Hiking has grown in popularity in recent years. The number of participants in the U.S. hiking has risen from 29.9 million in 2006 to 34.6 million in 2012. Members of the baby boom generation, who are now in their 50s and 60s, are particularly drawn to the sport.
Hikes can range from backcountry hikes, where people spend days camping in the wild, to luxury hikes, where gear is transported by car to the next overnight destination — often a hotel or hostel — while the hiker carries a daypack to day hikes, which are ranked according to difficulty, from one to four.
The Rhode Island Hiking Club focuses on day hikes, with each usually lasting several hours. The club’s website provides a list of each, along with the trail leader and members who have signed up for the trek. Many are featured in Ken Weber’s book, “Weekend Walks in Rhode Island: 40 Trails for Hiking, Birding & Nature Viewing,” which is based on his previous books of Rhode Island hikes going back to the late 1970s. Indeed, completing “the Weber 40” is a goal of many Rhode Island hikers.
Club president Tony Chernasky attributes the club’s growth to the desire by many for something different. “Some people are going through a change in lifestyle and want to get out there again,” he said, while others are looking for a fun way to get exercise. He said members tended to be middle-aged, with a lot of 40- and 50-year-olds on weekend hikes and retired folks active during the week.
Before you know it, the trees in Minnesota will be turning bright shades of yellow, orange and red. Some of the most spectacular views in the state can be found along the Superior Hiking Trail in the Arrowhead region. “It’s a whole different world out here,” said Dan Carr of Two Harbors, who hikes the trail regularly. “You just have to get off Highway 61.”
The Superior Hiking Trail follows the ridge line of Lake Superior’s north shore, through eight state parks along with inland forests and lakes.
There are two distinct bursts of fall color in this region, starting with the maples farther away from Lake Superior, turning red and orange. That’s followed later by the birch and aspens, near the lake, with their brilliant yellows.
“Colors start to change really dramatically mid-September to early October,” said Gayle Henton, a volunteer coordinator with the Superior Hiking Trail Association. “We’re almost there.”
Hikers who take on the trail should realize, it’s not your typical flat Minnesota terrain. You’ll get your heart rate going. “The terrain is constantly changing,” said Henton. “Because the trail follows the ridge line and also crosses many of the north shore streams. You get up, you get down. No matter where you look, you have a great view.”
While you can’t go wrong with when it comes to hiking in Marin County, California, there are some areas you undoubtedly must visit at least once.
Considering Marin’s seemingly endless selection of open space and trails, creating a list of the best hikes the county has to offer is no easy feat. But here’s a shot, with a mix of cardio-pumping routes and easy flat trails that are kid friendly.
These hikes range from more intense all-day treks to little half-day loops. They also encompass a range of scenery, including well-forested parts of Mount Tamalapais, the shores of Point Reyes National Seashore or a sunny spot in central Marin that’s the perfect escape during a cold and foggy day in San Francisco.
The past winter was so brutal that only the thought of a week-long hike through hell could keep Scott Gauvin warm. Gauvin, 37, of Springfield, IL, is one of 14 outdoor bloggers from all over the country to undertake the six-day Hell Hike and Raft — named for the trip through the Seven Devils mountain range and the Snake River running through Hell’s Canyon in Idaho. It begins Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014.
Planning began during one of the bleakest winters in recent memory. “This is what we were discussing last winter when it was too cold to do anything else,” Gauvin said. “It’s what kept me warm inside.”
Throughout the excursion, Gauvin and the group will document their experiences on social media and their personal blogs. They will also be testing equipment provided through various sponsors.
Gauvin has been an outdoors blogger for about five years, but he’s been an outdoors enthusiast his whole life. An Eagle Scout and avid camper, he spends as much time as he can outdoors.
“If I could spend all day outdoors, I would,” he said. “I just feel the most comfortable … it’s where I like being. I hate being cooped up inside.”
The far side of the Olympic National Park, on the west coast of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, is indeed rain forest. Its Hoh River Valley is drenched with a dozen feet of rain a year. Think 50 shades of green in a wondrous tangle of trees, moss, ferns.
Yet Olympic National Park is so vast – almost 1 million acres of mountains, forest and ocean beaches – that you can find drier sides and your own natural haven, rain or shine.
At Hurricane Ridge, in the park’s northeast corner, drive up the winding road to the 5,242-foot viewpoint on a gloriously sunny afternoon. The park’s wild heart stretches as far as the eye can see, a maze of snow- and ice-tipped peaks.
