Trials and Tribulations

Before I start this blog post I want to say that my heart goes out to all those who have been affected by Helene including loss and damage of property as well as injury and loss of life. As I write this there are still some people who are unaccounted for. My hopes and prayers are for no further loss of lives and for the beginnings of a recovery. I will tell my own story of the storm below but by doing so I don’t intend to minimize the much greater losses that many across the southeast are currently confronting.

The Storm in Damascus

By early in the week, I knew there was a high likelihood that Helene was heading my way. Titan and I completed the hike into Damascus on Wednesday, Sept 25 realizing that we would likely have to hole up at Broken Fiddle Hostel on Thursday and Friday to weather the storm. Laurel Creek rose rapidly to bank full by Thursday afternoon and I had hope that Damascus might avoid the worst. But the rain came down in buckets on Friday morning accompanied by high winds. The river began to flood and by mid-day bridges and the entire center of down were inundated. Many residences and businesses in Damascus and surrounding communities were flooded. And the damage extends throughout eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. Landslides have covered roads in many places as well.

The Hiking Outlook

The storm has made hiking the AT in southwest Virginia, eastern Tennessee, and western North Carolina virtually impossible. There are large numbers of downed trees and branches blocking the trail. Hiking progress would be extremely slow and dangerous as additional branches and trees are likely to fall. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy is recommending that hikers stay off the trail in the affected region. I have heard through the hiker grapevine that the southernmost parts of the trail in Georgia and a little north were not as badly affected by the storm but at this time, I am unsure whether this section could be safely hiked later this fall. In the most severely affected region, hiking may not commence again until next spring.

A New Plan

If I have learned anything on this hike, it is that to be successful, one needs to be adaptable. A plan B and even C is sometimes needed. For those who follow my blog, you may recall that I skipped over a 290 mile section of the trail in order to join Titan for the southern part of the hike. My initial plan was to hike some of those missing miles in the late fall after Springer Mtn, and finish this section next April. But this section of the trail was not hit as badly by the storm so I have returned to Daleville and will start hiking north tomorrow. If the Deep South does not reopen again this fall, I plan to continue hiking to Harper’s Ferry, and that may be all for 2024.

When I reach Harper’s Ferry, I will have hiked about 1,725 miles, but the dream of a completed thru-hike (the entire trail in a 12 month period) may prove difficult. But I fully intend to hike the entire trail, even if it takes a little longer than originally planned.