Piedmont Hiking & Outing Club steps up to support new span at Doughton Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Just in time for a fall hike or backpacking trip, there’s a new bridge on Doughton Park’s Grassy Gap Trail. In the past, the crossing at Basin Creek was often difficult, with only a long, precarious log spanning the waterway for hikers. Thanks to generous donations to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation by members of the Piedmont Hiking and Outing Club, the 30-foot bridge now makes the trek safer and more accessible.
It’s an inspiring example of a group recognizing a need on the Parkway and working together to make a project a reality. Under the direction of the National Park Service, the bridge was constructed by a crew from The Student Conservation Association.
This important connector provides access to the popular Basin Creek Trail up to Caudill Cabin and the rugged Bluff Ridge Primitive Trail that leads to the Bluff Mountain shelter near the Blue Ridge Parkway. Grassy Gap Trail is also the route from Longbottom Road to the backpacker campground at the confluence of Basin and Cove creeks.
To explore this area of Doughton Park, you get there from Longbottom Road between McGrady and Traphill, make the gentle but long hiking descent from the Parkway via Grassy Gap Trail, or take a steep trek on Bluff Ridge Primitive Trail.
The UK’s oldest national trail hit its 50th birthday earlier this year, and tourism bosses are urging walkers to celebrate the anniversary by pulling on their boots and visiting the route.
The path, which runs from Edale in Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders, was officially opened at a ceremony on Malham Moor in the Yorkshire Dales in 1965. The trail passes through three national parks, the North Pennines area of outstanding natural beauty, two national nature reserves and 20 sites of special scientific interest.
Highlights include the Peak District’s highest hill Kinder Scout, scene of the 1932 mass trespass that was instrumental in the campaign to open up Britain’s hills to the walking public, Malham Cove, the 80m (260ft) limestone crag that forms a spectacular natural amphitheatre in the Yorkshire Dales, High Cup Nick, the deep chasm cutting into the Cumbrian Pennines and dubbed ‘England’s Grand Canyon’ and the nearby Cross Fell, highest point on the route and home to the a unique meteorological phenomenon, the Helm Wind.
A draw for visitors every year from both the UK and abroad, this remarkable national trail stretches through some of the most spectacular northern landscapes this country has to offer, through the Peak District and Derbyshire, Cumbria, Yorkshire, Northumberland and County Durham, forming an important link between many towns and rural communities.
Last week 20 people died in a wave of flash floods in southern Utah, eerily similar to a summer in Arizona 18 years ago. Of those who died, seven were in a narrow canyon in Zion National Park and another 13 were lost when their cars were swept away from around the town of Hilldale. The seven in Zion were geared up with helmets and ropes, not the most trained group, but certainly capable. The 13 from around Hilldale were drivers and passengers who found themselves unexpectedly swallowed by a flood that dammed itself with debris and then burst through Short Creek. It was the desert announcing itself yet again.
Most people don’t think of the desert as flood prone. But most people don’t live in the desert. Yet the strange, Roadrunner-cartoon topography is directly and indirectly caused by flooding. Storms break over ground that holds little vegetation. Rainwater flies across the land looking for any downhill passage. Arroyos and washes funnel together, as the contents of thunderheads arrive in tight, narrow spaces: a canyon where you can touch both walls, or a storm drain dry almost every day of the year, until suddenly it is not.
This is where the word flash comes from in flash flood. A canyon can be dry for months or even years. A storm lands far away. The water comes all at once.
Samples taken from the floods that August of ’97 were sometimes only 10 or 20 percent water. The rest was mud. The earth was being reduced and transported. Where a flood hit the town of Kanab, Utah, not far from Hilldale, a scientist waded into one of its red-brown eddies with specimen bottles. Viscous mud draped down his legs. He was wearing the earth.
The Rogue River National Recreation Trail runs 40 miles along the Rogue National Wild and Scenic River in southwestern Oregon. The route offers a variety of amazing landscapes and rewarding hiking experiences.
In addition, the western 16 miles cross the Wild Rogue Wilderness. These national designations recognize and help protect the Rogue’s outstanding scenery, fisheries, and recreational resources for present and future generations. The trail and the river are co-managed by the Bureau of Land Management’s Medford District and the US Forest Service’s Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.
The Salem, OR Statesman Journal describes the setting: “The mountains encase the valley in thousand-foot walls, and the river glides deep and green past wildlife, forest, and a civilization of rustic lodges built beginning in the 1930s.”
The Rogue River Trail is managed for hiking and backpacking only. Most of the trail is well constructed and has moderate grades. The average hiker takes 4-5 days to walk the 40 miles.
