Actually my question(s)are more for people that are currently hiking in segments. To be exact, how does one do it when one has to work? We are so far from home that the drive to and from the hikes are killing us. We are limited by school, sports and weather to only hike during certain parts of the year. I can't do more than three days on the trail as I have a three day limit on being dirty and sweaty. So, even if we were rich enough to quit work and thru-hike, I wouldn't be able to do it.

But, let me ask you this - Did you do any hiking in that area? It's pretty, but the last few hikes have been rough. The uphills were very steep and VERY long. I think we hiked Brushy and Walker during April and Clinch (?) mountain this past week. A lot of the springs and creeks were dry. Does it get any better? Is that the rough part, or is the worse yet to come? We are 4.5 years into our 20 year hike plan. We don't "really" want to quit, but have canceled the rest of our summer hikes because the last one was so awful.

BTW, my parents moved to Glade Spring about 8 years ago and my aunt to Damascus about 5 year ago. I love it up there. It is so pretty.