The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and Conservation Trust for North Carolina are bringing youth crews to the Highlands District for trail and campground rehab. Imagine working with newfound friends to rehabilitate and build trails by day and bond over a common goal under the stars at night. Sounds pretty great, right? That’s what a crew of teenagers and young adults...
Learn MoreCan a forest that exists only in the spaces between roads and patches cleared for human settlement and agricultural development truly be called a forest? Not so much, say researchers studying the growing, global problem of forest fragmentation. The new study found that fragmented habitats lose an average of half of their plant and animal species within twenty years, and...
Learn MoreLike road-trippers with balding tires, Americans are loving their national parks into disrepair. The National Park Service released a list of maintenance projects that have been postponed and put off for years. The backlog of 2014 projects nationwide totals $11.49 billion — up nearly $200 million since 2013. Dave Nimkin, southwest senior regional director for the...
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It’s been nearly 20 years since Burt Kornegay first started looking into land along Hickory Knoll Road in Macon County, NC, but dirt is finally moving on the Bartram Trail Society’s vision of routing a piece of the long-distance trail away from the road and over the Pinnacle and George Gray Mountain instead. “This had been years in the making,” said Kornegay, who was in...
Learn MoreIf you love to hike in the Smokies, chances are you’ve seen many wild animals. But, there’s one animal that park officials are calling an unwelcome guest. Bill Stiver knows how to read the land like most people know how to read a book. On Wednesday, he was following the tracks of wild hogs. Wild hogs can get up to 300 pounds and while Stiver says he...
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Located on the Tims Ford Reservoir, the 2,200-acre Tims Ford State Rustic Park sits in the shadows of the Cumberland Plateau in south-central Tennessee. There are 6.5 miles of unpaved hiking trails found within the park, in addition to 22 miles of bike trails that may also be used for hiking. Two of the three hiking trails begin at the park Visitor Center, while the...
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The Freedom Trail is a 2.5-mile walking trail extending from Boston Common through the heart of downtown and across the Charles River to the monument atop Bunker Hill in Charlestown. Marked by a red-brick line weaving through the streets, the famous trail leads past 16 colonial, Revolutionary and federal sites. Together these tell the story of the important people,...
Learn MoreMountain pine, spruce, piñon ips, and other kinds of bark beetles have chomped 46 million of the country’s 850 million acres of forested land, from the Yukon down the spine of the Rocky Mountains all the way to Mexico. Yellowstone’s grizzly bears have run out of pinecones to eat because of the beetles. Skiers and backpackers have watched their brushy green...
Learn MoreIt’s one of those places you probably pass by all the time and don’t even realize it’s there. There are no road signs marking it. It’s a cheerful trail hidden and tucked away from sight. They call it a vibrant faith adventure, and that it is. Happy words of encouragement surround you along Cleo’s Nature Trail. It’s a whimsical spot on...
Learn MorePISGAH FOREST, N.C., Mar. 20, 2015 – The U.S. Forest Service is temporarily closing the Graveyard Fields Area at milepost 418 on the Blue Ridge Parkway to overnight camping. This closure, issued in consultation with the N.C. Wildlife Commission, has been implemented due to human safety concerns after a bear entered a tent and removed a hiker’s backpack. No...
Learn MoreThe National Park Service currently receives $240 million through the Federal Lands Transportation Program within the federal surface transportation law. The NPS has estimated that it needs more than four times that amount per year through 2024 to restore its transportation systems into good condition and to meet growing visitor access needs. It is estimated to take $244...
Learn MoreDenizens of the wide-open stretches of western South Dakota and Nebraska and others parts of the High Plains should not be surprised if one of these days they see a Toyota Tacoma with Colorado plates parked on the side of a gravel road. It’ll stick out, not unlike a fanny pack at a rodeo. But a closer inspection will show that while the driver may be an interloper, he is...
Learn MoreAlong the trail to Junipero Serra Peak in the Ventana Wilderness of South Monterey County, there is some stuff to see. Like goldfields flowering, hummingbird sage blooming and sharp cacti appropriately called Spanish sword cutting a sharp profile against the increasingly steep grade. And the massive pine needles, bird tracks and rock formations that enjoy supernatural...
