[gentle music] [footsteps thumping] - Okay, Trev, let's stop for a second.

He's breaking up the sticks.

- You ready?

- [Cameraman] Yep.

Rolling.

- All right, so this is audio-video slate for the interview.

- [Interviewer] I mean, this place seems like it pulls you out of a dark place.

- [Trevor] Yeah, I wanted to get back into doing something other than just walking around in the neighborhood.

[dog barking] I found out I didn't need to go on the streets and worry about cars, and I could go to the store.

I could do pretty much anything I wanted on this greenway.

This is what got me into distance hiking.

I was hooked.

- Coming up next on "Best Of Our State," the epic journey of Trevor Thomas, who hiked the Appalachian Trail without the benefit of eyesight, and the story behind one of our state's newest state parks.

That's next on "Best Of Our State."

We dip into treasured stories for a look at all the beauty and character of North Carolina.

Hello, I'm Elizabeth Hudson, editor-in-chief of Our State magazine and your host.

[gentle music] - This is Standing Bear.

It's one of my favorite hostels on the AT.

It's just a wonderful respite between the Smoky Mountains, which we just left, and where we're going is the summit of Max Patch, one of the most beautiful balds in all of North Carolina and on all of the East Coast.

This whole section is, you know, a very special spot for me.

- In the year 2008, Trevor Thomas embarked on an awe-inspiring journey, a through-hike of the legendary Appalachian Trail.

Trevor's capacity to overcome adversity left an indelible mark on the hearts of all those who witnessed his extraordinary journey along the Trail Of Trust.

[gentle music] [crickets chirping] - [Narrator] Life's trails are filled with surprises.

The more interesting and memorable ones offer twists and turns to negotiate and steep summits to climb.

Sometimes, after you think you've found your footing at last.

- [Trevor] "I don't wanna hike in the rain."

Is that what you're thinking?

- [Companion] I don't care either way.

- Thank you again.

- Yes, sir.

- [Narrator] But it's the most challenging of life's trails that play forever in your mind, the ones that both frustrate and enliven your journey in undreamed-of ways.

Just ask Trevor Thomas.

- Yeah.

2004 was a good year for me.

I got out of law school.

I was going to go into the JAG Corps with the Navy, and the only thing I had to do was take a physical, which included an eye test.

- [Narrator] The news was shocking and came out of nowhere.

- She said, "Glasses are not gonna help you.

I can't help you.

I would recommend highly that you go see a specialist."

He said, "It could be central serous chorioretinopathy."

He said, "But not like anything I'd ever seen."

25% of my eyesight, one week, gone, just like that.

- [Narrator] And, soon, probably gone entirely with no cure.

- I never met a blind person.

I certainly didn't ever envision myself being blind, and God knows I didn't know how to exist as a blind person.

- The first two, three years, as he was realizing that blindness had occurred, we didn't know what to expect at all, and I'm not sure he knew what to expect, but it was pretty harrowing.

- I did not wanna leave my house.

You know, I was at the point where I didn't even know how I was going to get to the mailbox without getting hurt.

You know, in my eyes, you know, life was over.

- So, then you gotta figure out, am I gonna curl up and die or am I gonna just, okay, what am I gonna do?

- One friend called and said, "You are going out, and we're gonna go see a blind guy speak."

The same problems that I had and I was going through, he'd already gone through, so I instantly could identify with him.

It turned out to be a very, very monumental point in my life.

Well, he climbed Everest.

If this guy can climb Everest and he's blind, why can't I do whatever it is that I want to do in life?

It was like a catharsis.

It really was.

[door creaks] [gentle music] - He realized at that moment that he could be a blind person that could do something other than sit on the sofa and do nothing.

- [Narrator] With the help of an orient and mobility instructor, Trevor took those critical first steps.

- The first time was terrifying.

[car rumbles] She would make me go up and down the streets, all around in the neighborhood.

You push that comfort zone a little bit, then you push it again and then again and again.

I've done so many miles hiking.

