PEARISBURG, Va. – They come from different states, different careers and different chapters of life. But four hikers resting at Angel’s Rest Hiker’s Haven in Pearisburg share the same trail — and the same drive to finish it.
Katy Koser, Kermit Johnson and two hikers known by their Appalachian Trail names, Starburst and Tangled, are among the thousands of people working through Virginia this summer on the Appalachian Trail’s 2,189-mile route from Georgia to Maine.
A lifelong dream — or a seed finally planted
For some, the trail has been years in the making. Koser, from Flowery Branch, Georgia, grew up about an hour from Amicalola Falls State Park — the AT’s southern approach trail gateway.
“It’s been a lifelong dream of mine,” she said.
Johnson, from southeastern Kentucky, credits a chance conversation at an animal shelter where he worked. A volunteer who had hiked the trail told him about it, and the idea never left him.
“When she kind of planted that seed, it just grew and grew and grew. I couldn’t let it go,” Johnson said.
For Starburst, from Cleveland, Ohio, the push came from her mother, who decided to attempt the trail about six years ago.
“I was just kind of in a job I didn’t really love,” Starburst said. “And I asked if I could go with her, and she said yes.”
Tangled, from Brooklyn, New York, said she had wanted to hike the trail since she was 12 or 13 years old — but kept putting it off. Then last year, a close friend died.
“Life’s a little too short,” Tangled said.
First steps, nerves and ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’
All four hikers set off from Springer Mountain in Georgia, and none of them left calm.
Koser called the moment pure excitement — her family drove her to the trailhead so she could share the start with them. Starburst described a quiet but real sense of commitment: “Wow, I’m really committing to doing this. And then you just see, keep taking the next step.”
Johnson, who described himself as not easy to rattle, admitted the scale of the undertaking hit him hard in that parking lot.
“When I pulled up and knew that I was gonna walk 2,198 miles, it was scary,” he said.
Tangled said she nearly got sick from nerves.
“I was a lot of anxiety and a lot of like, I don’t know what I’m doing at all,” she said. “But everybody tells you that you figure it out on trail, so I kind of just have to trust in that.”
Six hundred miles in, the trail is already changing them
Now roughly 600 miles into their journey, each hiker says the AT has already given them something they weren’t expecting.
For Koser, it’s the people.
“Just meeting people from very different places, different walks of life — and you can find the common ground and your love for the AT,” she said.
Starburst put it simply: “It’s just something new, like a new perspective. And I’ve never been happier than I have been on the trail.”
Johnson, who said he spent about 30 years working to pull himself out of poverty, described the trail as a new kind of challenge — one that gives him something to look forward to each day.
“Starting this hike all over is kind of starts my struggle all over,” he said. “And it actually gives you something to look forward to, which is completing every day.”
He also talked about rounding a bend on the trail to find a view or a mountainside full of flowers, just when he thought the scenery couldn’t get any better.
“I guess God kind of says, ‘Here, check this out,’” Johnson said.
His philosophy for the miles still ahead: take it one day at a time.
“All I’m worried about is finishing the next day,” he said. “I’ll climb Katahdin when I get to Katahdin.”