Appalachian Trail in Virginia

“You cannot be wimpy out there on the dream-seeking trail. Dare to break through barriers, to find your own path.” - Les Brown

The Appalachian Trail in Virginia is challenging both physically and mentally.  Around 560 miles of the Appalachian Trail traverses Virginia.  Grayson Highlands in Southwest Virginia is considered to be one of the top three day hikes on the Appalachian Trail.

Humor for the day - Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other man pulls out his phone and calls emergency services.

He gasps to the operator: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator in a calm, soothing voice replies: "Take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead."

There is a silence, then a shot is heard.

Back on the phone, the hunter says, "Ok, now what?"

Sheer Determination

NOTE: Headed to Maine to finish my Appalachian Trail Thru Hike. I have prepared a number of blogs and scheduled them to post while I am on the trail. Thanks for following and I will be back soon.

“Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.”

Amazing.... Take a closer look at this photo.  There is a large boulder underneath this tree.  And I mean all the way under the tree.  The roots grew around the rock to penetrate the ground below.  I sat here and pondered how this tree grew. Did it start on top of the rock, did it start beside it and overtime roots grew over the rock, etc.  To make it more interesting, this tree was near the top of a ridge where it is not protected from winds and the harsh climate.   I am still in awwe of this tree.

Humor for the day - This is the true story of George Phillips of Meridian, Mississippi, who was going to bed when his wife told him that he'd left the light on in the shed. George opened the door to go turn off the light but saw there were people in the shed in the process of stealing things.


He immediately phoned the police, who asked "Is someone in your house?" and George said no and explained the situation. Then they explained that all patrols were busy, and that he should simply lock his door and an officer would be there when available.

George said, "Okay," hung up, counted to 30, and phoned the police again.

"Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people in my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now because I've just shot them all."

Then he hung up. Within five minutes three squad cars, an Armed Response unit, and an ambulance showed up. Of course, the police caught the burglars red-handed.

One of the policemen said to George: "I thought you said that you'd shot them!"

George said, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"

Abstract Photo, Appalachian Trail

NOTE: Headed to Maine to finish my Appalachian Trail Thru Hike. I have prepared a number of blogs and scheduled them to post while I am on the trail. Thanks for following and I will be back soon.

“Romance often begins by a splashing waterfall and ends over a leaky sink”  

Maine is known not only for its forest, but also for the many waterfalls.  I am taking my graduated density filter with me which allows me to let less light in so that I can do longer exposures, therefore causing motion blur in my waterfalls.  I am looking forward to having my SLR on this section of the trip.

Humor for the day - Smartest Man in the World


A doctor, a lawyer, a little boy and a priest were out for a Sunday afternoon flight on a small private plane. Suddenly, the plane developed engine trouble.

In spite of the best efforts of the pilot, the plane started to go down. Finally, the pilot grabbed a parachute, yelled to the passengers that they had better jump, and bailed out.

Unfortunately, there were only three parachutes remaining.

The doctor grabbed one and said "I'm a doctor, I save lives, so I must live," and jumped out.

The lawyer then said, "I'm a lawyer and lawyers are the smartest people in the world. I deserve to live."

He also grabbed a parachute and jumped.

The priest looked at the little boy and said, "My son, I've lived a long and full life. You are young and have your whole life ahead of you. Take the last parachute and live in peace."

The little boy handed the parachute back to the priest and said, "Not to worry, Father. The 'smartest man in the world' just took off with my back pack."

Green Leaf in he Stream

NOTE: Headed to Maine to finish my Appalachian Trail Thru Hike. I have prepared a number of blogs and scheduled them to post while I am on the trail. Thanks for following and I will be back soon.

“Water which is too pure has no fish”

The next couple of pictures are more abstract than anything.  I just liked the color or uniqueness of the situation.

Humor for the day - Joe grew up in a small town, then moved away to attend college and law school. He decided to come back to the small town because he could be a big man in this small town. He really wanted to impress everyone. He opened his new law office, but business was very slow at first. One day, he saw a man coming up the sidewalk. He decided to make a big impression on this new client when he arrived.

As the man came to the door, Joe picked up the phone. He motioned the man in, all the while talking..
"No. Absolutely not. You tell those clowns in New York that I won't settle this case for less than one million.."
"Yes. The Appeals Court has agreed to hear that case next week. I'll be handling the primary argument and the other members of my team will provide support.."
"Okay. Tell the DA that I'll meet with him next week to discuss the details.."
This sort of thing went on for almost 5 minutes. All the while the man sat patiently as Joe rattled instructions. Finally, Joe put down the phone and turned to the man. "I'm sorry for the delay, but as you can see, I'm very busy.

What can I do for you?"

The man replied "I'm from the phone company..I came to hook up your phone."

Just another one of my Hiking Partners

NOTE: Headed to Maine to finish my Appalachian Trail Thru Hike. I have prepared a number of blogs and scheduled them to post while I am on the trail. Thanks for following and I will be back soon.

