Finally!

On Saturday, May 14, we finally started hiking from Thunder Ridge Overlook, along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia. Just driving to the trailhead was pretty harrowing, through pea-soup fog, with no visibility. But my mom got us there, and we geared up in the overlook parking lot with a boy scout troop from Roanoke.
We went along with the scouts for a few miles, saw some funky salamanders, and loads of wildflowers, but little else, since the fog hung around all day.

Our starting point on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Alas, we are not taking the 10 minute loop.

Ready to hike!

Thunder Ridge Overlook. The white blaze is the marking for the AT.

Taking off into the mist.

On the trail, day 1.

The view is pretty awesome, once the fog clears.

Trail buddy. I came really close to stepping on him....

Self Portrait

We had hoped to go 11 miles, but ended up with about half that, camping at Marble Spring. We know we need to take it easy at the beginning, especially since we both have a tendency to go hard early. Pouring rain, thunder and lightning all night--just a taste of what's to come.

Although our progress has been slow.  Below is our first day's GPS track.  We are still trying to figure out how to work the GPS, but this is a starting point.  We hope to include one of these with every post.