I know by the speed that I'm walking and time basically tell me how far I've gone, and how far I've gone will get me to markers and will let me know where I need to turn to go different places.

Down the street, up the hill, turn right, then turn left, then walk down that street, and the minute we hit the greenway, it was free.

- [Narrator] The Charlotte Greenway was Trevor's ticket to a future he couldn't have imagined at that time.

- There's not a day that I don't go out and hit the greenway for either training, enjoyment, or for transportation.

- [Narrator] Trevor's home away from home often meant 20 to 25 miles a day of disciplined effort.

- He had to find something that worked for him, and the hiking is, you know, what was the answer.

- [Narrator] But not just any hike.

Trevor decided to take on the big one, the Appalachian Trail, end to end, all 2,175 miles of it from Georgia to Maine through 14 states.

- I do think my parents wanted to have me committed.

- And I said, "You didn't join the Boy Scouts.

You never camped.

You never did any of that."

- Yeah, I thought he lost his mind and his eyesight all in the same pipe, yep.

- Once I decided I was gonna do it, there was gonna be no way on earth that, number one, I wouldn't go, and, number two, that I would quit.

- We still didn't really think he was going to go.

- [Narrator] A through-hike of the entire trail typically takes five to seven months.

It's best to start in Georgia in the spring and walk north to Maine, following the warm weather up the spine of the Appalachians.

- [Trevor] When it became real that I was gonna go, my sister was the only one who would take me.

- And I watched him as he went, and I thought, "Okay, Trev, this is your one and only chance to show that you can do this."

Part of me was like, you know what?

As much gumption as he had, yeah, he could do it, but then the other part of me was thinking, oh my gosh, you know, I just sent him off into the sunset to come home in a pine box.

- [Narrator] D-Day was April 6th, 2008, and the way Trevor figured it, it would work to ask other hikers if they would trust having a blind guy tag after them.

- The first 24 groups of people that I asked, absolutely not.

Most people did not want to be responsible for getting the blind guy killed.

- [Narrator] Finally, a hiker named Kevin took up his challenge and they were off, much like you see Trevor here following his friend Dave, but like any new venture, there was some learning experiences.

- [Trevor] The AT is a very rugged trail.

It was nowhere close to the greenway, which is where I got all my practice.

We had to figure out a way for me not to get killed.

We figured out that if he tapped on rocks- - All right, rocks there to your left.

- [Trevor] Then I would know they were there.

We got better and better and better.

- Oh, we have a little blow down, but it's notched out.

- [Trevor] All right.

I got quicker and quicker and quicker, and hence started falling less and less and less.

- All right.

Watch the roaders on eye level.

- [Trevor] It is not true that when you lose one of your senses, your other senses get better.

- [Dave] All right.

First step.

- [Trevor] They don't.

- Go right.

A little wobbly.

- You become more aware and you pay attention to your other senses more.

My sense of touch, I'm a very tactile person now.

I have noticed that the feeling, ironically enough, in my feet has become much more acute, but I need to be able to feel the subtle gradient on a trail to make sure that I'm on it.

- [Narrator] Inevitably, Trevor and his first hiking partner had to part company.

- We made it seven days before he had to leave and go on.

I figured I'd just stop and I'd sit down and I'd wait.

The great thing about the AT is that there are thousands of people that do it every year, so you meet a lot of people along the way.

- [Narrator] And Trevor was fortunate to find fresh hiking partners willing to take him on.

- And they said, "Come with us."

And it went on and on like that.

Groups would form.

People would get off.

- [Narrator] In the beginning, trusting others to help him along life's way was difficult.

- [Dave] We got some steps here.

- [Trevor] All right.

- [Narrator] On and off the trail.

- Step up and then go left.

- All right.

- [Elizabeth] He always had the position that it was trust no one except for family members, and the most ironic thing is, now, with his blindness, he's gotta trust people.

He's gotta trust total strangers, and that's been a turning point for him 'cause he's never been like that.

So, now, he trusts a lot of people, which has made a big difference in his life.

