Along with the beech trees, mountain wildflowers and ferns on the TRACK Trail at North Carolina’s Elk Knob State Park, visitors will soon discover carefully placed artwork by Appalachian State University students and local artists. The mile-long art-and-nature experience will be inaugurated during First Day Hikes on Jan. 1, 2016. The artwork was created on sections...
Learn MoreWhale-watch week, Dec. 27-31, is prime time to spot migrating leviathans while stretching your legs on a beautiful shore. One of the greatest privileges of being in the Pacific Northwest is the knowledge that whales, those largest and most magnificent of mammals, are often seen off the coast. And while winter and spring can bring their share of headaches, those seasons...
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SPARtool is a lightweight multi-tool for camping and general outdoor use. The SPARtool combines the functions of a shovel, axe, saw, hammer, pick, pry bar, and bottle opener. It is 100% manufactured in the USA, and its solid construction from spring tempered 1075 carbon steel and shatterproof Zytel polymer gives it the advantage in simplicity and durability compared to...
Learn MoreExperienced trekkers are warning United Arab Emirates residents to take appropriate safety precautions when trekking or hiking in the mountains of the UAE and neighbouring Oman. The issue of mountain safety was starkly highlighted on December 12, 2015 by the death of a 22-year old British national who perished on Jebel Jais, the UAE’s tallest mountain, in Ras Al...
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The Keystone Trails Association (KTA), the statewide voice of Pennsylvania’s hikers is offering two winter hikes along the Appalachian Trail in the Palmerton area in January. Both hikes will start at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center. The Appalachian Trail is Pennsylvania’s most well-known trail. It stretches over 2100 miles from Georgia to Maine and is enjoyed by millions of...
Learn MoreChimney Rock State Park just got bigger. The Nature Conservancy recently transferred 536 acres to the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation, expanding the state park to 6,200 acres. By connecting existing parcels of state park land, the acquisitions will provide a land base for future trail development and protect high-quality natural areas, conservationists...
Learn MoreHiking with your family is a great way to spend time together outside. If you can walk, you can hike, which makes it an ideal activity for family members of all ages and ability levels. But when your idea of a fun hike is different from that of the rest of your family, you can run into some problems. Maybe you enjoy summit hikes that make you work hard for an outstanding...
Learn MoreThe federal government should create two national recreation areas in Western North Carolina and designate nearly 110,000 acres of national forest land as wilderness, a coalition of more than 30 environmental and outdoor recreation groups says. The groups released a joint position statement this week calling for the designations to be part of the long-range plan for...
Learn MoreNear the northwestern tip of the Texas Trans-Pecos, some 30 miles east of El Paso, four massive hills of jumbled boulders rise above the desert floor. No doubt this prominent and oddly compelling landmark has had many different names through time. Today it is known as Hueco Tanks. Characterized as an island in the desert, a natural oasis, a spiritual sanctuary, the site...
Learn MoreA team of hikers set off on a 50-day trek from Oman on December 10, 2015 that will take them across the Empty Quarter – the world’s largest sand desert in the southern Arabian Peninsula. Led by British explorer Mark Evans, the three-man team will retrace the 1,300-kilometre route taken by a British civil servant, Bertram Thomas, in 1930, from Salalah in southern Oman,...
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Are you finding it difficult to get motivated about exercise? Does sweating at the gym seem less than appealing? Then hiking is your solution. People who hike on a regular basis enjoy better overall health, markedly less stress and are more energetic in general. If you maintain a regular hiking program you’ll not only feel great when you hit the trail but you’ll enjoy...
Learn MoreThe Appalachian Trail platform on the Metro-North Rail Line is merely a whistle-stop in Pawling, NY but it is from here that hikers from the metropolitan New York region are able to directly step onto the Appalachian Trail. And while New York has the only whistle-stop on the entire Appalachian Trail, it is testimony to Metro-North’s commitment to hikers that it offers...
Learn MoreThere are few truly Pacific Northwest events that can compare to watching winter arrive in the rainforest. While many avoid the region due to the strong winds, constant downpours and occasional snow showers, there is something amazing and unique about spending time out in the wilderness of the Olympic Peninsula. Tucked away deep in Grays Harbor’s Quinault Rainforest, one...
Learn MoreWhat were you doing at 19-years-old? This week, four young British men set out in what they tout as the first mid-winter, unsupported crossing of the frozen island of Iceland. They are all 20 and under. The 250 mile journey will be documented and shared with the world online as well as made into a feature film in 2016. The expedition is dubbed “The Coldest Crossing.”...
