Day 24, Dalton to Chief Vann House State Historic Site

Tengo Hambre and I were glad we stayed last night at the Days Inn instead of the Super 8, as we did on Day 20. Our room was a little nicer and the breakfast this morning included many more options.

The temperature was pleasantly cool when we left the motel at 7:45 a.m. and began our last miles of the trail. The trail went past our motel, so as soon as we stepped outside we were walking on it.

The first 3.6 miles of the day went along Walnut Avenue, the main commercial route through Dalton. Although I wouldn't call this section hiker-friendly, the sidewalk continued for a long stretch. There were pedestrian crossing lines and signals at most of the intersections.

We had to cross the street once where a sidewalk was only on the other side. Where there wasn't a sidewalk, there was a wide shoulder or a parking lot we could walk through.

Several businesses stood on both sides of the road. Dalton calls itself the Carpet Capital of the World because of the number of carpet, rug, and vinyl flooring manufacturers in and near the city. The city claims that 90 percent of the world's wall-to-wall carpet is created here.

The trail took us past the headquarters and some manufacturing facilities of the city's largest flooring company, Shaw Industries Group.

When we arrived at the intersection of U.S. Highway 41, we knew the convenience store on the corner was the last business we would see for several miles. We stopped there to buy a cold drink.

Before Dalton became the Carpet Capital of the World, it was the Bedspread Capital of the World. That reputation can be traced to U.S. 41, also called Dixie Highway. The road, which runs from Florida to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, was completed in this part of Georgia in 1929. By this time, local women had been sewing and selling bedspreads, rugs, and other items using chenille fabrics for about 30 years.

They used thick cotton yarns to stitch patterns on unbleached muslin, then clipped the ends of the yarns. When the fabric was washed, the yarns would fluff out. The item was washed again in hot water to shrink the fabric and lock the yarns in place.

When the highway was completed, the women displayed their chenille robes, bedspreads, and rugs for passing motorists to see and buy. Because of a popular pattern used on bedspreads, the highway became known as "Peacock Alley."

Eventually, factories overtook home-based businesses in the production of chenille products. Before the factories switched to synthetic fabrics in the 1950s, 500,000 bales of cotton were used every year.

The popularity of chenille began to wane at about the same time as the conversion to synthetics, and Dalton's factories began shifting production to carpets.

After leaving the convenience store, Airport Road became narrower. There wasn't much room to walk without stepping into the traffic lane or walking on grass.

As usual, the trail was inconsistently marked. Tengo and I should have paid more attention to our navigation app, but we missed a turn. We didn't realize it until we got to the next road, less than a half-mile away.

We decided to continue by turning there instead of backtracking. This took us to where we needed to go and we didn't add much more walking.

Once we were back on the official route at Callie Jones Road, we had less than two miles to go to Chief Vann House State Historic Site. The time was now 1 p.m. I had estimated this morning that we would finish around 2 p.m., and we were still on track to do that.

Callie Jones Road had more traffic than the last few miles and didn't have a sidewalk or wide shoulder. I was glad this stretch didn't go much more than a mile.

After the trail left the road, we followed it across a large grassy field. There were trail markers to guide us here, which were needed. The footpath wasn't well-worn.

I must have lost my sunglasses somewhere in this field. They were missing when Tengo and I got to the end.

The end of our thru-hike was back at Chief Vann House State Historic Site, where we left the trail yesterday. This was an out-of-the-ordinary place to end a hike, but it worked for us. It just took two flips and walking in opposite directions to get here.

I think the way we hiked our last few days on the trail made a lot of sense. It broke up 27.8 miles of road walking into manageable chunks. As a bonus when we were finished, we went back to Four Points Drive-in for another meal. My wife Kim arrived there a short time later to pick us up.

There's no doubt the Pinhoti Trail would be more enjoyable if there were fewer roads to walk or if the road sections took a safer route. I would have also enjoyed the trail more if there weren't so many loose dogs and piles of garbage along the way.

I don't regret hiking this trail, but it won't be on my list of favorites. Admittedly, it's hard for any trail to get on a list that includes the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail.

The Pinhoti has the potential to become a great trail. Many dedicated volunteers are working today to make it better. In time, with more resources and more volunteers, I think they can get there.

It's worth noting that since I completed this trail, more sections of it in Alabama have been moved from roads. I hope similar efforts are undertaken soon in Georgia.

Before I started hiking the Pinhoti, I already had plans to hike two more trails in the fall, the Foothills Trail and the Blue Ridge Bartram Trail. They can be connected as one long hike of about 200 miles, and that's how I plan to complete them.

Maybe the Pinhoti isn't on my favorites list, but I enjoyed hiking it and learned a few things from it. I shouldn't have let what I was told color my expectations. The Pinhoti reminded me there will always be things to learn and surprises to experience.

And most of all, it reminded me that every day on the trail is a good day when I'm hiking with Tengo Hambre, even if we tend to take a wrong turn from time to time.