Appalachia and Beyond is hosting the August Outdoor Blog Carnival. Topic of the month: what is your dream hike? Blog carnivals with a theme like this present an excellent way to see how many ways people can put the same…
I had it on good authority that the rhododendrons were blooming like crazy at Hanging Rock State Park. That was last Monday. Well, as of May 15, the Big Bloom was still on, but like so many hikers it’s moving…
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…
A few Appalachian Trail thru-hikers had a noisy night on the trail amid the killer storms that devastated broad swaths of Alabama and Georgia on Wednesday. It reminded me of some of the harrowing tales of beastly weather I’ve heard…
Picture the scenario: you’re pushing 50, you’re 40 pounds overweight and you’re an incorrigible couch potato. A day’s gonna come soon when somebody in position to get away with making unreasonable demands is going to lay it on the line:…
I was all set to write a post on how to create a mobile version of your hiking blog; then I discovered that if you use many of the popular blogging sites — WordPress.com, Blogspot, Tumblr, and Posterous — then…
Add Pescadero Creek County Park to your must-hike list, if it isn’t there already. It’s remote, quiet, full of ambitious young redwoods and a smattering of really old ones that, oddly enough, survived the steam-powered saws of outrageous fortune. Pescadero…
So, how did I end up strolling through the blazing sun at Monte Bello Open Space Preserve after I told everybody yesterday I was hitting the redwoods at Pescadero Creek County Park? Two things, both motivated by greed: 1) Pescadero…
National Trails Day, sponsored by the American Hiking Society (which still shows me no love despite 1,762 posts and 27 pages promoting the cause they hold dearest), has oodles of trail happenings in the Bay Area. Among the highlights: Bay…