Learn MoreThe Grand Canyon wants to change the way backcountry areas are managed as more outdoor enthusiasts take to the park’s open spaces, with proposals that would require hikers using the most popular inner-canyon trails to spend a few dollars on a permit. Millions of people visit the Grand Canyon each year, taking in the sweeping views from developed areas where they...
Learn MoreThe Na Pali Coast is a 17-mile stretch on the island of Kauai’s northwest corner. You can explore it by most means possible — by foot, boat and helicopter. By car is not an option: The terrain is too rugged for a road. Kauai is the fourth largest of the seven inhabited Hawaiian islands — more than 500 square miles — with dozens and dozens and dozens of beaches....
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Don’t discount the beauty and serenity of spending off-season moments hiking through the woods. The words ring in your ears each year as fall ends and you hunker down, preparing for winter. Perhaps you’re simply not ready for another long, cold winter. Maybe you simply crave solo walks in the otherwise bustling woods. Most people hike through regional parks...
Learn MoreTourists, central to the livelihood of tribesmen in the Sinai desert, have stopped traveling to the area due to unrest and terror. Sinai is Safe, an Egyptian NGO, is running a grassroots hiking campaign that aims to change the image of Sinai-specifically South Sinai-as a danger zone it is often made out to be. It aims to revive tourism that is so important to its local...
Learn Morell national parks will offer free admission on 16 days next year to celebrate the National Park Service’s 100th birthday. “We added extra fee-free days so that everyone has a chance to join the party,” park service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis said in a news release. The 16 free-entry days for 2016 will be: Jan. 18, Martin Luther King Jr. Day April 16-24, National Park...
Learn MoreSara Fry is on a mission to map — accurately, and practically single-handedly — the trails of California’s iconic High Sierra. “This needs to be done,” Fry said. “This is totally my passion.” Fry, who has logged over 10,000 miles on trails since 2012, launched the nonprofit Sierra Mapping Project in May, 2015 after realizing that there is a huge need for accurate trail...
Learn MoreBased in Milton, MA, the Blue Hills Reservation is home to 125 miles of walking and hiking trails. Many of them pass through forests and around ponds, but quite a few also lead up and down steep, rocky hills. The views from the top are spectacular. Managed by the state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), the Blue Hills Reservation is open to the public...
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The ascent and inevitable struggles of 399 and her offspring are in many ways representative of all grizzlies in the modern American West. Theirs is a tale of one of the most successful wildlife recovery programs in the world – a resurrection that has taken the bear from the brink of extinction in the Lower 48 to a population of as many as 1,000 in the Greater...
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In July 2013, the Mountain Fire burned more than 26,000 acres in Riverside County, California with both the fire and the immediate rainstorm destroying miles of the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail. Almost 15 miles from Garner Valley near Paradise Corner to Saddle Junction had to be closed for safety reasons. Much of this trail remains closed. For the past two...
Learn MoreThe 11,000 pictures Jeb Bradley has snapped of New Hampshire’s White Mountains may sound like a lot, but maybe not when spread across The Grid. Bradley, a Republican state senator from Wolfeboro, is among five dozen diehard hikers who have completed The Grid challenge, in which hikers summit each of New Hampshire’s 48 mountains higher than 4,000 feet in each month of the...
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For years, I have shied away from advertising here at Meanderthals, choosing to place the focus on hiking and conservation rather than garish commercialism. I know that you would much rather look at scenic photos from the Smoky Mountains than flashing, blinking promotions that smack you upside the head and eventually simply get ignored. Over the years I have turned down...
Learn MoreBuilt at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, Harpers Ferry, WV has become America’s chronicler of centuries of confluences: of a coastal collection of states and a people striking out across a continent, of freedom and shackles, of North and South. The town, of course, was seared into our nation’s consciousness by the failed slave insurrection here in...
Learn MoreFor fiscal year 2015, a record-breaking 6,827 volunteers reported approximately 272,477 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 worldwide. The record number of...
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In the Southwest, the obvious draw for a marathon hike is the 817-mile Arizona Trail. Like many people with a day job whose long-term plans include hiking the entire route from Mexico to Utah, you can chip away at the miles in opportunistic grabs and passage-long chunks. Turns out, this bit-by-bit style is the way most hikers approach the Arizona Trail. Sirena Dufault,...
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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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