A.T. thru-hiker Leonard Adkins highlights top regional destinations. Find out more about Leonard at habitualhiker.com.

Fifty National Wildlife Refuges are located within our Blue Ridge region. The majority are located along the coast, where they were established to provide habitat for waterfowl migrating along the Great Atlantic Flyway. However, at this time of year, I’m suggesting you visit one of the inland refuges that was created for additional purposes.
My first [...]

Around the turn of the twentieth century, Moses H. Cone, who earned his fortune by becoming the “Denim King,” purchased extensive acreage at what is now milepost 294 along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Blowing Rock, North Carolina, to develop his personal mountain kingdom. For hikers, the most outstanding changes Cone and his wife, Bertha, [...]

A couple of week ago, I discussed how you could use jet contrails to help predict the weather. If there are no jets around, wait until darkness starts to set in. Cirrus clouds high in the atmosphere carry moist air and ice crystals that reflect light and create a ring or halo around the moon. [...]

Bob Dylan was right when, in his younger years, he said, “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” Of course, he was talking about politics, but, still, there is no need to carry a radio on a hike just to listen to a weather report. Pay attention to what is [...]

The world’s best trail companion passed away on January 7, 2010. In dogs years, MacAfee of the Knob, the Amazing Appalachian Bouncing Dog, was somewhere between 99 and 115 years old.
For more than 16 years, Mac accompanied me and Laurie on every outing we did, including his hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine [...]

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about cross-country skiing between Herrington Manor and Swallow Falls State Parks in western Maryland. It’s a good, minimally crowded destination, but unless volunteers have found the time to do so, more than likely the route won’t be groomed, meaning you may have to break trail—not one of the [...]

I’m going to admit to you that I have never done any downhill skiing. However, whenever Mother Nature blesses the southern mountains with enough of the white fluffy stuff, as she certainly did just a few days before Christmas, I enjoy putting on the cross-country skis.

The mountains of western Maryland are often overlooked as a [...]

Daylight hours are fewer, breezes chillier, and the sun doesn’t pack the warmth it did a few months ago. Time to head to the beach! However, I’m not talking about some sand you can drive to. No, you’re going to tramp miles, but once you reach this place you’ll enjoy a solitude that is almost [...]

Planning an outing on Alabama’s premier hiking route, the Pinhoti Trail, can be frustrating. Because it is a linear pathway, you either have to do an out-and-back walk or make it a one way trek, which involves the added expense and time of shuttling automobiles. Yet, if you study maps, you’ll discover there are a [...]

The first thing to catch your eye as you descend westward on Martin Mountain on I-68 in western Maryland is the dramatic setting of Rocky Gap State Park’s massive 220-room resort lodge, built along the southern shore of Lake Habeeb. Below Evitt’s Mountain’s lush hillside, the manicured greens of a golf course stretch between the [...]

In many people’s opinions, Breaks Interstate Park, on the Virginia/Kentucky border, has the most beautiful and dramatic setting of all of the commonwealth’s state-run recreational facilities. Blessed with an abundance of hemlocks and rhododendron, it’s perched on the edge of Russell Fork Gorge, the largest canyon east of the Mississippi River.

My choice outing, which makes [...]

With the leaf colors in full “bloom,” I’m directing you to Georgia’s Blood Mountain. It’s the first place northbound Appalachian Trail thru-hikers can look back to where their journey started, Springer Mountain, close to 30 trail miles to the south.  In addition, a short scramble onto the rocks of the 4,461–foot summit provides a nearly [...]

A hike in the Laurel Fork Wilderness east of Elkins, West Virginia, is for those looking for a challenge. Trail signs and blazes may be nonexistent, and budget constraints keep the forest service from maintaining the trails on a regular basis. Expect faint routes and overgrown pathways; be prepared to crash through shoulder high grasses, [...]

Getting to The Red River Gorge Geological Area in Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest may involve quite a drive for most Blue Ridge Outdoors readers, yet is it ever worth the few hours on the highway! I admit it’s been sometime since I was there, but my memories of towering cliff faces, lush vegetation, and [...]

Hikers, mountain bikers, hunters, campers, family picnickers, bird watchers, wildflower enthusiasts, and others have been attracted to Massanutten Mountain ever since the forest service obtained the land in the early 1900s. Thanks to volunteers with the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club who completed a multi-year trail construction project on Massanutten Mountain in 2001, there is now [...]