Hikers will love beautiful Buck Creek. The wild stream leaps, churns and tumbles over rocks, logs and boulders in a deep crevice that the rushing waterway itself has created. Moments away from busy Avon, the secluded canyon shelters walkers from a busy world below. The footpath ascends along the creek to emerge into a sun-bathed grassland, your destination. There a...
Learn MoreSouthern Utah is a haven for outdoor enthusiasts; it provides access to a myriad of activities, and contains some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. However, when enjoying these natural wonders, adventurers need to be careful and prepared for the unexpected, as one group’s experience attests. On Aug. 25, a group of hikers set out on the trail known as “Fat Man’s...
Learn MoreThe Asheville Chapter of Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway is working with the National Park Service to offer a volunteer opportunity for those who love the parkway and want to help preserve its scenic beauty and heritage. There will be a work day on Saturday, Sept. 29, National Public Lands Day. The Pisgah Campground at Milepost 408.5 needs 25 volunteers to pull weeds,...
Learn MoreThe John Muir Trail is the quintessential American hiking route. Located in California, the 211-mile-long trail runs from the summit of Mt. Whitney in the south to Happy Isles in Yosemite Valley in the north. Along the way it passes through some of the most pristine and spectacular wilderness in all of North America, including Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks. In...
Learn More“Praise, patience and playfulness, those are the three things you always have to have along with you on any hike with kids,” the Durango-based Maureen Keilty says. “If you don’t have that, you might as well not go.” Keilty is the author of Best Hikes with Kids Colorado. As much as hiking is a physical challenge, Keilty says she knows the...
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Most British Columbians have heard of the 78-kilometre West Coast Trail, but when I told friends and colleagues I was setting out for a hike along the 180-kilometre Sunshine Coast Trail (which runs from Desolation Sound to Saltery Bay), I was surprised that hardly anyone had heard of it — even though both trails are the same travel time from Vancouver, about five hours...
Learn MoreInspired by National Public Lands Day, Michigan is planning a weeklong promotional campaign to highlight events and volunteer activities happening on Michigan’s vast and varied network of trails. Michigan Trails Week, September 23-29, is a collaborative campaign developed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), the Michigan Recreation and Park...
Learn MoreThe Recreational Trails Program (RTP) is a federal assistance program that helps states pay for the development and maintenance of recreational trails and trail-related facilities for both non-motorized and motorized recreational trail uses. The Congressionally mandated program was in jeopardy due to budget cuts, but its backers in Congress announced this past July that...
Learn MoreCall it “The Barrens Hike.” That should be a dramatic enough name for anyone who is yearning for a late summer hike. So get some hiking shoes on, along with some insect repellent and sun block, and prepare for a state expert-led walk in the country that may change the way you look at a very unique part of Tennessee. Allan Trently, a stewardship ecologist with the state...
Learn More“Are you sure about this?” I ask my daughters. “There’s no way we’ll get out of this forest before nightfall. We’ve at least five miles and two water crossings to go.” Despite their obvious fatigue, 6-year-old Sage cheerfully replies, “I’m sure,” and 8-year-old Alex enthusiastically nods in agreement. Though I’m nervous about the long hours ahead, if they believe they...
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Crowning the Mount Sterling Ridge, 5842 foot Mount Sterling is another of the tall peaks that give the Great Smoky Mountains their character. Located in the far eastern area of the national park in North Carolina, the 7-mile Mount Sterling Ridge rims the scenic Cataloochee Valley to the southeast. There are trails to the summit of Mount Sterling from every direction, but...
Learn MoreA nature discovery trail along Scott’s Creek in Dillsboro, NC has been two years in the making and the Watershed Association of the Tuckaseigee River is now urging the public to come see the fruits of their labor. The trail has educational signage on environmental and stream-related topics that explore how the ecosystem works. There are currently two trail segments...
Learn MoreTo help complete the Continental Divide Trail, CDT-Montana is building on five decades of grassroots volunteer work and successful collaborations. After the Colorado-based Continental Divide Trail Alliance closed its doors in January 2012, the Montana Wilderness Association saw an opportunity to pick up the slack on the CDT up north. After scrambling to pursue grants and...
Learn MoreOn the eve of its 96th birthday on August 25th, the National Park Service is getting a special gift: A new report that is both the first of its kind in the last 50 years and a benchmark for the future. Announced by NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis in a ceremony at Rocky Mountain National Park today, the report represents a science-based effort to ensure America’s parks...
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Instead of bemoaning the existence of a tourist train, a local advocacy group is trying to highlight the economic benefits of a year-round, multi-use recreational trail between Lake Placid and Old Forge, NY. A new study was conducted by the national Rails-to-Trails Conservancy following weeks of detailed analysis by the RTC’s Northeast office. It showed that a...
Learn MoreSure, the National Park Service could just call August 25th its birthday, but the term “Founder’s Day” seems more fitting since the Park Service was the brainchild of a great many people who contributed to its inception. The National Park Service Organic Act (or simply “the Organic Act”) established the National Park Service (NPS), an agency of the Department...
Learn MoreFall is a great time to visit the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests in western North Carolina to view leaves adorned in brilliant reds, oranges and yellows. When temperatures cool in autumn, chlorophyll starts to degrade allowing the hidden pigments of deciduous trees to provide a rich, colorful display. This rich display typically starts at the highest elevation in...
Learn MoreWant to do something outdoorsy and fun with the kids this weekend? Take them to the Orchard at Altapass on the Blue Ridge Parkway Saturday. There will be a grand opening of a new kid-friendly hiking trail, music and mountain beauty. The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation’s Kids in Parks program has installed more than 15 child-friendly hiking trails, called TRACK Trails, on...
Learn MoreNo Food. No Map. No Cell Phone. No Problem. Imagine you found yourself alone in the woods with no food, water, shelter—or cell phone reception. Could you save your own life? Most likely, the answer is no. Left to our own devices and without supplies, the majority of us lack the necessary skills to survive. Fortunately, it’s never too late to learn. Outdoor guide...
Learn MoreAfter more than a decade of scrimping and deferring maintenance and construction projects — and absorbing a 6 percent budget cut in the past two years — the signs of strain are beginning to surface at national parks across the country. The 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway, which curves along the spine of the easternmost range of the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia and North...
Learn MoreOn August 24 and 25, 2012, the sixth in the series of National Park Service-National Geographic Society BioBlitzes is scheduled to take place in Rocky Mountain National Park. The event is being held each year leading up to the National Park Service Centennial in 2016. Hundreds of scientists, students, teachers, and volunteers will gather to participate in this event, a...
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. My regular hiking companions have designated me the lead hiker, so I suppose that makes me the slowest Meanderthal. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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