On the Appalachian Trail

A week ago today, my wife and I walked a ways on the Appalachian Trail in Vermont, and I have photographs to prove it.
    I'll admit that we only realized two days ago what "AT" on the sign meant, however embarrassing that might be to anyone else but me to have to admit. Another sign said, in effect, "Go this way to head towards Georgia" (i.e., it said "AT SOUTH").
    Which meant, apparently, that the handicapped-accessible boardwalk we'd taken to get to Thundering Falls the previous day (Saturday),

My youthful trekking companion cavorting for the camera

was part of the Appalachian Trail, too—probably the easiest section of the whole however many hundreds of miles of its length.
    [According to Wikipedia, it's 2,181 miles long, from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine, or vice versa. But my wife read somewhere this morning that you shouldn't start in Maine, because the trail is so rough there (and in New Hampshire) that even experienced hikers need to be extra careful. Maybe that's why Wikipedia says from Georgia to Maine. But at least one blind man has walked the whole trail (with his guide dog). I read his book a dozen or so years ago and recommend it: Blind Courage, by Bill Irwin (with David McCasland), 1992.]
    [August 2. My friend Ralph commented that "the reason people start the Appalachian trail in Georgia is that it's a 6-month, March-to-September trek, and you wouldn't want to hike it in Maine in March or in North Carolina in August."]
    The boardwalk was just up River Road from the Killington city building and the Sherburne Public Library (Killington was originally named Sherburne).

Photographic opportunities along the boardwalk:

Bog at beginning of boardwalk to Thundering Falls
(left)

(middle)

(right)

Cranberries, we thought

[August 2. Ralph also said, "About the berries, I'm not sure what they are, but Vermont is not what you would call a cranberry state, having none of the lowland sandy bogs of Massachusetts or Rhode Island."]

Flowers

More flowers

And more flowers

Shadow portrait of my hiking companion

Just a few more feet to Thundering Falls

Literally To Thundering Falls

Dark blue berries just before Thundering Falls

Thundering Falls!

Flowers along the boardwalk back from Thundering Falls

More cranberries

[August 2. Keep in mind Ralph's doubt that they're cranberries.]

Baby crab apples, we thought

Anyway, the next day (Sunday) we took a road above the falls. According to the map, there was a trail down to it. Immediately off the road, a creek sped down the hill toward the falls.

Hand-held (no tripod) for about 1/8 of a second
(as well as I can remember)

    I was preceded down the trail:

Definitely no boardwalk

After we viewed the falls again, I walked back up the Appalachian Trail to the car while my companion walked down it, along the boardwalk, to River Road.