Linville Falls along the Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. Heavy rain the previous day and night increased the flow and made it a murky brown.

Women like Daisy Mae always mean trouble. She caught the blogger's eye as he drove a Forest Service road adjoining private homes. Wanting to shoot a photo and unmindful of the curve in the road, the blogger backed up straight into a ditch, requiring application of 4WD for extraction and snapping off a mud flap that the Toyota dealer wants more than $150 for parts and labor to replace.

Government running amok at the trailhead to Ada-Hi Falls, Black Rock Mountain State Park, Georgia.

Glenn Falls, near Highlands, North Carolina, and the Georgia state line.

Appalachian sky series, Black Rock Mountain State Park, Georgia.

There are an astonishing number of churches in the American South. It's not called the Bible Belt for nothing. Some churchyards afford shade for travelers' trucks.

(Top) Plaque commemorating the Appalachian Trail at Amicalola State Park visitors' center, where the 8-mile approach trail leads to Springer Mountain and the head of the AT itself. (Middle) Highlighted driving route from the visitors' center to the AT head, accented by a feather the blogger found on the trail. (Bottom) The start of the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail. About 17 percent of the hikers who start at the southern terminus determined to hike through to the northern terminus in Maine make it.