Katherine Dellinger

Kat grew up in Florida and Hawaii, spending most of her childhood at the beach. She attended undergrad at Florida State University, moved up to North Carolina for graduate school, fell in love with the state, and has lived in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains since finishing her graduate degree in 2006. Kat has always loved photography and incorporated it into her passion for hiking. Her favorite trekking partner is her 5-year-old Vizsla, Truman.

Kat is an avid hiker and loves all aspects of being in the backcountry. She has thru-hiked the John Muir Trail and High Sierra Trail, with plans of repeating the HST this fall. Her favorite part about where she lives is her access to the Appalachian Trail. In less than 2 hours she can get to Carver’s Gap, Grayson Highlands, Hot Springs, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She has section hiked hundreds of miles of the A.T., including multiple trips to the White Mountains of New England.

Kat has been a nurse anesthetist for 17 years, and maintains her work/life balance by focusing on open-heart anesthesia during the week and not getting lost in the woods on the weekends. She hopes to pass on her love for the outdoors to her children, who have spent many nights in the backcountry with her, gazing up at the Milky Way.

Leon M. Rubin

After hiking about 100 miles of the Appalachian Trail — Front Royal to Harpers Ferry and Harpers Ferry to Caledonia State Park — with his dad and some former Boy Scout buddies back in the ’80s, Leon M. Rubin left the A.T. behind until he serendipitously ended up moving to Dahlonega, Georgia, (an A.T. Community^TM) in 2006. Since then, he’s hiked what he likes to call “bits and pieces” of the Trail, finally making it to Springer Mountain last year — twice! He volunteers as a Trail Ambassador with the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club and enjoys connecting with and encouraging hikers he meets at A.T. Basecamp.

Leon is a freelance writer and retired public relations consultant who spent most of his career working with nonprofit organizations. An Ohio native, he lived in South Florida for more than sixteen years before he came to North Georgia, essentially qualifying him for “halfback” status. He loves exploring the numerous trails and waterfalls in the region whenever possible. Leon is happily married with three children, two granddaughters, a dog, and a passel of cats. He’s grateful for the opportunity to share his love for the Trail through writing for A.T. Journeys.