The weekend hikers: Gail and Kurt Rheinheimer stand on top of Rice Fields, a bald southwest of Blacksburg, Va. along the Appalachian Trail. They were photographed in May by a couple who were thru-hiking the AT with their two children.

Week 91: 11/06/05, While fall color has been late this year--reaching a peak just this weekend around Roanoke--the situation is different once you're up on the ridgeline, as we were on this beautiful Sunday, on the Southern end of North Mountain near Catawba. Here, nearly every leaf had fallen, and our steps were among the first on the crisp new brown blanket on the trail. The effects are three:

1. The vista is there again after leaf fall. Our previous walks on this former route of the Appalachian Trail had always been marked by not only misty, no-view weather, but also by trees in full leaf. This day there were good views both ways--east across the Catawba Valley toward the AT on the ridge that is home to Dragon's Tooth, and west across the valley to Sinking Creek Mountain.

2. The footing is nearly as uncertain at this time of year as it is in snow. Leaves cover rocks and roots, ruts and nuts with wonderful efficiency, leaving your boot not quite sure what it'll meet.

3. And given the just-fallen-brown of most of the leaves, there is a noise level as you walk that precludes conversation UNLESS YOU SHOUT LIKE YOU'RE WALKING OUT THE TARMAC TO BOARD AN IDLING AIRCRAFT.

In this case, one outta three ain't bad at all, as the rediscovery of this trail on a great day with great views (not to mention the wonderful, if mostly silent company of The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All) easily overcame the minor drawbacks of a trail covered in leaves.

We walked from the Dragon's Tooth Trail parking lot, across Va. 311 and up to the ridge; and then past the Deer Trail to the Goose Trail. Near it we found a nice outcropping looking west as our perch for lunch. The walk back was a bit quicker than the one up, given that it is generally gently descending along the ridge and then sharply so to get back down the mountain.

We expected we'd see no one on this obscure trail whose trailhead is just across the road from one of the area's most popular, but we encountered a couple who had started at the far end of the trail--it's 13.5 miles in total along North Mountain--and had spent their weekend on its pretty ridgeline. They were both decked out in the most stunningly neon-orange shirts you'll ever see, a reminder of the coming-soon of the hiker's season for caution as hunters share the woods.

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