Hurricane Ridge is one of the best places in the Pacific Northwest for easy access to the high country. Gentle, short nature trails – some even paved – radiate from the parking lot, through flowery meadows and along ridges. Or the intrepid could hike for hours or backpack for days deep into the wilderness.
The heat is slowly on its way out, so the time is on hand to experience the many trails that leave from the edge of the Crooked River Ranch in Central Oregon.
Actually, summer was a good time to go, too, because the trails lead to the cool waters of the Deschutes and Crooked rivers. Hiking early or late in the day helps beat the heat.
The Crooked River Ranch is a recreation/housing development, in southern Jefferson County (with a small part of northern Deschutes County) in central Oregon. Public facilities on the ranch include an 18-hole golf course, a motel, small store and RV camping. The trails are on public land at the edge of the ranch, which is west of Terrebonne and U.S. 97.
The trails lead to wild and scenic-designated sections of the Deschutes and Crooked rivers.
Here’s how to find the trails at Crooked River Ranch…
The plan was to hike the Colorado Trail, a 500-mile path through the Rockies that links Denver with Durango. It crosses eight mountain ranges, travels through remote wilderness areas, and climbs nearly three times the height of Mt. Everest. Most of the trail is above 10,000 ft., so the air is thin, the danger of lightning strikes is severe, and nighttime temperatures often dip below freezing. Of the estimated 400 people who attempt the trail a given year, only about 150 finish.
A friend said, “I think you’re nuts. Traveling alone in the wilderness with wild animals and God knows what else sounds daunting. The countryside should be beautiful, but won’t you get lonely?”
It was a good question—one that many friends had asked as well. Americans are lonelier than ever before despite constant contact through digital connections and social media. Studies indicate that one in four Americans have nobody to confide in; 20% are unhappy with their lives because of loneliness; and more than one-third of adults older than 45 are chronically lonely. We are becoming increasingly isolated.
It seemed reasonable to assume that trekking alone for 500 miles, in areas with no cell phone reception and few other hikers, might leave one lonelier than ever. But loneliness and being alone are two different things.
Grand Canyon National Park is trying to fight overcrowding and the accumulation of clothing, food and even human waste along trails by requiring permits for organized groups and limiting them to 30 people.
Starting Sept. 15, 2014, any group taking organized, rim-to-rim or extended day-hiking and running trips in the inner Canyon will have to pay $175 for a permit.
Super-crowded trails are a problem only about three weekends every spring and three every fall, but the frustrations, impact and behaviors can be “extreme” said Peter Pettengill, the park’s outdoor recreation planner.
Pettengill said rim-to-rim-to-rim, or rim-to-river-and-back hikers sometimes stash food, which can attract animals and make them dependent, and clothing, which can make other hikers worry that someone’s been hurt or gotten lost.
“And there are aesthetic implications as well,” Pettengill said. “if people are out engaging in nature, others don’t want to see clothes or something lying on the side of trail.”
Three teenagers said the survival skills they learned during Girl Scouts saved two high school boys trying to hike Pikes Peak.
Rebecca Clark, Jordan Wilson and Tristina Altman set out on Pikes Peak last weekend. They thought their toughest challenge would be summitting Pikes Peak. “We packed sleeping bags, tents, fire building stuff, water, toilet paper, necessities,” said Altman.
However, on the way down they came across two high school boys who were ill-prepared for the trip.
“One of them had altitude sickness so he was feeling light-headed and barfing all the time and the other was suffering from hypothermia because the water in his pack had opened up and got him soaking wet the last two miles,” said Clark. “We were worried about them because we were thinking, you don’t have food, you don’t have water, you don’t have a tent, what are you doing here?”
The three Girl Scouts started a fire to warm the boys. They built a shelter with ropes and tarps to shield the boys from the wind. They supplied food and water to the boys who had been drinking water from the stream.
“Everyone always tells you, maybe it will come in handy some day. But when you actually use it, you are really glad you paid attention,” said Jordan Wilson.
It’s been over a decade since American psychologists Leaf Van Boven and Thomas Gilovich concluded that doing things makes people happier than having things. “To Do or to Have? That Is the Question” was the title of the study they published in 2003, and it’s been cited hundreds of times since.
Many people now recognize that spending money on, say, a plane ticket for a vacation is more satisfying in the long run than purchasing a new television for the same price. But happiness studies keep evolving, and social scientists continue to find new ways of understanding precisely how our economic choices affect well-being.
