keep walking

 

 If you would attain to what you are not yet, you must always be displeased by what you are.  For where you are pleased with yourself there you have remained.  Keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing.
--Saint Augustine

It's that time of year when Appalachian Trail SOBOs are passing through our region on their way from Maine to Georgia.  SOBOs (or South Bounders) begin their 2,184 mile trek in the late spring or early summer, after the threat of snow has passed in New England.  The hope is to finish before the snows hit the Southern Appalachians in late fall. Unfortunately for these guys, "Johnnie Walker" (above left, from Pennsylvania) and "Sleepwalker" (right, Michigan), snow came early this year. They ran into 18 inches of snow on top of Mount Rogers following Hurricane Sandy. They hurried down to Damascus, VA to wait it out. I met them up on the Beauty Spot outside of Erwin, TN and enjoyed talking with them about their adventures. And then they headed down the trail with 'only' 350 miles to go...

(I've lately been reading David Miller's excellent account of his AT thru-hike, AWOL on the Appalachian Trail and recommend it for those wanting a glimpse of what life on the AT is like).