Blue Ridge Outdoors

Yesterday, I completed a 72-mile, end-to-end run across Great Smoky Mountains National Park in just under 17 hours, a speed record. However, the real goal was to help bring an end to the devastating and deadly effects of mountaintop removal mining.
I followed the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) for the entire run. The Smokies section of the [...]

Like most national parks across the country, budget shortfalls at Shenandoah National Park have left the regional treasure with a backlog of maintenance projects. Fortunately organizations like the nonprofit Shenandoah National Park Trust are stepping in to pick up the slack. For Virginia residents the Trust is offering a new scenic illustrated license plate, which [...]

Charlie Engle was a 30-year-old alcoholic. One day, he decided to go for a run. Soon, he found himself running marathons, then ultramarathons, and by age 40, he was one of the country’s premier long-distance runners. Two years ago, he led a team of three elite runners on an epic, record-setting 4,500 mile run across [...]

Swooping nylon and linked poles, zippered doors, screened windows, and stakes in the dirt holding it down — the humble formula for a tent has long prevailed as an ultimate outdoors habitat for humans in need of a temporary home. But today’s campground cabanas are far from the basic designs of decades past. Indeed, leaky [...]

The classic bike-messenger bag has been adopted the world over as requisite equipment for two-wheel transit with goods in tow. But for me a messenger bag’s single-strap setup — weight on one shoulder, the bag balanced on the arch of my back — has never felt comfortable or secure.
Instead, a backpack — two straps, a [...]

Push in the small black knob and twist. That’s all it takes to operate the Boa Lacing System, a tightening mechanism that employs a reel and clicking gears to retract and cinch a thin cable in a tactile procedure touted to “render shoelaces obsolete.”
Indeed, over the past five years, Boa Technology Inc. (www.boatechnology.com), which has [...]

Dear EarthTalk: Do insulating paints actually insulate and save energy? If they do, are they environmentally friendly to use? – Bob Dibrindisi, Easthampton, MA
Paint additives that claim insulating qualities have been marketed since the late 1990s, but energy research organizations have not confirmed their insulating value. For its part, [...]

Dear EarthTalk: I know of solar power systems that people can put on their roofs to generate electricity or heat water. Are there systems that serve whole neighborhoods? — Lee Helscel, via email
 Collective bargaining is a good strategy when looking to get the best price on a given product or service. Solar power is no [...]

Dear EarthTalk: With plug-in hybrid and electric cars due to hit the roads sometime soon, will there be places to plug them in besides at home? And if so, how much will it cost to re-charge?
– Nicole Koslowsky, Pompano Beach, FL

Gasoline-electric hybrids, like the Toyota [...]

New River Trail State Park is a rails-to-trails success story. When Norfolk Southern donated a right-of-way, Virginia developed it into a multiuse pathway. Descending at a 1% grade for 57 miles from Galax to Pulaski (including a spur to Fries), it’s almost always within sight of the river, passing by farmland and natural meadows, [...]

A couple of weeks ago I told you about the more than a dozen waterfalls along South Carolina’s Foothills Trail. If the pathway’s 75 miles is more than you want to do, head to western Maryland’s Swallow Falls State Park where a 1.3-mile circuit will take you past four waterfalls with little effort. You’ll also [...]