- [Narrator] It's common for hikers to take on a trail name, a easy way to personalize your trek and to remember others you meet along the way.

On the trail, Trevor is known as Zero, after zero, zero, a rock climbing term for zero visibility.

- All right, Butterfly.

Let's roll.

- I heard about the blind guy on the trail, and it was really funny because I got to a shelter and I heard somebody and it was Zero.

He'd been there for like a day and a half, waiting for somebody he knew to come along.

- Switch-back coming up.

- [Sherrie] Well, we hiked together for three and a half days.

You know, he's got the hiking poles and everybody else has hiking poles as well, so it's like he doesn't feel any different and people can't tell he's blind, and he'll tell me sometimes he just feels like this is his element out here.

[gentle music] [birds chirping] - [Narrator] The trail has over 250 shelters and camp sites.

Shelters are spaced about a day's hike apart.

Zero's daily objective was simple.

Reach a trail shelter every night.

[water burbling] - [Trevor] Sounds like good flow.

- [Narrator] And find water.

And if things worked out well, on the days he really needed one, Zero would find a new hiking partner and let family know where he was via a GPS spot locator.

Anybody who's ever been hiking in unfamiliar territory, even for an afternoon, can recall the heart-pounding feeling that can come with being alone in the wilderness.

- [Trevor] It's one thing to be alone and a little bit freaked out in the back country when you're by yourself in the daytime, but when it turns night and you're by yourself, it's very, very unnerving.

You sit and you wait for the day to come.

I mean, you're just praying for, when am I gonna feel that light on my face?

[birds chirping] [gentle music] - [Dave] All right, we're coming down.

The sun's feeling good.

This is a shot I need for my camera with the dew on the trees.

- Yeah?

What about it?

- Oh, it's the sun shining through all that dew that we had last night.

- [Trevor] Oh, so it's like sparkling?

- [Dave] Like a Christmas tree.

- [Trevor] Nice.

- [Narrator] This is a story of a man transformed, who has learned to step out of self and in turn inspire others.

- [Trevor] The amazing thing was is that I was doing the AT for myself.

- Wow.

It's so nice to meet you.

- [Trevor] Oh, good to meet you guys.

Just the the vast number of people that came up to me and said, "What you're doing is amazing."

And they're like, "No, you inspire me."

My name is Zero.

- Oh, you're the blind guy.

- [Trevor] Yeah, that's me.

- [Hiker] I've heard of you.

- Oh, thanks.

- So I'm really impressed.

- [Trevor] Knowing that by me walking was inspiring people to do things was just really cool, and I was like, "Wow, maybe I can make a difference doing this."

- And he kept going and going and going, and I thought, I'll be darned.

My brother's gonna do this.

I can't believe it.

- [Narrator] There's hiking, and then there's the grueling hundred-mile wilderness from Monson, Maine to Mount Katahdin, the last leg of the Appalachian Trail, - [Trevor] And they even have this gigantic sign before you enter that says, "If you do not have at least 10 days of food on you, don't enter because there is no out."

- [Narrator] And then there was Kyle, the remnants of a late-season hurricane that brought enough weather misery to nearly get the best of him.

[thunder booms] - [Trevor] I'd almost drowned myself.

I was freezing and I was in a shelter and I was alone.

The only thing that saved me was I heard people.

They hiked pretty much all night so they could catch up with me and make sure that I was able to complete my trek.

- [Narrator] But they had not yet reached their ultimate goal, Mount Katahdin, because the National Park Service had closed the trail, sidelining hikers for a week.

When the weather finally broke, Zero headed out toward his goal and had plenty of company.

- [Trevor] There were more hikers on that day, October 8th, that stood on top of that mountain than has ever stood on top of the mountain ever.

All these people are making as much noise as they possibly can 'cause they're excited, and, number two, 'cause they know I'm listening so I can get up the rest of the hill.

Just being able to share that with so many people that you shared so much with, it was utterly surreal.

- [Narrator] Six months, two days, and over 2,000 miles, Zero had beat the odds, his own.