A new paper, this one also co-authored by Thomas Gilovich, hones in on another difference between experiential and material purchases: how people feel before they make these purchases, when they’re simply entertaining thoughts of booking flights to the Caribbean or going to the movies, or thinking about shopping for clothing or jewelry. Gilovich and his colleagues asked subjects to think about either an experiential or material purchase they were planning on making very soon, evaluate whether their anticipation made them feel excited or impatient, and rate the overall pleasantness of the anticipation.
Gilovich said one reason the research is important to society is that it “suggests that overall well-being can be advanced by providing an infrastructure that affords experiences—such as parks, trails, beaches—as much as it does material consumption.”
An impromptu appearance of a dozen hikers was affirmation for the 50 people sitting at a ceremony on folding chairs that Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy had succeeded in their goal of expanding access to the Hickory Nut Gorge’s growing trail network.
The ceremony along Highway 74-A was hosted by CMLC and Henderson County Parks and Recreation to celebrate several milestones: the development of a trailhead at the foot of the Florence Nature Preserve, which is now a county park, and the grand opening of 1.1 miles of trail up to Little Bearwallow Falls.
Both projects are part of a 15-mile loop trail through the Upper Hickory Nut Gorge that eventually will link a string of scenic landmarks — the 600-acre Florence Nature Preserve, Blue Ridge Pastures, Wildcat Rock, Bearwallow Mountain, Little Bearwallow Falls and Hickory Nut Gap. The loop is 60 percent complete.
“Many of these locations have had informal public access, but are relatively unknown,” said Peter Barr, CMLC’s director of trails and outreach. By getting more hikers out into the upper gorge, Barr said the land trust hopes people will “realize how special it is and why land conservation is such a critical need in this region.”
The Cradle of Forestry in America will offer “Afternoon Tea with Llamas” on Saturday, Sept. 13 at 11 a.m. and again at 2 p.m. The llamas will carry your lunches or snacks on this easy walk along the Forest Discovery Trail at the Cradle of Forestry. Organizers will provide ice tea and cups.
As the group walks the Forest Discovery Trail, children can take turns leading the llamas. The group will stop and picnic along the trail. This moderate, two-mile walk travels through scenic woods and by the 1914 Climax logging locomotive.
Admission to the Cradle of Forestry is $5.00 for adults. Youth 15 and younger are admitted free. Golden Age passports and America the Beautiful passes are honored. In addition to the llama program, this fee includes the Forest Discovery Center with 15 hands-on exhibits, two films, historic cabins and antique equipment on two paved trails, the Adventure Zone, and living history interpreters.
The Cradle of Forestry is located on Hwy. 276 in the Pisgah National Forest, six miles north of Looking Glass Falls and four miles south of the Blue Ridge Parkway. For more information call 828-877-3130 or go to www.cradleofforestry.org.
If you want to experience a beautiful slot canyon with the family, Kanarra Creek, Utah is slow-moving and not too difficult to access. Hikers of Kanarra Falls Trail can expect to encounter multiple waterfalls, including two that are 8 feet or taller, and breathtaking sandstone colors throughout the slot canyon.
While it’s not something for small children or those new to hiking, the trail is appropriate for kids with some hiking experience. Hikers should know how to navigate tripping hazards like tree roots and narrow trails, be comfortable hiking in water, and wear appropriate footwear. Because it is a slot canyon, hikers should check the weather and avoid days that threaten precipitation. For hikers who are uncomfortable on potentially slippery rocks, a walking stick may be helpful. And, if attempting the hike during cooler months, wetsuits are advisable.
The hike is ideal for a hot day because much of it can be done in the water. Most of the river is about ankle-deep and slow-moving, so even children can join in without fear of being overpowered by rapids or currents. The trail is popular with locals, and hikers should expect to share the trail with others, including children.
To access the trail, get off I-15 on the Kanarraville/New Harmony exit 42 and head toward Kanarraville.
The U.S. Forest Service has reopened all trails and roads in the Trace Ridge and Wash Creek Area after completing an ecosystem improvement project in the Pisgah Ranger District, Pisgah National Forest. All roads and trails have been reopened to their designated use, including Wash Creek Road, which restores motorized access to the Trace Ridge Trailhead.
