“‘Every second, new colours,” said the guide, Dharme, as the sky turned from crimson to gold. As the sun rose, the landscape below took shape – distant peaks soared above valleys which dipped beneath a canopy of mist. Waterfalls plunged, white stupas peeked out from the jungle, and coloured flags were illuminated in the early light. It was 6am on the...
Learn MoreThe agony and angst endured by those who hike for months over the rugged National Scenic Trails are painfully palpable. But they, and the millions of hikers who self-impose these hiking challenges, really have it easy. Think how hard it would be to hike all those miles without trail markers, or without a trail. That’s where the real trail angels come in –...
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An ambitious project that began on the Blue Ridge Parkway to connect children with the great outdoors is getting bigger. Kids in Parks, a signature program of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, has been awarded $921,000 from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation to continue its work helping kids and families reconnect with nature through TRACK...
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Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) recently announced a great opportunity to win prizes for hiking Connecticut’s high peaks as part of a new program – “The Sky’s the Limit” 2015 Hiking Challenge, designed to promote hiking in Connecticut’s state parks and forests throughout 2015. “What a great way to spending time outdoors hiking...
Learn MoreYes, there’s a better way to put one foot in front of the other. Improve your stride, trek farther, and end leg and back pain with this guide to the new science of healthy hiking. “Backpacking used to be a necessary part of survival,” notes author and back-pain specialist Esther Gokhale, who has studied healthy sitting, standing, and walking postures in native...
Learn MoreGreen River Preserve (GRP) is Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy’s largest conservation easement and one of the largest in all of western NC. It contains a plethora of natural treasures and abundance of unspoiled mountain slopes making it one of the biggest and most biologically-diverse private wildlife preserves in western North Carolina. More than 2,600 acres of...
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Warrior Hike is a walk back to civilization, back to a life left behind and back through history. Sean Gobin, a combat U.S. Marine Corps veteran, started the nonprofit organization after he returned from multiple deployments to the Middle East, undertook a four-month through hike of the Appalachian Trail, and realized this could provide the ideal way for soldiers...
Learn MoreFall foliage season is a popular time for hiking in Pennsylvania. But fall hiking on state game lands might be prohibited if a new regulation under consideration by the Pennsylvania Game Commission is approved. The commission is scheduled to consider a new rule Jan. 27, 2015 that would forbid hiking and other non-hunting activities on state game lands during fall and...
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Re-measurements and relocations of the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) have brought the total mileage of the footpath to 2,189.2 miles, an increase of 3.9 miles from last year’s mileage of 2,185.3. This mileage is carefully documented in the Trail’s official guidebooks, which include the Appalachian Trail Data Book and the Appalachian Trail Thru-Hikers’ Companion. Both books...
Learn MoreOne of the highlights of winter hiking in the Sierra Nevada is the surreal calm of the forest under a blanket of snow. There are very few leaves to rustle and, when the snow is powdery, not even footsteps make a noise. That’s why the sudden burst of birdsong on a recent trip to Chickadee Ridge was such a pleasant surprise. One moment a group of Tahoe Rim Trail...
Learn MoreMount Olympus is worthy of its association to the gods in Greek mythology for numerous reasons. First, it is Greece’s highest mountain, and, naturally, the gods wouldn’t live on a puny little hill. Second, it is the second highest mountain in the Balkan Range. Finally, it beckons thousands of people each year to tackle its hiking trails and reach its summit. Mythology...
Learn MoreWhile the West—with its high altitudes, rugged peaks and chill, outdoorsy vibe—has quietly claimed the mantle of quintessential hiking paradise, don’t write off everything east of the Mississippi. After all, seemingly endless wilderness stretches along the Ozark Highland, North Country Scenic and Appalachian Trails, so missing out on the chance to climb a 14er...
Learn MoreBaked by time like some multi-layer geologic tort, Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah features a landscape cut by canyons, rumpled by upthrusts, dimpled by grabens, and even pockmarked, some believe, by ancient asteroids. Just outside of Moab rises a kaleidoscope of tilted and carved geology laid down over the eons. There’s the red and white Cedar Mesa...
Learn MoreFor much of the year, Shenandoah National Park is a gorgeously overgrown place. The underbrush sneaks over the trails, threatening to erase them. Off-trail, the views are densely wooded in every direction, tangled in Virginia creeper and prickly greenbrier. This is why you come in December, to search for things that are obscured when the park’s hollows and hillsides are...
Learn MoreEnjoy this stunning graphical presentation from the NY Times to aid in choosing your 2015 vacation. Untrammeled oases beckon, once-avoided destinations become must-sees and familiar cities offer new reasons to visit. Go here…...
Learn MoreFrom the temperate rainforests of Kootenai National Forest to the badlands around Fort Peck, every page of the Montana atlas offers something to explore. Each Forest Service road and tiny blue line on the map represents the possibility of great things, all within the broad and diverse bounds of the Montana landscape. The Rocky Mountain Front Heritage Act, which passed...
