Appalachian Trail Chaplain

06/23/2026

Chaplain Jeff “Rocky Top” Wadley
Update for June 23

Rained yesterday and today. I am in central Pennsylvania at a hostel called “Stay-AT-Swatara” and already had three Hotpockets. Yummy. Can’t get much better than that. It’s amazing what you will eat when you are craving hot food!

Highlights from the past week:
1. Rocks - Good grief there are a lot of rocks on the AT in Pennsylvania!

2. Fields - Unexpected soybean, wheat, and corn fields for miles. Great change of scenery and left me asking why am I so fortunate to get to see this.

2. Duncannon Trail Festival - Another unexpected treat. I came off the mountain and entered food trucks, live music, exhibits, and The famous Doyle Hotel.

3. Susquehanna River - Wow! It’s was huge. I thought it was a lake but it’s a very very wide river

4. Trout Unlimited project - The first divergent well system in the US for passively placing limestone into a stream to deal with low pH thus providing better habitat for trout. I was impressed.

5. Beaver swamp- Beavers damed up a creek and formed a huge swamp that we walked through.

6. Stay-AT-Swatara- A new hostel just off the AT that is self-serve and on the honor system. Lodging, laundry, shower, resupply food, lunch and a nice front porch. I resupplies here for my next 4-day segment. Highly recommend place!

So, what gives me strength and tenacity to hike 15+ miles per day? I’ll give it to you in one setting then explain as the next few weeks go on. It’s a very very long story but the bottom line is I came up with nine things I wanted to try to do each day. Here is what I look forward to daily:
1. It’s gotta be FUN
2. I want to do something INVIGORATING
3. I want to meet people and have RELATIONSHIPS
4. I want to EXPLORE daily
5. Some days I have to PUSH THROUGH
6. I want to take time daily with God to LINGER with Him
7. ADVENTURES… always looking for adventure
8. CREATION IMMERSION (I keep a record of all the critters I encounter…102 species so far)
9. ENJOY - I need to enjoy this once in a life-time experience

There you go. A quick update from the Chaplain from central PA. All secure in Sector 7 - Whoo Buddy!

06/18/2026

Update from Circuit Chaplain White Hawk.

06/17/2026

Rocky Top trail report - June 17

I’ll have to admit, this 62 year old was brought to tears today. I visited the Appalachian Trail Museum in Pine Grove Furnace, PA which houses many historical artifacts of the AT such as hiking items from Earl Shaffer, Grandma Gatewood, Nimblewill Nomad, Heather Anderson, Gene Espy, Ed Garvey, Benton McKaye, and Myron Avery. If you are an AT fan, you must visit this place.

I was overtaken by seeing the artifacts and reading about the details of how the AT came to be, and how it is supported today. This is hiking day #39 for me as I crossed my 25% line. I did a 21-miler yesterday and will do an 18-miler today.

The trail is an amazing experience. I’ll do another update this weekend once I find a place to take a zero-day. Just wanted to share these pics and the impact the museum had on me.

Rocky Top

06/12/2026

Jeff “Rocky Top” Wadley
Trail Chaplain
Trail Update - June 11

Milestones are also referred to as “carrot celebrations”, as I have been setting goals and working toward them. For example, I am 20% finished with the AT already. 450 miles completed, with my longest day at 26 miles and my shortest at 5 miles. I also wanted to reach the Appalachian Trail Conservancy Visitors Center for my ceremonial photo. Completed the “Roller Coaster” which was not as bad as I was led to believe (13 summits in about 13 miles or so). I was invited by the Snow family to spend a zero day with them in Baltimore and enjoyed my first Blue 🦀 Crab. Swam in the Shenandoah River, hiked very fast toward Harper’s Ferry in a severe thunderstorm, recorded my 72nd creature in my journal, and came off trail to attend my official retirement service at Lake Junaluska.

Next on my list is to get to the 1/3 finished milestone of 732 miles, eat a half gallon of ice cream at the half way mark, see the NYC skyline from the trail and see more friends in Pennsylvania. It’s interesting that I am now starting to crave things on the trail…the number one item is a glass of Coke in ice. I’ll hitch a ride or hope for a close store for a simple drink of Coke. Those of you who know me know that I love Mountain Dew, but I have zero desire for a Dew. Not one desire. Go figure.

I switched out my tent for my hammock and tarp and I now sleep all night like a baby. Got rid of more gear and my base weight is now down to 15 pounds. And I have lost 15 pounds as well. I need to eat more to keep my energy level up. I burn calories! Don’t judge but did you know certain honey buns have 600 calories?

