By Shaina Stockton |  New River Voice correspondent

When he was in the eighth grade, Kurt Rheinheimer turned in his first writing assignment for the school year. The paper was on the cookie-cutter topic, “What I did on my summer vacation.” Rheinheimer spun a humorous, exaggerated account of how he and his friend got “lost” on a mountainside where their families were camping. His paper, titled “The Day My Life Was Saved by a Lifesaver,” did not meet his teacher’s standards, but the feedback she gave him would set the tone for his future.

“She gave me an ‘F’ because I didn’t follow directions, and then she wrote that it was wonderfully written and fun,” Rheinheimer said. “She hooked me in right there.”
Today, Rheinheimer works as an editor-in-chief at Leisure Publishing and writes for several publications, including The Roanoker, Blue Ridge Country and the Virginia Travel Guide. His love for hiking has inspired a blog that he updates regularly on Blue Ridge Country’s website. “Getting to write about the mountains and get great freelance material from writers is terrific,” Rheinheimer said.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Md., Rheinheimer is a Creighton University graduate with a master’s degree in communication arts.  He started his job at Leisure Publishing in 1984 as editor-in-chief after competing as an associate editor against two other candidates. “At some point I got up my nerve and told publisher and owner Richard Wells that I was the one,” Rheinheimer said. “Luckily, he agreed.”

His blog, titled “Kurt’s Hikes,” began after he and his wife, Gail, took their first hiking trip in February 2004. “My wife, who has since truly become the greatest day hiker of them all, said on Valentine’s morning, ‘Hey, let’s do something different,’” Rheinheimer said.

Gail Rheinheimer recalled taking hikes with her husband and their children while they were growing up. “I love being outside and I love being with Kurt,” Gail said. “We hiked through lots of snow and ice that day on Apple Orchard Falls and Cornelius Creek. We followed bear prints for a while and had a gourmet picnic lunch at the halfway point. It was good exercise, so there just didn’t seem any reason not to do it the next weekend or the next.”

Together, they completed all 550 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Virginia in 2008, and have walked more than 3,500 miles total. Most of their hikes have taken place in Virginia, but they have also visited trails in West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Florida, Oregon and New Zealand. “We’re so lucky in this part of Virginia, with the Appalachian Trail going right through our back yard,” Rheinheimer said.

His resume’ also lists several contributions to journals such as Carolina Quarterly and Greensboro Review and anthologies including “New Stories from the South” and “Scoring from Second: Writers on Baseball.”

Rheinheimer also has a playful side. He has written several works of fiction and loves to incorporate humor into his writing. “In the early 1980s, I contributed a freelance column to The Roanoker called ‘The Star City Seer.’ It was made-up questions and wacky answers,” Rheinheimer said.

In 2005, he published “Little Criminals,” a collection of short stories that he’d written over the years. The book was published by Eastern Washington University and won the Spokane Prize for fiction.

One of his blog entries includes a video of Hurricane Irene’s effect on Flat Top Mountain. The camera centers on rain-drenched Rheinheimer mimicking the Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore. He uses quick, dramatic gestures, flailing his arms and stumbling around the rocks as he continues a fast-paced weather report, most of which is drowned out by the wind blowing into the camera. “Here on the peak, conditions are deteriorating, as you can see,” Rheinheimer gestures toward a nearby tree that gently sways in the wind. “Just look at some of those leaves, just, whip, whipping!” His wife can be heard giggling off camera.

In his spare time, Rheinheimer enjoys a busy life. He and Gail have a big family, with five sons and six grandchildren. In addition to hiking, he enjoys other outdoor activities such as running and biking. He also enjoys escaping into the short stories that have inspired him throughout his career. Some of his favorite authors are John Updike, Lorrie Moore, Raymond Carver and Ann Beattie.

While it may seem Rheinheimer has scratched a lot off his to-do list, his love for writing keeps him hungry for more. “I have two story collections getting considered and rejected, and a third one that is close to being submitted,” Rheinheimer said. “And for work, I want to make the publications I work on the best they can be every time.”

You can read Rheinheimer’s blog by visiting the website at http://www.blueridgecountry.com.