"As America has transformed, so too has its celebrated footpath. Less than half the A.T. remains where it was originally laid."

"MCAFEE KNOB, Va. — The morning fog had just begun to clear as the hikers made their way uphill, beckoned by a series of white blazes splashed on the trunks of hardwood and tall pine, the paint cracked where the bark rippled and whorled.

It was a weekday in mid-May on the Appalachian Trail, and their footsteps were muffled by the forest. Away they hiked — from the cramped parking lot glittering with vehicles, from the frenetic buzz of highway traffic, from the busyness and anxiety that compel people to step out of their lives, if only for a few hours, and escape into the wilderness.

Here, on what everyone calls the A.T., it was quieter. The leaves on the oaks were pearled with rain. Mushrooms erupted from softened logs, and in the crepey mass of damp leaves on the ground, roses and purple irises bloomed, sweetening the air."

Lizzie Johnson and Lauren Tierney report for the Washington Post July 27, 2023. [2]