Katahdin Fall 2007: CANADA MAINE Augusta Appalachian Trail Miles 0 100 John Ehinger/Huntsville Times Montpelier NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord Fall 2006: Before my 81-mile trek was over, I ended up hiking two nights in the dark, one of them in the rain when Jimmy had to hike in and bring me my head lamp. The year's hike included hiking the Bigelows – Little Bigelow, Avery Peak and West Peak. Boston Green Mountain National Forest Fall 2005: I’m back to hike the Saddlebacks and Crockers in western Maine. The first day out, I’m attacked by a hiker’s dog and end up making three trips to the emergency room in Farmington, Maine, 45 miles away. My seven-day hike becomes a three-day hike. MASS. Albany NEW YORK bad things. And Jimmy and I arrived at the same conclusion: The hike wasn't fun anymore. Not only was it not fun anymore, it was dangerous. We decided – together and individually – that for us this was the end of the trail. We were getting off, calling a stop to the 13-year effort to hike the whole trail. I still had a desire to finish the trail – but not this trail, not now.” New York City Delaware Watergap National Recreation Area Fall 1997: In Connecticut N.J. Trenton Reading Philadelphia Harrisburg Dover PENNSYLVANIA DELAWARE Harpers Ferry OHIO Baltimore Washington D.C. MARYLAND C&O Canal National Historical Park WEST VIRGINIA Shenandoah National Park Richmond George Washington National Forest Historic marker in Connecticut VIRGINIA John Ehinger/Huntsville Times Roanoke KENTUCKY Hiking on a warm spring day through the Smokies TENNESSEE Dave Dieter/Huntsville Times Spring 1989: Armed with our self-issued permits from Fontana Dam, Times photographer Dave Dieter and I hike 70 miles in seven days through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Our last night on the trail, at the Cosby Knob Shelter, three bears arrive near midnight and spend several hours trying to get through the chain-link fence. They fail. Great Smoky Mountains National Park NORTH CAROLINA Pisgah National Forest Asheville Nantahala National Forest Chattahoochee National Forest Springer Mountain Raleigh Jefferson National Forest Cherokee National Forest GEORGIA R.I. Providence Hartford CONN. Fall 2000: Still in new Hampshire. “Things were adding up – and western Massachusetts, Jimmy and I hike through the Berkshires – “a mountain retreat, a natural playground, a place to enjoy the fall foliage. Although the brilliant colors of fall were still some weeks away, the Berkshires draw tourists year-round. There are bedand-breakfasts, antique shops, organic farms and countless little restaurants.” Big Niagara Falls en route to Mount Katahdin. White Mountain National Forest VERMONT View from crossing on Maine highway 17. The Mahoosucs and Baxter State Park. A long journey reaches its conclusion. SOUTH CAROLINA Charleston John Ehinger/Huntsville Times Fall 2002: Time softens my decision to give the trail up. Jimmy and I tackle Maine’s 100-Mile Wilderness. “No, technically speaking, it's not a wilderness. But it's remote. If you're injured, it could take a day to get you to medical attention. But the rewards are ample. Moose abound, and they always seem to spring from the brush just in front of your car. On the glacial lakes and beaver ponds, which shimmer on the surface and offer views clear to the bottom, loons sound their haunting calls and spotted sandpipers walk smartly along the pebbled shores.” Fall 1999: New Hampshire, the White Mountains; On a rocky mountain decent, my trekking pole catches in a crevice and breaks, sending me hurtling down the rocks. I am not seriously hurt, but I worry about the miles ahead. Spring 1998: The twice a year trips are getting too long and too close together. Jimmy and I decide to come only once a year. “As I walked up and down Vermont's richly wooded mountains, I realized this was the last spring I would revel in the northward bird migration of warblers, vireos and thrushes, birds that winter south of our borders and return here to nest. It was also the last spring I would be a part of the season's unveiling of wildflowers.” John Ehinger/Huntsville Times Lush green forest floor in Vermont. Fall 1994: Through West Virginia and Maryland, “I'm now out of the South, out of what geographers call the Blue Ridge province. I'm also, the guidebook warns, about out of easy walking. A few more miles and the trail hits the infamous Pennsylvania rocks, the large ones boulders the size of houses, the smaller ones knife-sharp stones standing on edge – nice terrain in which to sprain an ankle or bark a shin. Still, I'm over halfway. I've seen a lot in 1,100 miles. But I've missed a lot, too, or so I suspect.” Spring 1993: It’s a long hike – 100 miles – between I-81 at Daleville and the Tye River, both in Virginia. In The Times I reported of one location, “Scattered boulders punctuate the open expanse. I took off my pack and sat down against the leeward side of the biggest rock. The John Ehinger/Huntsville Times wind blasted harmlessly Trail crossing Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. a foot over my head, and with full sun on one side and the black, radiating face of the rock on the other, I might have been on a Gulf beach. A small comfort, perhaps, and a fleeting one, but you take what you get.” Fall 1992: I hike 86 miles between Pearisburg, Va., and Interstate 81 at Daleville, Va. Of the woodlands, I wrote, “The power of nature is evident everywhere. Lands that were forests when the settlers arrived were cleared for homes and crops. The crops gave way to orchards, the orchards to pastures, the pastures to meadows. And now the meadows were becoming forests again.” Spring 1988: John Jr. and I tackle the Appalachian Trail at its southern end, Springer Mountain in North Georgia. It’s cold and wet. We take a day off at a hostel at Neels Gap, another in Helen, Ga., and hike on a few days later to Dicks Creek Gap, thinner and blistered but happy that we’ve done what we have. Dulcie Teesateskie/Huntsville Times