The roads and trails were closed during the project to help ensure public safety during timber harvesting activities. The evidence of implementing this project will be obvious as timber harvesting activities took place in the Trace Ridge Trailhead area and a portion of Trace Ridge and Wash Creek Trails were utilized to complete the project.
The Forest Service designed the Brushy Ridge project to fulfill management objectives in the current Nantahala and Pisgah National Forest management plan. This project allowed the agency to implement a variety of management activities to improve ecological diversity, as well as promote forest health and sustainability.
Happy hiking!
Wagon wheel ruts remain in sun-baked soil atop the mountain pass named for the man who left his mark there.
John Mullan was an Army first lieutenant in the 1850s and tasked with building a road that would connect two outposts and help speed the travel of troops, travelers and commercial freight across the Continental Divide. He was to construct a road across plains and mountains to link forts Benton and Walla Walla. Fort Benton, which preceded the town that’s located there now and was a trading post at that time, was the farthest steamboats could travel up the Missouri just as Fort Walla Walla was then the last stop on the Columbia River.
Mullan made several trips across the Continental Divide and understood the challenges he would face prior to leading 250 soldiers and civilians on the road-building expedition. Thirteen months and 624 miles later, his party would complete its work and arrive at Fort Benton on Aug. 1, 1860. Touch-up work would be required for two more years.
Fiercely proud of his accomplishment, Mullan took criticism of his road personally, said two men who on an August morning began their drive up Highway 12 to Elliston — the first stop on their tour and search for what remains of the Mullan Road.
Their goal is to trace the road from Mullan Pass, elevation 5,902 feet, to where it crosses a ranch near the mouth of the Little Prickly Pear canyon with its gray volcanic rock and stone in shades of pastel green, wine red and tan.
It’s the tour for those who like to follow. Visitors to Wales can now enjoy sheep trekking; roaming the Brecon Beacons national park in the company of wooly farmyard friends.
The concept – which is new to the region – is being offered by Good Day Out along with Aberhyddnant Farm, who have trained a flock of Jacob sheep for the purpose.
Visitors can select their own sheep, which will then accompany them (with the help of a rope halter), on a two-and-a-half-hour trek towards the Black Mountains with views towards Pen y Fan.
Although the sheep aren’t used for carrying large loads, they will be fitted with harness that can carry a light lunch – you’ve just got to hope the flock don’t conspire to eat your sandwiches.
While visitors to Wales can already enjoy llama trekking, according to the organisers this is the “native” option.
You have to walk quite a few miles, climb your share of hills and wear out an army’s stock of shoe leather before getting to the point of considering backpacking in Iceland.
Sixty-one-year-old Jim Foster, who refers to himself as a reformed attorney, has walked Patagonia, climbed Kilimanjaro, trekked New Zealand, backpacked the American west, and in 2007, hiked the entire length of the Appalachian Trail.
Consider him qualified to stand, and walk, on his own two feet anywhere he wants.
Foster and his friend, Paul Shaw, are just back from nine days of hiking and backpacking Iceland, aptly referred to as the Land of Fire and Ice. It may be one of the most volcanic places on Earth, glaciers are underfoot and geysers are regular occurrences. Foster and Shaw saw all of that.
In summer, daytime temperatures can reach 70 degrees and dip to 40 at night. Summer in Iceland also means just three hours of night-time. Foster says he and Shaw spent just the equivalent of a half-day on this trip, walking on snow or ice.
By contrast, in the winter months, there are three hours of daylight and in the upland areas, as expected, the combination of warm water and cold air produces lake effect heavy snowfall akin to that which roars off the Great Lakes of the U.S.
A large swath of the Pacific Crest Trail in the Southern Cascades will be shut down beginning August 23, due to the growing activity of the 790 Fire.
The closure covers roughly 25 miles from Oregon Highway 140 north to the boundary of Crater Lake National Park, the U.S. Forest Service said. The closure includes most trails in the popular Seven Lakes Basin of the Sky Lakes Wilderness, where the fire is located, near Hemlock Lake.
The fire has recently crossed the trail and there are numerous down and burning snags making the trail unsafe.
Fire Crews continue to fully suppress this fire. The terrain is very steep and rocky with many wind fall trees and snags. This makes fire suppression activities slow and difficult while presenting serious safety hazards.
Other closed trails in the Sky Lakes Wilderness include: Alta Lake Trail, Middle Fork Trail, Seven Lake Trail, King Spruce Trail, Devil’s Peak Trail, Lake Ivern Trail and Seven Mile Trail.
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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