Dear Herm’s Hikers,

Greetings from historic Fontana Dam, NC, one of the largest man-made structures in the east. There’s a great history here. If you get a chance, look it up on the internet. It was a CCC project under Roosevelt in the 30’s. Who knows, maybe there be similar project under President Obama. No doubt, some major construction projects are needed in various parts of the US.
It’s been a relatively quiet week. The weather has been… Read more »

Dear Herm’s Hikers,

Happy Easter from Franklin, NC! Finally crossed the first state line from Georgia to North Carolina, but not without a price. The last day in Georgia we hiked in a blizzard with temperatures in the low 30’s and sustained winds at 35 to 40 MPH. Add in the fact that we hiking a mountain treeline, and you can see what a difficult day it was. The hike up the mountain was almost a mile straight up in less than a thousand feet IN THE WIND. It seems that every mountain down here is a mile straight up in less than a thousand feet, and there are at least two such mountain peaks everyday. On the leeward side, the wind abated as the trail switchbacked to the bottom. Speaking of Mother Nature’s cruel tricks, Read more »

Dear Herm’s Hkers,

The first week of Mother Nature’s boot camp on the AT is finished! We have survived, but barely. So far, we had 2 days of sun, 3 days of rain, and, of course, the spring snow storm (as promised by those previous thru-hikers). On Day 1, we checked-in with Many Sleeps (the legendary caretaker at Springer Mt. where the journey begins). The first ten miles were relatively easy with rolling hills and a few mountains in a cold heavy fog. The next 3 days we Read more »