McAfee Knob might well be the most-documented stop along the Appalachian Trail. (Click for the essential turn-by-turn guide at Hiking Upward.com). A rocky slab juts out from a rock face, creating a perfect promontory for snapshots giving the impression you’re…
I combined an excellent Appalachian Trail loop with a pilgrimage to the famed Neels Gap/Mountain Crossings store and hostel last weekend. If you’ve ever gotten a Trail Journals jones, you’ve heard of Mountain Crossings: it’s where the outfitter’s staff patiently…
Max Patch is all about the timing. The grassy mountaintop near the North Carolina-Tennessee border is sublime on a clear morning from mid-May to mid-June, when rhododendrons and flame azaleas light up the nearby trails. The rest of the time,…
This is a surprisingly vigorous 3.2-mile hike from the city park of Blowing Rock, North Carolina, to the base of Glen Burney Falls. The town itself is mainly a tourist destination named for the legendary Blowing Rock, a crag where…
Panthertown Valley might not have any panthers anymore, but it feels about as wild as a big cat on the prowl. The valley is a 6,295-acre swath of Nantahala National Forest in the far southwest corner of North Carolina about…
Lower section of Triple Falls If I drive 170 miles one way to see a waterfall, it’s better be one kick-ass waterfall. This one is. Times two. And it’s in the coolest-named county in the Carolinas: Transylvania. DuPont State Forest…
Coming home with nice pictures changes the whole complexion of my hikes. Case in point: I hiked just over 11 miles Sunday on the trails of Piedmont Environmental Center, about 30 miles east of my doorstep. The hiking’s just bumpy…
