Spending time in the shoulder or off-season in the Appalachians is much more appealing to me than hiking there in summer. Summers under the canopy of the Appalachians‘ mostly deciduous trees are pleasant and shaded, but it is also quite humid and stuffy. Having hiked the Benton Mackeye Trail in April and June back in 2019, and having done numerous day hikes along the US-American East Coast in summer, gave me a pretty good impression of the specific challenges hiking in this region, beyond the continuous ups and downs of the rolling mountains.