Backpackers will find a number of campgrounds along the way. Many campsites are sandy beaches next to the river. These sites may also be used by boaters. Private lodges along the trail can also accommodate hikers who make reservations.
Through hikers, those hiking from the Mexican border to the Canadian border or vice versa, on the Continental Divide Trail are a loosely organized, yet tight knit group.
Sometime around the second week of April, around 150 hikers depart from Silver City, N.M., bound for the Canadian border in Glacier National Park. Another 50 or so depart on the reverse journey.
Of the roughly 30 percent who finished, many wrapped up their hikes in the past couple of weeks. To celebrate, CDT Montana, a branch of the Montana Wilderness Association that works to maintain and complete portions of the trail in Montana and Idaho, hosted the Hiker Hoopla, a sort of end-of-year hurrah to celebrate everyone’s accomplishments. Held just off Marias Pass at the Summit Mountain Lodge, the Hoopla was a chance for hikers to reconnect with other hikers they met along the way.
Thru hikers faced an epic year on the CDT. Many were delayed by the fires burning in the Bob Marshall Wilderness and elsewhere on their route, and nearly everyone battled the deep snowpack in Colorado. Thru hikers are a diverse group with many stories to tell. Hikers typically earn a trail name sometime during their journey, and most are best known to other hikers by that name.
Here are a few snippets of their adventures…
Through a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, West Virginia University will conduct voluntary surveys of visitors recreating on the George Washington & Jefferson National Forests.
Beginning Oct. 1, 2015 WVU students, and employees will host survey stations at developed recreation areas, trailheads, and along Forest Service roads. People who agree to participate in the survey will not be asked their names, and all responses are confidential. The basic interview lasts about eight minutes, and every other visitor is asked additional questions related either to economics or satisfaction, which may take an additional five minutes.
The information gained from the survey will aid the Forest Service in analyzing recreation needs and trends and assist state and local governments with tourism strategies and planning. In addition, the survey will provide National Forest managers, partners, and Congress with an estimate of how many people recreate on federal lands and what activities they enjoy while there. Other important information includes how satisfied people are with their visit to the national forest and the economic benefits on the local economy. The data gathered by this program is also used, along with other factors, in determining how funds for recreation management are allocated to the national forests.
Although the survey is entirely voluntary, the Forest Service hopes as many people as possible will stop to answer survey questions. It is important that the Forest Service gather information from both the local and out-of-area national forest users so that all types of visitors are accurately represented in the study. There are about 300 survey dates scheduled beginning October 1 and continuing through September 30, 2016.
If you think summer is the only season for hiking, it’s time you experience the pleasant temperatures, sparse crowds and incredible beauty that comes with fall.
Thanks to more reasonable temperatures, heat related issues are typically less of a threat and you probably won’t have to call it a day due to mid-afternoon heat. Trails are usually less crowded in the fall when the kids are back in school and people are back at work from their summer vacations. And let’s not forget those stunning yellows, oranges and reds that dot the tips of trees.
Most of us will admit that the scenery is at least half of the reason we go hiking in the first place and there’s no better time to take it all in than autumn. Your camera loves the brilliant hues presented by the deciduous forests.
Here are some highlighted hikes from across the U.S. that show a particularly incredible display of fall colors so you can make the most of the fall hiking season wherever you are.
Today, at 5:25pm on top of Springer Mountain, history was made.
Heather ‘Anish’ Anderson just set the record for the fastest unsupported hike of the 2,285-mile Appalachian Trail, finishing in 54 days, 7 hours, and 48 minutes. She averaged about 42 miles a day over the course of the trail.
History repeats itself, and so does Anish. In 2013, Anish set the record for the fastest unsupported thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, hiking the entire 2,663 miles in only 60 days, 17 hours, and 12 minutes.
Which means… Anish is now the first person to hold the unsupported record on the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail simultaneously.
Supported hikers are followed by a team of people who meet them at road crossings with food, water, and shelter. Unsupported hikers carry all of their own gear and walk into towns to resupply instead of accepting rides – technically, they do more walking than most actual thru-hikers, who hitch into towns from road crossings.
Japan’s major cities offer just about everything, but did you know that includes great nature trails? From forests and waterfalls to ancient temples and shrines, many of Japan’s best hiking trails are literally just a step off the bullet train.
If you have a Japan Rail Pass, you’ll find it even harder to resist these hikes near Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, Hiroshima and Fukuoka. Only have a day–or even just a half-day–to spare? You can still get your hike in.
These hiking routes make it convenient to explore Japan’s natural surroundings. No long drives to get out to the countryside, no great changes in altitude, and there’s always a good view waiting at the top. The trails are sign-posted, well-maintained, and many pass through historic districts and are tailored for sight-seeing by foot.
