Jenny the Trailhead

Jenny the Trailhead Your Midwest outdoor guide to road-tripping, camping, backpacking & hiking!

Max Patch made us decide we’re gonna go ahead and do the Smokys next year.
05/03/2026

Max Patch made us decide we’re gonna go ahead and do the Smokys next year.

Me & Ziplock’s 32 mile, 2 day hike from Massie Gap/backpacker’s parking to Damascus. We cut a 3.5 day hike down to 2 day...
05/01/2026

Me & Ziplock’s 32 mile, 2 day hike from Massie Gap/backpacker’s parking to Damascus. We cut a 3.5 day hike down to 2 days so we could get back to RoadRash, who was recovering in town from being really sick on trail during our first section in Tennessee.

We got to see some ponies, but after that we pushed through 2 very warm, unshaded but gorgeous, LONG days. Not only that, this section was mostly a detour. What better for a FarOut App scout to do than report on this reroute! We were technically on the old Appalachian Trail, blue blazing on the Mt. Rogers trail and yellow blazing on the Iron Mountain multi-use trail until we reconnected on the AT for the last 3.5 miles into town.

The Virginia Creeper trail and the AT were severely damaged by Hurricane Helene. The destruction in this area was wild to see. Tons of downed trees. (I’ll share in another post some of those photos.) A lot of Northbound hikers opted to road walk or shuttle past the closure and skip the reroute. We went through it. It wasn’t awful but it definitely wasn’t the well maintained, bear box having, plenty of tent sites at the shelter AT.

For the foreseeable future - if you’re planning a section hike through Grayson, just know you won’t be on the Appalachian Trail from Grassy Ridge Rd. to Straight Branch parking area. It’s approximately 22.8 miles of rerouted trail.

Some of my favorite flower pictures from our section hikes this past week thru Tennessee and Virginia. Springtime is so ...
05/01/2026

Some of my favorite flower pictures from our section hikes this past week thru Tennessee and Virginia. Springtime is so beautiful on the AT.

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