Leonard M. Adkins-The Habitual Hiker

From the Introduction:
What is it about these Blue Ridge Mountains that continues to draw me to them time after time and year after year? I have now hiked their full length, from northern Georgia to central Pennsylvania, five times. I have driven each mile of the Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Yet, after each excursion to the Blue Ridges, I find the yearning to return stronger than before.

Maybe it is the sense of discovery I feel each time I venture into the mountains. The place names themselves are a constant source of enticement and entertainment. How can I resist trying to find out what happens in Bear Wallow Gap or what Rough Butt Bald really looks like? Will Graveyard Fields be as spooky as it sounds? Will tears come to my eyes when I walk over Onion Mountain? What the heck is The Lump? Does a rock castle really exist in the gorge and does anyone maintain the Craggy Gardens?

The idea of walking all of the trails of the Parkway occurred to me while I was on one of these small, personal quests. Wanting to understand the geology of the mountains, I was on the Greenstone Self-Guiding Trail trying to concentrate on the information presented on the trail signs. Yes, I was gaining knowledge on the origins of the mountains, but the beauty of the surroundings was also thrilling me. The bright sunshine, filtering through the leaf canopy of the oak and hickory trees, danced about to create varying shadows on the underbrush of mountain laurel and rhododendron. Warm air rising from the hazy green of the Shenadoah Valley wrapped around my skin like a welcomed shawl against the coolness of an early spring day. A couple of wildflowers were just beginning to break through the coarse, rocky soil next to the trail, adding a dash of color to the brown and gray forest floor.

If I could derive such pleasure from walking just one little .3-mile trail, how much more would I enjoy and get to know these mountains if I walked all of the trails on the Parkway?