Good-bye, Georgia!

June 10, 2008



And that's it for Georgia - I finished the last mile of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia today, and I'm under 400 miles to walk! Here it is almost full summer; the flame azaleas are the only relief from all the green.

I'll remember Georgia for its luxuriant acres of poison ivy and the huge bugs attracted to the lights in the campground bath houses, but also for its orange azaleas and magenta rhododendrons.

Civilian in a war zone

June 10, 2008

I was hiking in Georgia, about 10 miles from the southern end of the AT, coming down a hill toward where the Trail crosses a dirt National Forest road, when I heard the sound of trucks. Three of them ground to a halt and soldiers swarmed out, took up their guard positions aiming machine guns out into the woods right at any innocent passing hikers, while the rest of the troop climbed out.

I did know from my trusty guide book that Camp Merrill is just down the mountain and one may encounter Army trainees, but still it was a shock. I think now I have a hint of what it feels like to be a civilian in the midst of a war zone, thinking they probably weren't aiming at me specifically but it was hard to be sure.

On an 85 degree, 100% humid day, these guys were dressed in full coverage desert cammo suits with bulging backpacks, helmets, and machine guns. Yet they looked like hardly more than kids, and I couldn't help thinking of the memorial portraits at the end of the Newshour for these last 5 years ...

And just a little earlier I'd been passed by a group of boy scouts of similar age in shorts and t-shirts, with typical brightly colored packs, fresh from a trail crew work party, joking about the heat and the rocks in the trail.

I had plenty to reflect on during my hours of walking.

Side Trip - Decatur, Georgia

June 7, 2008

I took a break from the woods to go see my cousins Pam

and Chris Martin, who have moved into a brand-new house in an older street-car suburb of Atlanta. They are thrilled with their empty-nest home which has a perfect studio for Pam (a pianist who is doing a project on the two-piano music of Cecile Chaminade) and a home office for Chris (a wine merchant - there's even space for a wine cellar in the ground level).

Chris and their son Brian went to the baseball game by MARTA (transit) while Pam & I ate at home and took a walk around the neighborhood.

Here are doggies Thor and Nemo enjoying the back yard before breakfast.

Making Friends on the Trail

May 30 to June 3, 2008

Here is a friendly group of scouts from Fayetteville, Georgia, who I met four times, as they were steadily hiking south and I was day-hiking from a different trailhead each day.

Tray Mountain Wilderness

June 3, 2008

Now I'm in Georgia, traversing this wilderness area. On top of Tray Mountain the catawba rhododendrons are in bloom, and the view is over to Double Springs Knob, 7 miles away, which I have just walked over from. In between are numerous ups and downs. It's the Blue Ridge - on one side is the Piedmont and on the other side drainage to the Tennessee Valley and the Mississippi River.


One of the dips is the Swag of the Blue Ridge, which the trail maintainers don't want us to miss!