The first settlement of present-day Winston-Salem began in an abandoned trapper’s cabin 20 years before the American Revolution at the site of Historic Bethabara Park, which commemorates the Bethabara settlement of 1753. Most of the park is populated with the…
Mount Mitchell State Park
Mount Mitchell and points north
by tom • November 16, 2009 • 9 Comments
“It ain’t Mount Tam,” the guy tells me in his distinct Carolina brogue. Seems he’d lived in Sacramento awhile and had dirtied his boots on a few Bay Area trails. I had just clambered through the gnarliest mile in recent…
Linville Gorge Wilderness
First hike at Linville Gorge Wilderness
by tom • November 8, 2009 • 8 Comments
Linville Gorge Wilderness is high on all the must-hike lists for the southern Appalachians. The terrain is so ragged and remote that there was never much prospect of cutting down the trees and putting up swanky resorts. It’s all protected…
Blogs
Gore-Tex advertising enters 21st century
by tom • November 1, 2009 • 2 Comments
Last week’s Gore-Tex blogger summit offers a compelling illustration of how advertising will happen in the years to come. Here’s what happened: GTX hosted 15 outdoor bloggers for a two-day pow wow designed to do two things: Burnish the company’s…
Hanging Rock State Park
Latest hike: Moore’s Knob, Hanging Rock State Park
by tom • October 25, 2009 • 7 Comments
The great thing about getting lost on the way here three weeks ago and having to turn back: returning when fall colors are going full-blast. This is where your intrepid hiking blogger is forced to admit that he hasn’t done…
Blogs
Best Carolina hiking blogs
by tom • October 20, 2009 • 4 Comments
Basically there’s Danny Bernstein’s This Hiking Life and all the rest. Danny (short for Danielle) posts live from the Smokies most days. It isn’t all elk sex in front of God and everyone, but it’s almost always about great places…
Tom's travels
Fall colors on the Blue Ridge Parkway
by tom • October 18, 2009 • 6 Comments
No hikes to report this week, but we did get some miles in driving down the Blue Ridge Parkway — which has tons of nearby trails, so I did accomplish a bit of scouting for future treks. We’ve got a…
Gear
Coming to a ‘nature walk’ near you
by tom • October 14, 2009 • 0 Comments
Geeze, I’m like synthetics from head to toe here. About the only things not produced in a factory were my wife’s cookies and the PB&J she lovingly prepared. Just thought I’d post this, seeing as how my new job implicates…
Stone Mountain State Park
Wolf Rock Trail, Stone Mountain State Park
by tom • October 11, 2009 • 4 Comments
Tip o’ the hat to Smokies Hiker, who suggested a stroll along Wolf Rock Trail at Stone Mountain State Park. There are no wolves, of course, but there is plenty of rock. My eight-mile loop was a considerable improvement on…