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Hiking

Here's Johnny

by Graham Averill October 19, 2009

In the Footsteps of Celebrated Hiker and Author Johnny Molloy Over the last 14 years, Tennessee native Johnny Molloy has published 36 books about hiking, backpacking, and paddling throughout the Southern Appalachians and beyond. BRO talked with Molloy (who averages 150 nights a year in a tent) about getting lost for a living and why [...]

Fire Tower Foliage

by Graham Averill September 21, 2009

The most colorful vistas in the Blue Ridge are found atop aging lookout towers. Imagine living inside a 40-square-foot room, perched 60 feet above a 5,000-foot mountain for weeks at a time. Except for the occasional hike to the nearest town for re-supplies, you’re completely self-sufficient. Your job is simple: Watch the mountains that spread [...]

Distance Persistence: Hikers Complete Mountains to Sea Trail in Sections

by Graham Averill September 21, 2009

Jim Walters, 64, and Frank Potter, 67, became the 15th and 16th people ever to hike from the Great Smoky Mountains on the North Carolina border to the Outer Banks. They hiked the trail in sections, one weekend a month, for 22 months. You weren’t avid hikers before hiking the MST. What inspired you to [...]

Ask the Expert: A.T. Speed Record Holder Jennifer Pharr Davis

by BRO Staff September 21, 2009

Jennifer Pharr Davis holds the women’s Appalachian Trail thru-hike speed record and owns Blue Ridge Hiking Company, where she trains potential thru hikers for their 2,000-mile journey. I don’t have easy access to a trail system. What exercises can I do to train for my upcoming long distance hike? Training before hitting the trail is [...]

Forgotten Forests

by Graham Averill August 24, 2009

Our national parks get all the love. You’ve seen the “Save Our Parks” bumper stickers, maybe you’ve even watched the new Ken Burns documentary The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. Certainly, you’ve heard the public outcry over the park service’s $9 billion maintenance backlog. We get it: our national parks are awesome. Let’s fix ‘em [...]

Love on the Rocks

by BRO Staff July 21, 2009

Kristina Dean was 31, with a good job and a mortgage. But she gave it all up to fulfill a dream: thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. “I knew that once I traveled on foot for seven months that I could go anywhere and do anything,” she said. Dean started backpacking in 2001, as therapy. Only 25, [...]