I needed a week to recover from this one. The Grandfather Trail along the summit ridge at Grandfather Mountain State Park is a crazy obstacle course of ladders, cable routes and 50-ton boulders. Strong hikers can do all the trails…
Pilot Mountain State Park
Summer hikes at River Sections of Pilot Mountain State Park
by tom • August 22, 2010 • 4 Comments
I have as much fun finding these trails as I do hiking on them. They’re all tucked way, way back in the countryside, and while there are reasonably direct routes (like less than a half-dozen turns from a major highway),…
Stone Mountain State Park
Another stroll at Stone Mountain (N.C.) State Park
by tom • August 15, 2010 • 6 Comments
You know how in the movies where the heroes are slogging through the jungle, then the camera shows subtle changes in scenery implying something big is about to happen, then they round a bend and see this vast civilization splayed…
Mangan's memoirs
Three new North Carolina guides at EveryTrail.com
by tom • August 12, 2010 • 0 Comments
I’m turning my attention to some of the trails I’ve hiked in the last year since moving to North Carolina. The first three: Summit Trails at Pilot Mountain State Park. Revisits the route of my first North Carolina hike. This…
Tanglewood Park
Dirt walking on a mountain bike path
by tom • July 27, 2010 • 4 Comments
It was so hot this past weekend I couldn’t muster the ambition for an ambitious hike; best I could do was 4.6 miles on the mountain-biking single-track at the park across the road. Tanglewood Park has a raft of amenities,…
Pilot Mountain State Park
Revisiting the peak of Pilot Mountain
by tom • July 18, 2010 • 7 Comments
I’m warming to this idea: at least one sweltering outing a year at the top of Pilot Mountain, just to test the principle that there’s no bad time to hike up there. I finished a sweat-drenched wretch on Sunday just…
gps
Everytrail Guides now on iPhone
by tom • July 17, 2010 • 8 Comments
This is the Big Moment for those of us in the Everytrail Guides Authors Guild (created right here as of this moment, I suppose): Guides are now available on the iPhone (via Everytrail Free and Everytrail Pro). I wish I…
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Quick trip to Clingmans Dome
by tom • July 12, 2010 • 7 Comments
The road to Clingmans Dome — highest point in Great Smoky Mountains National Park — opened a few weeks back after a long closure for renovations, so it’s been high on my list of places to check out.
Craggy Gardens
Craggy Gardens minus the rhododendrons
by tom • July 3, 2010 • 6 Comments
Craggy Gardens, about 20 miles north of Asheville on the Blue Ridge Parkway, is a must visit in mid-June, when the peak bloom of the Catawba rhododendron lights up vast swaths of the Blue Ridge Mountains.