Okay, so it wasn’t really a stampede. But the Appalachian Trail in the Smokies gets quite crowded during the last two weeks in April when the thru-hikers arrive. Despite the fact that they still had about 1,900 more miles to go, a bunch of hikers were nice enough to pause and talk to me (while [...]
April is thru-hiker season in the Smokies! Courtney Lix interviewed ten hikers and produced this exciting short film. Click the photo below to see the short film starring 10 AT hikers. Click here to check out our fabulous AT map for $2.50.
April 11, 2008 Meet Pine Knot, Chill, and Sitesee! Just as the early spring wildflowers appear to be near their peak of bloom, the parade of northbound spring thru-hikers traversing the Great Smoky Mountains is simultaneously reaching a crescendo. Coming into work early this morning, I encountered a half dozen thru-hikers clustered at the boundary [...]
“I’m Rabbit’s Foot,” he says. “That’s my trail name.” He’s an AT thru-hiker, tall, with straight, sun-bleached blond hair and a tan that highlights his light blue eyes. He’d spent the night in town and was standing alongside the road, hoping to hitch a ride back to the AT when my boss picked him up [...]
If you’d like to listen to the adventures of a couple of AT thru-hikers that we intercepted during their travels, click here to commiserate with Tommy Hunke, and click here to be inspired by Betty Kelly.
Tommy Hunke, AT Section-Hiker, April 26, 2006, in his “budget conscious” raingear. Tommy Hunke, from Birmingham, Alabama, started from Fontana and plans to hike 72 miles to Davenport in 6 days. This is Day 4 of his journey. He is laughing as he describes being picked up in Gatlinburg by my boss at 7:30 this [...]