AT Hikers Rally Support As Trail Towns Recover From Hurricane Helene

Brad Smith hiked into Damascus, Virginia, on the Appalachian Trail just as the rain from Hurricane Helene thickened into a torrent.

“The last 6 miles was the worst weather I’ve been outside in, and I’m 49…I could have kayaked off the mountain if I had one,” he wrote in a message. “The trail was a small river. Guessing I was one of the last customers at the Damascus Diner before Laurel Creek took it and the street over.”

More than 140 people are dead and many more are missing after Helene carved a 500-mile-long path of devastation through the southeastern United States with 30 people losing their lives in North Carolina’s Buncombe County alone. Among the hardest-hit communities were trail towns in Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia that some of the AT’s best-known businesses and trail angels call home.

Drew “Birdman” Glines, an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker, rafting guide, and North Carolina local told Backpacker that the “devastation” inflicted on riverside communities was hard to describe.

“Roads and bridges have been completely destroyed, making some areas still completely inaccessible to even emergency vehicles,” he wrote in an email.

While destinations like the Nantahala Outdoor Center, the Western Smokies, Gatlinburg, and Pigeon Ford escaped major harm from the hurricane, other areas were not so lucky. Glines rattled off a list of landmarks affected by the hurricane.

“Mountain Harbor Hostel in Roan was flooded. Hot Springs was hard hit…as was Hartford,” he wrote. “Uncle Johnny’s is devastated.” The majority of western North Carolina is out of cell service, water, and power, although ‘disaster roaming’ has allowed locals to connect to any functioning network in the wake of the tragedy. The town of Asheville is still largely isolated due to infrastructure damage and washed-out roads.

On Trail When the Hurricane Hit

Smith wasn’t the only hiker caught in the weather. Lisa Woodward was hiking through Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee when the hurricane struck.

“[We] experienced torrential downpours and wind gusts of up to 80 miles per hour or so at almost 6,000 feet elevation,” she wrote in a message. “Had to take a zero on Fri. at TriCorner Knob Shelter to wait out the worst of it. Made it out on Sunday via the Low Gap Trail to Cosby CampGround, where Ken from Discerning Hiker Hostel ‘rescued’ us.”

Mollie Dembek was on trail near Hot Springs when the weather turned.

“I was at Flint Mountain Shelter, north of Hot Springs, NC when it started raining HARD on Tuesday,” she wrote. “I decided to hike the next day to Hemlock Hollow Hostel and Campground in Greeneville, TN the next day to get out of the rain. I am SO GLAD I did. I stayed the night there, warm and dry, but was watching the weather and news the entire time growing more and more anxious,” she said.

Dembek was able to make it to Asheville to stay with a friend. On Saturday, they decided to leave the area. Strangers lent her gas money at a station in Weaverville that was only accepting cash. (“They said it was ‘trail magic,” she recalls. “I absolutely started crying.”)

“They ended up following us over the mountains because we were able to get turn by turn directions from my friend using my Garmin InReach,” she wrote. “I was able to communicate with friends and family using my Garmin and got seven people to safety because of the technology. I was never so grateful to get to Maryville, TN and get a cell signal.”

While locals are still fighting for their lives, other members of the trail community are rallying to support them. Trail Angels like “Miss Janet” Hensley of Erwin, Tennessee are scrambling to support flooded communities in the wake of the tragedy. Matthew “Odie” Norman, a thru-hiker, trail angel, and former owner of the Hiker Yearbook, was in New Jersey for the hurricane but is preparing to drive south to support local trail communities.

Trail Organizations Warn Hikers to Stay Away for Now

Determining when hiking should resume in the southern part of the Appalachian Trail is a sensitive topic. Norman said that “most hikers should not attempt to hike in the south at this time.”

In a statement, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) warned visitors to stay off trail between Springer Mountain (NOBO Mile 0) and Rockfish Gap (NOBO Mile 864.6).

“Over the coming weeks and months, the ATC will be working with the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, and state and local partners to inventory the damage to the treadway, trailheads, bridges, overnight sites, privies and other A.T. features,” the organization said. “Landslides and falling trees could continue for some time, so we ask volunteers and trail crews to pause work on this section of the Trail and to coordinate closely with regional ATC teams.”

Hensley said that the devastation in trail communities like Damascus and Hot Springs is “dire.”

“These communities are asking us to please stay away…They cannot handle the infrastructure or any people walking into town,” she said. In the event that hikers choose to continue hiking through southern Appalachia and they get into trouble, she adds, emergency services are unlikely to be able to help in a timely fashion.

Hensley said that hikers should stay informed and start making plans once they reach Virginia.

“When people come through the Shenandoah they need to be deciding what they’re going to do,” she said. “But hiking through this area would be ridiculous and it’s going to put lives on the line.”

Norman said he recognizes that as the weeks stretch on, deciding when it’s the right time to hit the trail again could pose a difficult question—and that different hikers could have different answers.

“The hiking community will be walking a tightrope in the next few months. Should hikers continue their hike? Would it be detrimental to the trail towns? What if there’s an emergency and emergency services are already stretched thin?” he said. “But there are other questions: what if hikers have nowhere to go? What if they’re hiking off war, drug addiction, any number of traumatic events? What if they’re hiking to help?”

One thing Norman is certain of: When hikers are able to come and help, they will.

“I can tell you for a fact that I watched hikers assist trail towns in 2020 and they will do it again in 2024,” he said. “It will not be publicized on Facebook, it will not be filmed, it is not done for recognition, it is done because that’s what hikers do.”

Readers looking for guidance and direction around post-hurricane support can find more information from the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association. Official trail closures are available on the ATC’s website.