Tucked away in the northeastern corner of DuPont State Forest in Western North Carolina, Stone Mountain is the highest point in the state forest at 3620 feet. Appropriately named for the exposed granite slab that traverses its summit, Stone Mountain offers a near 360° view of the surrounding terrain to winter hikers. Wintergreen Falls, though not as spectacular as...
Learn MoreHiking isn’t just for fun in the woods anymore. After putting one foot in front of the other, and the other, hikers tend to look for a challenge. They are in luck. The mountains are filled with hiking challenges, from speed-hiking — more people are now trying to hike the Mountains-to-Sea or the Appalachian Trail faster than the last person — to tests of...
Learn MoreAs the only guide to focus solely on the Asheville area, Five-Star Trails: Asheville: Your Guide to the Area’s Most Beautiful Hikes presents trails for the hiker in all of us. Whether readers are novices, families, experienced hikers, or backpackers, this guide is sure to inspire them to hit the trails. Five-Star Trails: Asheville: Your Guide to the Area’s...
Learn MoreAdd a little outdoor joy to the holiday season with a guided hike of the Mingus Creek Trail, followed by a trip to the new Oconaluftee Visitor Center for some Great Smoky Mountain history and holiday shopping. Friends of the Smokies members receive 15% percent off purchases. Tuesday, Dec. 6, hiking enthusiast and author Danny Bernstein (Hiking North Carolina’s Blue...
Learn MoreOn Wednesday, November 2, the National Park Service will hold the first of four meetings on the Blue Ridge Parkway’s first-ever general management plan (GMP) in Asheville, North Carolina. This important document, the first in its 75 year history, will guide resource management at the park for the next twenty years. When the Blue Ridge Parkway was established in 1935, it...
Learn MoreJulie Gayheart is always looking for an excuse to go hiking in the mountains, to escape the heat and cityscape of her home in Charlotte. So when she heard about the new Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy Hiking Challenge — a set of eight hikes on scenic land preserved by the CMLC — Gayheart and a friend signed right up. When she discovered the prize for finishing the...
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Kind of an unusual name for the mountain this trail is named after, but it is at 5200 feet, so the snow comes earlier in the season, and more frequently than in the valleys below. North of Asheville, NC on the Blue Ridge Parkway, this hike is in the Craggy Gardens area. There are splendid views of the Great Craggy Mountains and the Black Mountains from the three summits...
Learn MoreHumans aren’t the only ones getting excited about blueberry season in the mountains. So are the black bears. Land managers in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Mount Mitchell State Park and in the Pisgah National Forest have closed campsites and hiking trails due to increased bear activity, and want to remind visitors not to further tempt bears by leaving...
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, publisher of Meanderthals, and a passionate hiker. I live in western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my doorstep, 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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