Julie and I are hiking the Appalachian Trail in the US from Springer Mt, Georgia, to Mt Katahdin, Maine, in the north, a distance of almost 2,200 miles (3,540 km). Our journey will start in early May 2023 and is expected to take about five months. We will be mostly camping, carrying 3-5 days of supplies to get us between resupply points, where we will be staying in hostels/hotels/motels where we can. I hiked the entire Appalachian Trail back in 1986 so it will be interesting to see how much has changed and how much it has stayed the same.

Appalachian Trail - Day 044 - Pearisburg to Dismal Branch

Day: 044

Date: Wednesday, 07 June 2023

Start:  Pearisburg (AT Mile 636.1)

Finish:  Dismal Branch (AT Mile 657.5)

Daily Kilometres:  34.5 (Ascent 4642', Descent 4259')

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos

Total Kilometres:  1107.0

Weather:  Mild and mostly overcast with some smoke haze and a brief afternoon shower.

Accommodation:  Tent

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Breakfast platter, milkshakes.

  Lunch:  Ham & cheese roll/Turkey & cheese roll.

  Dinner:  Noodles with chicken

Aches:  Dave - a few niggles; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  None really.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Overall, a fairly unremarkable get-it-done day.

We left our motel about 6:15am and walked to the nearby Dairy Queen where we bought a hot breakfast before road-walking the mile to the Appalachian Trail where we continued our journey northwards.

After passing some industrial areas and crossing the New River, the trail climbed up a series of hills to a long ridge which we followed for about 10 miles through the Peters Mountain Wilderness before descending to where we are now camped in a very small tentsite amidst a rhododendron grove.

Mostly, we were in the woods with the trail often bordered by waist-high undergrowth.  Occasionally there were more grassy areas where we got a few views, but the haze was heavy and, as the afternoon progressed, we could smell the smoke from the Canadian wildfires.

The green of the forest and undergrowth was peppered with the bold colours of many different kinds of wildflowers and that was the main interest of the day.  Sadly, we did not see any of the yellow orchids we had heard could be found on this section.

We finished hiking at the acceptable hour of 6:30pm satisfied with our day and happy to be in the tent by 8:00pm.

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