Winton Porter, Author of Just Passin’ Thru Receives Rave Review

Winton Porter strikes again! We found this article smack dab on the front page of the Atlanta Journal‘s Sunday Travel section.  Here is the opening piece, but click on through and read every word of what reporter Bo Emerson had to say about Just Passin’ Thru’: A Vintage Store, the Appalachian Trail and a Cast of Unforgettable Characters.

Mountain Crossings a hikers’ paradise

By Bo Emerson :: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

For a guy whose job has him posted in the middle of nowhere, Winton Porter certainly draws a crowd.

Porter owns the Mountain Crossings outfitter and hostel at the Walasi-Yi Center on the Appalachian Trail near Blairsville, and, though he’s technically in the wilderness, there’s a lot of human wildlife on hand.

On one recent warm spring afternoon, his stone-and-timber headquarters hosted bearded hikers in poly-pro long johns, clean-shaven bikers in color coordinated helmets, a church group cooking free burgers on the deck and a swarm of tourists just enjoying the weather.

Gregory Schley, 53, whose trail name is “Dartman,” stroked his brown and gray beard and studied the scene as he and his colleague Joe “Guns” Kilpatrick took a break from gluing PVC pipe.

“You come up here on a good weekend, and it looks like bike week at Daytona,” said Schley.

The crowd at Mountain Crossings is cresting right about now. March and April are high-season for the famed Appalachian Trail, when a horde of hikers sets out from the AT’s southern terminus, Springer Mountain, aiming to make the northern end at Mount Katahdin in Maine before winter. . .

Read the rest of the news article on The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s site!

Check out Winton Porter’s Just Passin’ Thru’: A Vintage Store, the Appalachian Trail and a Cast of Unforgettable Characters for yourself over at the Menasha Ride Press website.