Learn MoreIf trolls really did exist, this would undoubtedly be their domain; massive boulders littered the scrubby vegetation, extensive glaciers sucked in the feet of unsuspecting intruders and a gaping canyon make limbs tingle. This is Earth, at the very least, though nothing about the situation seems realistic. Especially this destination, whose landscape defies expectations....
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The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) has announced that for fiscal year 2014, 5,617 volunteers reported 241,936 hours to maintaining and protecting the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) for hikers to use. Since the ATC began collecting reports in 1983, individuals have contributed more than 5 million hours to the A.T., resulting in a volunteer network that is recognized...
Learn MoreUp on the mountain this week, one of those “moments of clarity” hit people across snow country. What they saw was like looking into a crystal ball and seeing their future. With clear weather, plenty of snow and a firm snow surface, all of the stellar trailheads were popular destinations with snowshoers. For many, the exhilaration was pure ecstasy: their first snowshoe...
Learn MoreWho is the one person you can always count on to go for a hike whenever you feel like it? Well, it’s not a person. It’s man’s best friend: your dog. A fit, healthy dog will likely be more excited to hit the trail than you. Most dog breeds will enjoy a jaunt in the woods, but some dogs have backcountry survival in their blood. If you’re a hiker of the avid variety,...
Learn MoreJoin Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy on Saturday, January 17, 2015 at Camp High Rocks to hike to the summit of Rich Mountain. With a stop at Cathedral Rocks en route, this hike is a beautiful upward trek to a scenic mountain top. Hikers will have a choice of stopping at Cathedral Rock or continuing up to the top of Rich Mountain. Camp High Rocks is a summer camp for...
Learn MoreGreat Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the world’s most beautiful places to take in everything the great outdoors has to offer. During the annual Wilderness Wildlife Week events in Pigeon Forge, you’ll have a chance to learn about the fauna, flora and folks who call this rustic region home. This year’s 25th Annual Wilderness Wildlife Week takes place January 24...
Learn MoreIf you want to go out and get working on that New Year’s resolution of getting fit and getting outside, consider exploring Long Island’s major hiking trail system – the Greenbelt. Long Island’s Greenbelt Trail is a 31.8-mile hiking trail that was completed in 1982 and extends from Sunken Meadow State Park on the Long Island Sound to Heckscher State Park on the Great...
Learn MoreAfter listening to my sister’s stories about her Georgia-to-Maine adventure on the Appalachian Trail, I’m thinking it might be a good idea for us all to spend some time on foot in the deep woods. Life on the trail, from what Pat tells me, while hugely demanding physically and emotionally, seems a lot like life ought to be here in “civilization.” On the trail, everyone is...
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The Elkin Valley Trails Association (EVTA) is bringing hiking — and much more — to Elkin, North Carolina and much of the surrounding area. Trial hikes along portions of the trail between Stone Mountain and Elkin have already taken place. The EVTA trail is part of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail that will stretch, when completed, from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer...
Learn MoreThe “lost and forbidden” kingdom of Upper Mustang, tucked away in northern Nepal, is an arid and ancient land, like a flashback to the Tibet of the 1950s, when the Dalai Lama still reigned in Lhasa. Virtually untouched by modern civilization and isolated by rugged mountain terrain, the old way of life of the Lobas (people of Mustang) still exists, while its ancient...
Learn MoreIt takes a certain masochism to experience Death Valley National Park as it’s meant to be seen. But torture yourself just a little, take a few extra steps, and you’ll be rewarded with a combination of natural and historical wonders that no place on Earth can match: gorgeous sand dunes sculpted by wind; a dried-up lakebed named the Racetrack for its power to move rocks;...
Learn MoreFrom the end of October through the New Year and onto Valentine’s Day, it’s easy to forget that the holidays we celebrate are simply cultural constructs that we can choose to engage in — or not. The concepts and ideas we celebrate — like our spiritual beliefs and daily habits — are a choice, though sometimes it feels like we “have” to celebrate...
Learn MoreIn 1976, it looked like a good idea: to divert the waters of the Danube into a salt-water lagoon on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, and irrigate millions of hectares of arid steppe land. But the result has been human and environmental disaster on an epic scale. Some environmental disasters happen in the blink of an eye, much too quickly for anyone to react: an oil...
Learn MoreIf you’re like most people, all of your good intentions, inspired by the illusion of some cosmic do-over that comes with the new year, are already well on their way to oblivion. In one year and out the other, as the saying about resolutions goes. The problem with many resolutions is that they’re simply too vague. So maybe you’ve made a resolution to hike more in 2015....
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Death Valley is an imposing place to go for a hike, though the staff at the national park is encouraging visitors to experience the park on a hiking trail through a new program that debuts in January. The Hike Death Valley program offers a list of hikes for visitors to take. Each hike has a point value assigned to it. For instance, hike the half-mile to Scotty’s...
Learn MoreHis job wasn’t difficult, but it wore on him all the same. He craved adventure. He had to do something. That something, it turned out, was hiking the venerable Appalachian Trail in an unbroken streak from Georgia to Maine and, that not being enough, paddling a green canoe from the headwaters of the Mississippi River all the way to Baton Rouge, La. Jared McCallum...
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. 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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