How about the ministry aspect? It’s very interesting that once someone hears I just retired as a clergy, everyone wants to talk about that. Mostly folks my age. Been having good conversations about life, careers, our families, and how much many hikers want to discuss the wonders of creation. And yes my trail name (Rocky Top) gets a lot of conversations started. I have been so proud to be from Tennessee on this hike. I have several songs on my playlist about Tennessee (Osborne Bothers, Ella Langley, Ronnie Milsaps, Pride of the Southland Band, Old Crow, and Kenny Chesney). Just casual conversation encouraging each other, and some of that conversation diverts into ministry conversations from my trail name, my hometown of Gatlinburg, and when hikers find out I am a retired clergy.

Yesterday it was about 95 degrees, high humidity, and no breeze. I walked with a fellow hiker and we kept stopping for shade and water. Then about 2:00 we heard thunder, the sky turned dark, and the wind picked up. Before we knew it, we were in a severe thunderstorm to the point where the trail turned into a creek and we could not hear each other speak. We picked up our pace and were in Harper’s Ferry by 3:30 taking shelter in town. My friend said “We sure got tested today. Heat, humidity, bugs, sweat, then hail, rain and lightening.” I have a feeling it’s not over yet.

Two men my age in particular discovered I was clergy and the conversation shifted quickly. For some folks, they find it energizing to have someone on the trail to talk about church, creation, faith, and such. I met two college students (day hikers) who were thinking of going into ministry and one asked if he could carry my pack to see what it was like. I obliged unapologetically.

So, there is more but you probably get the picture. Over the next few weeks I’ll share the 9-principles I am hiking with daily. I’ll start by explaining the way I came up with the principles and where the principles were birthed from Sept 2024 during hurricane Helene. Stay tuned for the rest of the story.

Whoo Buddy!
—- Rocky Top

06/09/2026

An update from White Hawk.

06/02/2026

05/30/2026

Greeting Friends;
I'm glad you decided to follow my section hike of the AT from Pearisburg, VA, to Waynesboro, VA. I really got into backpacking after retirement thru-hiking the Uwharrie Trail with the Three Rivers Land Trust out of Salisbury, NC. I met some fellow hikers on those thru-hikes and formed some friendships that took me to section hiking the Mountains to the Sea Trail, Foot Hills Trail in South Carolina as well as a section of the Palmetto Trial. I finally hiked the AT in the Shennadoah section last fall.

I enjoyed the views but mostly enjoyed the people along the way. After posting on Facebook, a chaplain colleague reached out and asked if I would be interested in hiking a section of the AT as a Circuit chaplain. I applied and was selected to serve in that ministry. We were commissioned in February by the Holston conference of the United Methodist Church.

As a Circuit Chaplain, I will hike with others who aspire to reach the goal they've set for themselves. My role is to be a support person for those who have physical emotional or spiritual needs while on the trail. It may be as simple as sharing water purification tablets or a cliff bar to listening to what sparked their desire to hike the trial. In the literature I read about the AT, many folks are going through some transition. It could be a gap year before starting college, grieving a significant loss i.e. the death of a loved one, the loss of a relationship, or searching for meaning in life. Others just want to hike the AT because it is there.

I'm looking forward to my time on the trail and the experiences yet to be had. I ask your prayers for the hikers on their journey and that I will be blessing to them and they to me. God's Peace!!

05/26/2026

Jeff “Rocky Top” Wadley checking in from the very wet trail in Virginia. In the movie Forest Gump, Tom Hanks character said “One day it started raining and did not stop, then all of a sudden out of no where it just stopped.” Well, the phrase “No rain, no Maine” is at work here in northern VA. It started raining last Thursday at 2:00 and it is still raining (Monday night Memorial Day). The good news is I am never without drinking water.

Last Monday-Wednesday it was approaching 95 degrees and then suddenly it’s in the 50’s. As my friend Dwight McCarter would say “Go figure.”

I have made many new friends and have been well taken care of by friends I have known for a while. It’s good to have a place to get off trail, do laundry and dry out!

Fresh Expressions invited me to be a part of their podcast this week and once it’s airs I’ll let folks know how to listen. I gave a short history of the chaplaincy and why we are even doing this in the first place, plus I gave some more details of the day to day life of a AT thru-hiker (hike, eat, sleep, repeat).

Next week I will come off trail to attend a portion of Holston Annual Conference at Lake Junaluska. I’ll be the one in a suit on the platform getting my official retirement certificate. Yay! I suspect I will not be able to wear my trail clothes however.

Here are a few pics of the last few days. Hope you enjoy!

Rocky Top