to avoid the places most tourist go, and drove miles of dirt road to get to where we would hike.
I thought I would post a few photos. We always thought we would do the AT end to end, but life, obligations, and now age have kept it an unfulfilled dream. C’ est la vie!, We have backpacked the AT from GA to above Roanoke, and about 80% of all the trails in the SMNP.
When we climbed the lookout tower at Rich Mountain, we met two AT through hikers making up a section of trail they had skipped. Most of the through hikers are much farther north of NC having started in March. They happened to be fellow USC Gamecock fans, and had a flag with them. We are proud to have our women’s basketball couch Dawn Staley couching the US Olympic team.
White Cliffs near NC and TN state line.
Flowers on top a bald mountain.
Thunderhead and rain with a Sourwood tree in full bloom. When I was beekeeping I would take hives into the mountains to produce Sourwood honey. Sometimes Black Bears would raid my bee yards requiring me to move them to a new location.
An old church school house, and barn
AT connection