You’ll find eating establishments, public toilets, lockers and even hot springs along the way on some of them. In short, Japan is a day-hikers dream. And if you like to run, these hiking courses make great running trails too.
You’ll want to be prepared to hike up a bit of vertical on these trails, but that’s all part of what hiking is all about.
The Koolau mountain range, as majestic as it appears today, ascending skyward like a verdant curtain of green on Oahu’s Windward Coast, looked very different just 500,000 years ago.
Then the western half of a million-years-extinct massive caldera—which extended eight miles between modern-day Kaneohe and Waimanalo, and four miles east to Kailua’s Mokulua islets—the range was part of a large, Oahu-dominating volcano, Koolau (Hawaiian for “windward”). A cataclysmic landslide event a half-million years ago changed the landscape of the island and the volcano forever, sweeping the latter’s entire eastern half and most of its caldera into the ocean.
The Koolau we now look upon in awe, then, is not a true mountain range, but the breathtaking result of eons of wind and rain erosion post-landslide. The combination of these forces of nature reduced what geologists believe was once a 9,800-foot shield volcano to its current 3,100-foot-high point, Konahuanui, and carved the signature fluted cliff face of the Koolau’s windward side.
Many of Oahu’s best hiking trails are here, ascending valley ridges rising inland from metro Honolulu and Central Oahu to the Koolau’s flora-rich summits and roughly 37-mile windswept spine, luring adventurers with the promise of complete escape into unsullied nature, remarkably close to modern urbanity.
The entirety of the AT in Great Smoky Mountains National Park goes from Fontana Dam in the south to Davenport Gap in the northeast. While it’s just a small section of the full Georgia-to-Maine trail, the part of the trail in the Smokies is 71 miles long. It usually takes about a week to complete. Backpackers need to get reservations and permits from the park service in order to camp along the Appalachian Trail in designated shelters and campgrounds.
But, for people with busier schedules, there are many ways to break the trail up into out-and-back day hikes, out-and-back overnights, or 3- to 4-day stays. Two day hikes on the Great Smoky Mountains AT are from Newfound Gap to Charlies Bunion (8 miles round-trip) and Clingmans Dome to Newfound Gap (7.5 miles one way).
One of the best-known and most easily accessible spots on the AT in the Smokies is Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the Smokies and on the AT. Visitors can reach it by car. “Be sure to bring a good jacket, even in summer,” says the Great Smoky Mountains National Park website with regard to Clingmans Dome.
“To climb for hours beneath the cool dark forest and emerge at last onto the liberating space of a sunny bald under a dome of blue sky is an experience not to be missed,” wrote author Bill Bryson.
The fastest way to see California’s iconic Donner Pass is to cruise Interstate 80 between Truckee and Reno.
But if you really want to experience the environment and culture of one of the state’s most scenic and historically significant places it helps to get your feet dirty.
And one way to get the most out of a trek through the region is to participate in the Donner Party Hike weekend, a two-day event that combines hiking, history and culture.
Although Oct 3 and 4, 2015 will mark the 23rd year for the event, organizers have added new wrinkles to keep it fresh.
This year they’re bringing back tours of the railroad snowsheds that made winter rail travel possible in the Sierra Nevada. They’re also taking hikers off the beaten path on the High Sierra Lakes tour that includes visits to out-of-the-way alpine lakes in the area.
“It takes you to areas you wouldn’t know existed,” said Kathy Hess, one of the organizers. “These are not established trails on maps.”
The China Creek Trail, located on the Grandfather Ranger District in Avery County, North Carolina is reopened to hikers following trail relocation and restoration work. The 2-mile trail begins in Blowing Rock and passes through both Pisgah National Forest and National Park Service land.
The China Creek Trail was relocated to follow portions of the historic Upper Thunderhole Trail. According to the Blowing Rock Historical Society, the Upper Thunderhole Trail was built in the 1920s by the (now demolished) Mayview Manor Hotel to enable guests to access pristine China Creek and Thunderhole Creek for hiking, hunting and fishing. The China Creek area contains rushing streams and majestic forests, with trees over 300 years old.
Work on the trail was completed through a partnership with The Conservation Trust for North Carolina and the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) as part of the Grandfather Restoration Project. The YCC is a comprehensive youth development program that uses the natural world as a platform for teaching environmental stewardship, job and leadership skills, community service and personal responsibility. For seven weeks the YCC crew cleared the trail, installed water bars, switchbacks, and rock steps, making the trail more accessible and safer for families to enjoy.