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In 2014, America’s national parks attracted a record-setting 292.8 million visits, but the typical visitor to the country’s biggest parks is edging closer to retirement age. the average age of visitors to Denali is 57 years. In Yellowstone it is 54. But in the past decade, the number of visitors under the age of 15 has fallen by half. It’s not just the...
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State utility Florida Power and Light (FPL) wants to buy an old coal plant in Florida just to shut it down, a move that it says would prevent nearly 1 million tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere each year. FPL filed a petition with the state’s Public Service Commission last week to acquire the Cedar Bay Generating Plant in Jacksonville, which went into...
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For the past several years, the Asheville Beyond Coal campaign has been speaking out publicly and building support for transition off of coal at Duke Energy’s Asheville coal plant. They have brought attention to the threat carbon emissions pose to our climate, as well as the coal ash pollution and its effects on our rivers and groundwater. What we now know is that in...
Learn MoreBeginning Monday morning, March 16, 2015,and continuing for approximately one month, Blue Ridge Parkway maintenance personnel will be conducting road shoulder and ditch cleaning operations along Virginia sections of the Parkway. Specific information regarding daily closures in these work zones will be available on the Parkway’s Real Time Road Map, found at here....
Learn MoreIn his first trip to North America, the British snow artist was invited by Banff Lake Louise Tourism to create a series of large-scale designs in snow. Beck has been making snowflakes, leaves and geometric designs with his snowshoes for the past decade, mostly in the Alps. He stomped out a huge snowflake at Peyto Lake in the Canadian Rockies that took more than six hours...
Learn MoreThe problem with feral hogs in the Francis Marion National Forest has become so bad that the state and federal governments are paying three hunters to help remove them. Feral hogs are found statewide and are considered one of the worst animal nuisance problems in South Carolina. The hogs are descendants of livestock that wandered off. The Francis Marion trial program has...
Learn MoreGary Gustafson leans on his ice ax to catch his breath. His legs and lungs, straining from nearly five hours of climbing and 4,000 feet of elevation gain, plead for rest before he spies the top of an antenna on the summit. Soon, the crampons of his mountaineering boots are once again digging into the icy terrain as he and a partner make the final push to the granite...
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American Express (AXP) and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced a multi-year partnership to increase volunteerism in National Parks and Public Lands. The $5 million grant over four years from American Express will help the Department of the Interior (DOI) and National Parks Service (NPS) build volunteer coalitions to preserve and sustain America’s...
Learn MoreThe first rays of sunshine have burst through the clouds to melt the snow, and people and animals are emerging from a sleepy winter. While many walking and hiking trails carved through northern West Virginia are well known, such as the Panhandle Trail, Montour Trail and Mingo Creek County Park trails, others are hidden treasures. Enlow Fork is tucked away in Greene...
Learn MoreOn so many issues, California is the green leader, showing other states how it should be done better. But better is not necessarily the same thing as flawless. Right now, California is doing a better job of regulating fracking than any other state that allows it — but, of course, many local activists would rather the state just banned it, as New York has. The federal...
Learn MoreThe stereotype of the quiet, introspective mountain loner and the beach-going partier may have truth to it: These different personalities are drawn to different physical terrains, according to new research. Researchers at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology say your choice to be on a drunken booze cruise or tucked away in the Catskills all depends on your...
Learn MoreGreat Smoky Mountains National Park officials have announced the spring opening schedule for park facilities for the 2015 season. Campgrounds and secondary roads will begin opening Friday, March 13. The schedule is here…...
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National forests support some of the most pristine groundwater and springs in the country – at least that’s what the most successful water bottling companies advertise. Current policies leave these springs exposed to exploitation, especially during droughts, which are becoming more intense, like in California. Strawberry Creek arises from the ground in San...
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The Keystone Trails Association’s second annual KTA Membership Celebration and Film Festival will feature four films about Pennsylvania trails. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 19, at the Wesley Center of Camp Hill United Methodist Church, Camp Hill. The four films will include the following. Best of Pennsylvania – 1000 Steps Hiking Trail is a...
Learn MoreWe are destroying nature’s ability to help us stave off catastrophic climate change. That’s the bombshell conclusion of an under-reported 2014 study, “The declining uptake rate of atmospheric CO2 by land and ocean sinks.” Based on actual observations and measurements, the world’s top carbon-cycle experts have determined that the land and ocean are becoming steadily less...
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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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