[gentle music] - I'm not encouraging everybody who's losing their sight to run out and do the Appalachian Trail.

That was something that I chose to do for myself.

What I want people to take away from it, sure, there are gonna be things you can't do any longer, so let 'em go.

Find what it is that is your passion, whether you think you can do it or not, and just go out and try.

Everybody has their own summit.

Hey, Dave, say something else.

People take photographs.

- [Dave] Woo!

- [Trevor] Well, I have those.

Say something again.

- [Dave] Woo!

- But they don't do me any good.

Every time I get to the summit of anything, I pick up a rock or two rocks and put 'em in my pocket.

That way, when I get home, I can lay my rocks out and I can feel the rocks.

I remember just like if you, say, would look at a photo.

[traffic rumbling] I just navigated 2,175 miles.

I'm out there doing things that 99% of the population wouldn't even consider doing.

What most people would seem to be the mundane is a great deal of challenge for me, being alone and going to the grocery store.

I'm Trevor.

- I'm Carol.

- Good to meet you.

- Good to meet you too.

- [Trevor] I need to do a little shopping.

- [Carol] I'm sorry.

- Oh, no worries.

I can't see the boxes.

And it's a good one?

- [Shopper] Yes, sir.

- [Trevor] I can't see the cans.

- Looks good.

- Great.

It's a reality check.

[gentle music] [crowd chattering] That's gonna do it for produce, but thank you very much.

- Oh, you're welcome.

- Have a good day, sir.

- One thing that was most detrimental to me, and I listened to it for a while, as my vision grew worse, there was the increased societal expectations on me being able to do less and less.

I gained weight on the trail last time.

- You were kind of- - You were skinny.

- You were really skinny, I thought.

- I realized that, no, I can do whatever I want to, because I know I can.

What's in the future?

I'm doing a lot more hiking.

Okay.

[gentle music] [upbeat music] - Prepare to embark on an unforgettable journey to a place that has earned a well-deserved spot among the top 50 US state parks everyone should visit in their lifetime.

The true magic lies not only in the breathtaking scenery, but also in the captivating story of stewardship that brought about the creation of Chimney Rock State Park.

[upbeat music] [birds cawing] - [Narrator] It all began with a 25-cent ride up the mountain by donkey, mule, or horseback, depending on which story you believe.

- Well, Dr. Lucius Morse was from St. Louis, and he came to this area actually because he had tuberculosis and he was looking for a better climate, and so when he'd rode down, he used to ride down on horseback down into Hickory Nut Gorge, and he saw the monolith known as Chimney Rock, and thought, "Wow, this is an incredible place for a tourist attraction," and so that really was the beginning of his dream.

- [Narrator] All of that happened back around 1902, but there's a whole lot of Dr. Morse's dream that happened between 1902 and today, including participation by two older brothers in his dream, twin brothers who quickly became as smitten as Dr. Morse by Chimney Rock and its possibilities.

- [Mary] Dr. Lucius, he was the one that had the vision.

Hiram and Asahel were the ones that helped to bankroll the operation.

- [Narrator] When the Morse brothers bought the original 64 acres of Chimney Rock Mountain from Jerome Freeman, their first challenge was how to get visitors safely up the mountain, beginning with an access road.

- You can just imagine what it's like to build a road on the side of a mountain.

They got about two miles up the road, and many of the engineers were telling them to stop at that point because they encountered so much rock that it made it very difficult to get past.

They ended up buying some property on top of the mountain to get some water to power their steam drills and blasted on through the rock and got the last mile completed.

- [Narrator] Building the road also meant bridging the Rocky Broad River, which they accomplished by June of 1916.

A few weeks later, on the 4th of July, Mother Nature whipped up a pretty good storm and an ambitious flood that undid all their good work by washing the new bridge away.

- That probably would've put a lot of people like, that's enough for me, but it didn't daunt their spirits, and they went right back at it and built the road, and that was really the beginning of the real access.

