On Saturday, May 5th, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) will host an event to celebrate the arrival of the spring hiking season at the ATC’s Visitor Center in Harpers Ferry, WV. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend. The beginning of May marks the arrival of northbound thru-hikers in HarpersFerry, the psychological half-way point...
Learn MoreThis spring, thousands of students will get the chance to visit national parks around the country as part of the National Park Foundation’s new Ticket to Ride program. Kids will learn about the benefits of healthy living by studying the lifestyles of the historic Timucuan Indians at Timucuan Ecological and Historic National Preserve, realize the achievements of Paul...
Learn MoreMany of West Virginia’s state parks are open daily year-round and afford visitors a plethora of winter hiking trails to choose from. Plus, admission at the majority of the parks is gratis. If the snow flies, most of the winter hiking trails double as cross country and snowshoeing trails. Here’s a list: Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park Blackwater Falls...
Learn MoreSimilar to the famed Appalachian Trail, the Great Eastern Trail is being constructed by linking existing trails from Alabama to New York, and is more than 70 percent complete and open to hikers. When completed, the new, long-distance, nonmotorized trail, primarily used for hiking, will be approximately 1,800 miles long. In southern West Virginia, the Great Eastern Trail...
Learn MoreFor this week’s Gazette-Mail column, John McCoy went to Judy Rodd, the principal source for the push to create a national park and preserve in West Virginia’s northeastern highlands. Judy was able to answer some of the existing questions, but not all. Last week, when news broke that much of West Virginia’s northern Allegheny Highlands might be considered for...
Learn MoreThe National Park Service will begin conducting a survey to determine if some areas within the Monongahela National Forest should be made into a national park – something West Virginia doesn’t currently have. The proposed High Allegheny National Park could be formed from lands in the northern area of the Monongahela National Forest, which is already federal...
Learn MoreAmid the hectic hassles of daily life – job pressures, commuter traffic, 24-hour news channels, endless politics, etc. – there’s a quiet escape: the pure simplicity of walking in the woods. It’s free. It’s serene. It restoreth the soul. Especially in West Virginia, the opportunity is all around us in jumbled hills, shady ravines, winding...
Learn MoreThere has been a lot of work on hiking and biking trails adjacent to the 10,600-acre Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve in West Virginia this year. The Summit will be home to the national Scout jamboree starting in 2013 and the 2019 World Scout Jamboree. It also will become the Boy Scouts’ fourth high-adventure base — and, likely, its most-visited, given its...
Learn MoreThe work of thousands of Boy Scouts will soon be open to the public as they approach completion of more than 16 miles of biking and hiking trails. The Order of the Arrow, the Scouts’ national honor society, is also rehabilitating about 12 miles of illegal ATV trails and removal of 4 acres of multiflora rose, an invasive species in West Virginia. The trails are located...
Learn More
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. 
Recent Comments