By Josh Kloehn

Originated by the Tennessee Eastman Hiking and Canoeing Club (TEHCC) under the charismatic leadership of Bob Peoples, Hardcore is an opportunity for current thru-hikers and previous Hardcore participants to give back to the A.T., learn about trail work, and actually get dirty and perform Trail rehab that occurs after Trail Days in Damascus, Virginia. After 16 years of projects, TEHCC passed the Hardcore baton on to the next A.T. Maintaining Club north — the Mount Rogers A.T. Club (MRATC), and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s Konnarock Trail Crew. This season, 2019 marked the fourth year that MRATC and Konnarock hosted and led the Damascus Hardcore crew. Taking advantage of the skilled and veteran Konnarock volunteers, they each took three to four Hardcore volunteers under their wing and tackled Trail rehabilitation projects up in the Grayson Highlands.

This year, my partner NAB (“Not A Botanist”) and I (“Unicorn”) are flip flop thru-hiking the A.T. and we decided to sprinkle a little Hardcore on the journey to really spice it up after Trail Days,” says Phoebe Anderson. “NAB and I are both avid conservationists, and we wanted to do our part to help maintain this incredible trail. Hardcore was an awesome and humbling way to do so. I now understand the hours of work each set of rock stairs took to install, and the hundreds of thousands of hours that have been put in over the years to make this thing possible.”