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

1.5 million miles. That’s the estimated cumulative amount of long-distance hiking experience of the expected attendees of the 29th Annual Gathering of the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association at Concord College in Athens, W.Va., on October 15-17. ALDHA’s founder (and Blue Ridge Outdoors’ Outdoor Person of the year), Warren Doyle, who has hiked the A.T. [...]

It’s still August. It’s still hot. It’s still time to cool off in a mountain swimmin’ hole. For families, I can’t think of a better place to spend the weekend than Monongahela National Forest’s Blue Bend Recreation Area a few miles north of White Sulphur Springs in West Virginia. It has a trail that is [...]

It’s August. It’s hot. It’s time to go swimming. Yes, a swimming pool is ok if that’s all you can get to, but who wants to put up with all that chlorine and crowds of screaming kids? I say head to the hills and a good ol’ swimmin’ hole. Being from West Virginia, I’m going [...]

In my last post I discussed boiling and the use of tablets as ways to treat water on the trail. This time around, it will be mechanical methods. The MSR MIOX Purifier creates a solution from salt tablets that is added to water and gets rid of viruses, bacteria, giardia, and cryptosporidium, but you have [...]

If you are going out just for a day hike, you’ll probably carry all of the water you need from home. On overnight trips, though, you are going to depend on a source along the trail. Unfortunately, the days of slaking thirst by dipping into a clear mountain stream or sipping cold spring water are [...]

There are reasons why some destinations are more popular than others, and on a recent 16-mile circuit, Laurie and I found out why so many hikers flock to the Shining Rock Wilderness. The area has almost everything that makes hiking worthwhile in western North Carolina: magnificent views; rhododendron-lined streams filled with trout; cascades and inviting [...]

The Green Ridge Hiking Trail is one of the best backpacking outings in Maryland at any time of year, but summer is when you can get the most fun out of it. Although it’s called a ridge trail, the majority of the trip is along one creek or another, each with miles of small ripples [...]

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Hiking West Virginia program in which you are awarded a walking stick merely for taking hikes in the state parks, forests, and wildlife management areas. I’ve found a few other states that offer similar programs. Georgia sponsors the Canyon Climbers Club. The membership fee is $10 and [...]

Are you goal-oriented? Do you like to mark progress as you work toward a goal, and then be given a something-you-can-actually-hold-in-your-hands reward once achieved? If so, enroll in two programs offered by West Virginia’s Division of Natural Resources. They involve something you already like doing—hiking—and as you work on one goal you can be accumulating [...]

A couple weeks ago I discussed Chief Logan State Park’s Sue Browning Wildflower Walk in southern West Virginia. If one day is not long enough, immerse yourself in everything wild for five days at the granddaddy of the Blue Ridge region’s pilgrimages, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s Annual Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage and Greener Living [...]

It has been quite a few years since I first set foot on the Appalachian Trail. As I stepped forth from Springer Mountain on that early spring day, I was ready to revel in the grand scenery of the mountains, the far-off vistas, the roaring waterfalls, the crimson-gold sunsets. Oh, I might occasionally stop to [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]