“When an elephant is in trouble, even a frog will kick him” - Hindu Proverb 

I have to say it is better looking than some of my hiking partners, (Sneaks, Sota, etc).  People always ask me if I went to the trail alone.  I may be alone at times, but even if people are not around, there were always the occasional bird, lizard, frog, etc to keep you company.  The next couple of days I am going to share a few photographs of these creatures.  

Humor for the day - "How was your golf game, dear?" asked Jack's wife.

"Well I was hitting pretty well, but my eyesight's gotten so bad I couldn't see where the ball went."
"Well you're 75 years old now, Jack, why don't you take my brother Scott along?" suggested his wife.
"But he's 85 and doesn't even play golf anymore," protested Jack.
"But he's got perfect eyesight. He could watch your ball," his wife pointed out.
The next day Jack teed off with Scott looking on. Jack swung, and the ball disappeared down the middle of the fairway. "Do you see it?" asked Jack.
"Yup," Scott answered.
"Well, where is it?" yelled Jack, peering off into the distance.
"I forgot."

Appalachian Trail - West Virginia

"Always carry a small flask of whisky in case of a snakebite, and furthermore, always carry a small snake"- W.C. Fields

I was asked if I saw many snakes on the trail. I saw my first one in North Carolina just past Beech Gap. In Northern Virgina, West Virgina, and in Pennsylvania, I saw snakes on just about every sunny day. In Northern Pennsylvania I think I saw rattlesnakes on almost every sunny day. This is the only copperhead I saw on the trip and I saw it a few days before Harpers Ferry.

Appalachian Trail in New Hampshire

"The grouse are in nodanger at all from people who shoot grouse", Prince Philip

These were two of the last pictures I took before my camera went out on me. We were just approaching Franconia Ridge when I ran across the grouse on the fallen tree. Every since Georgia I had seen Grouse, but they fled before I got near them. In this case though it just stayed there beside the trail and watched as I passed by. I was pretty amazed and then not ten minutes later I ran across this second grouse just sitting in the middle of the trail. It did not seem to mind at all that I was trying to get by.

Home away from Home - Appalachian Trail

Not everyone, but it seems most people prefer to stay in the shelters. I have tried shelters a handful of times, and when it is raining it is nice to be able to just walk right in, but for the most part I just about always setup my hammock. I just wanted to include a picture of a typical shelter and my hammock setup. One thing I should note, most shelters are rodent infested. Well that is unless they have a resident snake to keep the mice under control, and yes some shelters do have snakes living in them. I usually hung my food more to keep the mice out than to keep the bears away.

Appalachian Trail

Well I am back home in Mississippi, but I am not done. I still have several miles to go in Maine, but I am going to do it with the leaf season. Most of the mountains are behind me and I feel comfortable that I can finish the trail with the extra weight of my Canon SLR and my lenses. I have been itching to do some night photography as well and with the lakes and dark skies I think I am going to have some great opportunities. In the meantime while I am home I am going to start posting some pictures and including a few stories of about my trip so far. I am also going to be talking to recruiters and reviewing job listings so that when I get back, hopefully, I will have something lined up.

Dartmouth College and Appalachian Trail in Hanover, New Hampshire

It was nice to have the Appalachian Trail visit a college town.  Dartmouth College, a private liberal arts college established in 1969, is located in Hanover, New Hampshire.    As we crossed the bridge heading into town we were welcomed by a former hiker offering sandwiches, watermelon slices, and sodas for us.  After a quick meal we walked down to where the Dartmouth rowing team has a dock installed and went for a quick swim.  Afterwards, most of us hung out the rest of the day at the drill field on campus just relaxing and resting up for the upcoming White Mountains.   The Dartmouth Outdoor Club maintains a large section of the Appalachian Trail and are known for doing an outstanding job.

Appalachian Trail at Neels Gap

App Trail Day 4- Well after spending an hour on the highest point in Georgia on the A.T. I decided to head on down to neels gap to resupply do laundry and take a shower. They just treated us to a spaghetti diner and I will be bunking down with a out 20 people at hostile. I guess I need to bring out the ear plugs tonight. I am going to be shipping a few supplies in the morning. Mom just make sure you go through the pockets before washing the coat.

Appalachian Trail

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do." Mark Twain

Hiking the Appalachian Trail is a goal I have always had, but I always imagined it would be something I did after I retired. With the economy the way it is and the job market the same, I have been seriously considering spending the this time to hike the trail.

Instead of rushing through the trail, I want to spend time improving my photography skills and taking side trails to photography waterfalls, wildflowers, etc. I especially want to spend more time in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia where I know I will have a considerable amount of things to photograph.

5 million footsteps, that is what is considered to be the average amount of steps taken to hike the Appalachian Trail. The trail starts in Georgia at Spring Mountain and ends in Maine at Mount Katahdin. It passes through 14 states, ranges in elevation from 124 feet to 6625 feet. It crosses six national parks, 8 national Forest and is home to over 2000 rare, threatened, or endangered plant and animal species.

My next several post will be about gear and planning my trip. Obviously I want to keep my pack weight as low as possible so I have some decision to make about clothing, gear, photo equipment, etc.