I have a long-standing love affair with the Appalachian Trail. Over the course of more than fifteen years, mostly on weekends and then only when my son's lengthy soccer career permitted, he and I backpacked the AT from its southern terminus on Springer Mountain, Georgia, about 800 consecutive trail miles northward to beyond Roanoke, Virginia. With luck, he will eventually complete the entire 2,170-mile trail all the way to Mount Katahdin in Maine -- perhaps all at once in a "thru-hike" of four or five months. As for me, my present AT goal is merely to complete the 250 or so remaining trail miles in Virginia. Once I accomplish that, perhaps I will set another AT goal, maybe to reach the mid-point of the trail in Pennsylvania. Or maybe I will just enjoy the trail for day hikes near my home.

Here, as the AT crosses Round Bald on its way northward to Engine Gap, it passes a Catawba rhododendron in all its full-bloom glory. Thereafter, the Trail climbs the mountains rising in the background beneath the clearing storm -- first Jane Bald, and behind it, Grassy Ridge. All three peaks are southern balds rising well above 5,500 feet. On days much less stormy than this one, these summits offer breathtaking 360-degree views of the peaks and valleys of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. This section of the AT is near the community of Roan Mountain, Tennessee.