The China Creek trail can be accessed from the trailhead in Blowing Rock, located on Laurel Lane across from the Blowing Rock Equestrian Preserve at 1500 Laurel Lane.
If you couldn’t carry enough water to make it 20 miles, should you be out here? California is in the grips of a severe drought. Creeks that Flash remembered soaking her feet in years before were just rivers of sand now. How long before sections of the Pacific Crest Trail were basically unhikeable?
Coming up were 40-mile dry stretches, with handfuls of volunteer caches to punctuate the barren desert. Unlike the ones we had seen today, plenty of hikers were prepared, loading up their packs with seven liters of water – over 15 pounds added to the necessities they already hauled. In the early 1990s, as a wilderness ranger and burdened with survival gear and trail maintenance tools, I carried 70-pound loads and thought little of it, though my knees took a beating. How much is too much weight when you need water to survive?
Of course, the hikers we started out with at the border didn’t remember the old days, a time when we carried maps and compasses and still got lost before we found our way again. We discovered campsites instead of having them displayed on our phones, and we carried food for long stretches without hitching into towns. Our gear was enormous and heavy. We didn’t know the weather forecasts. There were no satellite beacons to call for help; you made it out, or you didn’t. All of these things taught us resilience and how to survive. I wouldn’t trade those days for the way it is now, even though I’ve learned to appreciate having a lighter pack and trip reports posted on the Internet.
Tennessee Valley Authority will begin maintenance work on Fontana Dam on Monday, Sept. 21, 2015. Work is planned to continue through March 30, 2016. During this time, the dam will be closed to vehicle traffic.
The dam will remain open to foot traffic. Hikers will need to walk behind the visitors center and then up the steps to access the dam.
If you are planning a hike along the Appalachian Trail (toward Shuckstack Fire Tower) or along the Benton MacKaye/Lakeshore Trail (toward backcountry campsite #90) in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, you will need to plan for an extra 1.2 mile road walk each way.
Waterton Canyon, near Denver, is closed because of bear activity. The popular trail was closed Aug. 28, 2015 because two momma bears, each with twin cubs, and other bears were actively foraging in the canyon. Part of the problem is not the bears, but people trying to get the perfect picture of them.
“We’ve actually seen people using selfie sticks to try and get as close to the bears as possible, sometimes within 10 feet of wild bears,” said Brandon Ransom, Denver Water’s manager of recreation. “The current situation is not conducive for the safety of our visitors or the well-being of the wildlife.”
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said this time of year bears are actively seeking food to prepare for hibernation. “It is a poor choice from our perspective, A) to get that close to wildlife and B) to turn your back, particularly on bears,” said Matt Robbins, a spokesman for CPW.
The hashtag #bearselfie has become increasingly popular, though, and may be part of a broader trend – people risking their lives to get the perfect self-photo. #eejits
October is national adopt-a-dog month, according to the American Humane Association, the perfect time to pick up a new hiking partner. But before you hit the trail it’s vital that you prepare your pup.
Start with a simple 5-mile stroll. A test hike. He passed, and now you’re on to something a little tougher.
This, say veterinarians, is a good approach. “You need to bring them along slowly.”
Not only do dogs need to get into shape, but they need to toughen up their feet to handle the rigors of longer and tougher trips.
Your dog probably loves playing in the outdoors as much as you do, but just like hiking with your two-legged friends, things can get ugly if you aren’t prepared.
Here are some recommendations…
From a distance, New England’s beloved Mount Monadnock looks distinctly unthreatening. Veteran hikers seeking a challenge might be dubious at first, but this balding geezer of a mountain is plenty rugged.
Monadnock rises 3,165 feet in Cheshire County, near the town of Jaffrey in New Hampshire’s southwestern corner. The name comes from a Native American term for “mountain standing alone.” Its approachability makes Monadnock one of the nation’s most popular climbs, drawing more than 100,000 hikers yearly. Those who reach the summit are rewarded with 100-mile views on clear days.
More than a dozen hiking trails wind their way up the mountain, many of them converging near the summit, and several start near the park headquarters. Pick up trail maps there. Pumpelly is among the longest trails, almost 4 miles each way from the start point near the town of Dublin, and rated among the easiest because it’s a more gradual climb—but none of the options is a cinch. All but the most experienced hikers should allow at least half a day for most routes.
All routes begin as windy paths, many covered in gnarled tree branches, through fragrant forests of spruce and hemlock, along with oak, birch and maples that make Monadnock a popular destination for leaf-peeping hikers in the fall. And all trails become notoriously rocky toward the summit.
At the top, Monadnock is bare rock, above tree line, and to get there requires conquering layers of steep giant boulders and craggy paths invisible from the tame roadside view.
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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