- [Narrator] And people came from all around in their horse-drawn carriages and their Model Ts, and parked at the chimney's base, where you could relax at the inn that backed up against the cliff side at that time, but getting to the base of the chimney was just the first part of your journey.

You still had some climbing to do.

The 470 steps they built to the top was quite an improvement over what earlier visitors had to negotiate.

- They had some pretty rudimentary stairs and things, and we hear that people shimmied up locust posts to get up on top of the chimney.

I think when there's a will, there's a way, and that's pretty much the axis that they had.

[upbeat music] - [Narrator] Another part of the doctor's ambitious dream was to change the view from his mountain, which he actually made happen in the 1920s by creating Lake Lure.

[upbeat music] But the long-term goal of a first-class resort to encompass Chimney Rock Park was derailed by depression era economics.

At about the same time, ambitious plans were hatched to improve access to the mountain even more in a novel and dramatic fashion.

- This was a dream of high remorse.

He wanted everyone to have access to the mountain and so they looked at all kinds of ways.

They looked at funiculars, but the elevator seemed to make the most sense.

They had plans for that and talked about that early on in the century, but it wasn't until 1948 that they actually accomplished that goal.

- [Narrator] An elevator up the side of a mountain?

No, inside the mountain.

- They did some engineering studies, and, unfortunately, those studies happened around the time that Dr. Morris passed away, so I think he was probably involved with the idea of the elevator, but didn't get to see it to its completion, and they began construction I guess back in 1947, and it took about 18 months and eight tons of dynamite.

Blasting into the rock and then straight up was a pretty incredible thing, given the fact that the hoistway is a 258-foot shaft straight up into the mountain.

It was the tallest elevator in the state of North Carolina when it was constructed, and then opened to the public in 1949, and some people ask me, "Why don't you have another one?"

[Todd chuckles] [peaceful music] - [Narrator] Today's visitors are reminded what a feat of engineering this was by displays posted along the 198-foot tunnel walkway.

- So glad y'all came to see us, and y'all enjoy.

- Thank you.

- All right, thanks.

[group chattering] - [Narrator] The trip to the top takes about 30 seconds, and once you arrive, you can enjoy the 75-mile view.

Visit the Opera Box, long a favorite spot, or climb the remaining 44 stairs to look out from the chimney top's 1,965 foot elevation.

Other scenic attractions, the Devil's Head outcropping, or you can try squeezing your way through narrow Needle's Eye.

- [Guide] Is everything all right?

One at a time.

- [Visitor] Hats off and go one way at a time!

- [Narrator] Or perhaps even hike to Hickory Nut Falls.

At 404 feet, it's one of our state's highest, and was part of a well-known scene from the feature film "The Last of the Mohicans."

Of course, the main attraction remains the magnificent view of Hickory Nut Gorge and Lake Lure from the chimney.

[upbeat music] Resisting the pressure of commercial development, and after much thought and soul-searching, the Morse family decided in 2007 to sell the 996-acre park to the state of North Carolina.

The result is a much larger park, more like Lucius Morse envisioned all those years ago.

- For a long time, there were ideas and plans as part of the New Parks for a New Century initiative to develop the Hickory Nut Gorge State Park, and lands had already been acquired and the General Assembly had already authorized the development of a Hickory Nut Gorge State Park.

The lands were adjacent and it made sense to make a contiguous park and include the Chimney Rock Park.

- [Mary] The thing that probably was most concerning to folks in the community was that it continued to be a park, that it would continue to bring guests to our area, because our entire area is totally dependent on tourism.

- And I hope the people of North Carolina will be satisfied, because people that love Chimney Rock will be able to experience it in much the same way as they have in years past for many generations to come I think as a result of this agreement.

[gentle music] - [Elizabeth] Thank you for joining us for "Best Of Our State."

We have enjoyed sharing North Carolina stories with you.

See you next time!

[gentle music] [gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] [gentle music continues] - [Announcer] More information about Our State magazine is available at ourstate.com or 1-800-948-1409.