Outdoor enthusiasts have several new trails that the Tennessee Valley Authority has opened in North Alabama this summer, including one that brings hikers to an old saltpeter mine.
And while explaining the new trails and playgrounds near Guntersville Dam, Athens and Muscle Shoals, David Brewster, TVA’s natural resources manager for west operations, also listed the most popular locations for the most common summer time activities.
Three new trails opened this summer, including Cave Mountain Trail on the south side of Guntersville Dam. Hikers and mountain bikers (no ATVs) can travel along an easy, one-mile loop path, until the reaching the saltpeter cave along a bluff. It passes through a Tupelo gum swamp and limestone bluffs, and hikers can see the dam from the cave and the lake from much of the trail, Brewster said.
For more rugged hikers, there a new 7.5-mile long (one way) moderate trail from Guntersville Dam to Cooley Cemetery. It’s getting lots of use already from hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians, Brewster said.
The trail terrain varies, but most of it runs adjacent to the lake, and there are views of the lake from most parts of the trail. It pretty much follows an old logging road.
In its ninth summer, the Idaho Conservation League Adventure Series in North Idaho features day hikes of varying difficulty, paddle trips on both Lake Pend Oreille and Lake Coeur d’Alene and campsite and trail maintenance volunteer opportunities. Whether you are new or native to the Panhandle, this adventure series is a great way to explore and gain new appreciation for Idaho’s spectacular peaks, lakes, streams and wildlife.
The hiking series kicks off Saturday, June 27, 2015 with a hike up Lookout Mountain in the Selkirks. This scenic, one-way seven-mile hike near the north end of Priest Lake features phenomenal views of Priest Lake, Lions Head and the Selkirk Mountain range.
The other 14 outings offered this summer and fall include easy family hikes to alpine lakes, more strenuous hikes to peaks in the Selkirk Crest, as well as a birding hike to Harrison Lake. ICL is also offering three paddle trips this year – one through the stunning Clark Fork River Delta with Kathy Cousins from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
The outings are free and open to all but space is limited and registration is required. To sign up for a hike, kayak trip or volunteer opportunity, or for more information, visit www.idahoconservation.org or contact the Idaho Conservation League’s Sandpoint office at (208) 265-9565.
List of outings sponsored by the Idaho Conservation League for 2015…
Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials announced the temporary closure of the Cosby entrance road due to flood damage. On June 22, 2015 at approximately 4 p.m., flash flooding along Rock Creek spilled over the banks, damaging road shoulders along 1,500 linear feet of the Cosby entrance road. Underground electric and phone lines were exposed along most of the road where the shoulder area was washed out up to 6 feet deep. All electric power and water service to the campground and picnic area has been shut off.
Park maintenance crews cleared rocks and debris from the roadway and coned off washed-out road areas to allow one-lane traffic to escort campers from the campground this morning. The campground, picnic area and all roadways will remain closed until power and water services can be restored and the repairs are complete. Park crews are further assessing the condition of the road today and will begin making repairs immediately.
Trails remain open at this time, but there is no trailhead access. Hikers are advised to use caution throughout the area. Crews are currently assessing the area for any damage to trails and footlogs. Roads are closed to all pedestrian traffic in the area throughout the closure.
For more information on road and trail closures, please visit the park website at http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/temproadclose.htm.
If you’re going to fake it as a paid-up member of the jet set, then Monterosso, at the northern end of the Cinque Terre, is the perfect place.
Pinned to the cliffs above the Gulf of Genoa on the shin of the Italian boot, the Cinque Terre – the five lands – is the sort of landscape that causes hearts to beat a little faster. This is one of the scenic miracles of the Mediterranean: five small villages hewn from solid rock, huddled facades and pantiled roofs overlooked by churches and fortifications that date back to the Middle Ages.
The sites for these villages were dictated by the freshwater streams that tumble down from the mountain heights. Tiny, dense enclaves arose, crowded around a scoop of harbour, and so the villagers existed, scratching a living from fishing and the olives, grapes, tomatoes and basil they cultivated on tiny terraces hacked from the cliffs.
There are several ways to explore the Cinque Terre. A boat is perfect, but available only to yachtsmen and fishermen. The train is a practical proposition if you’re pressed for time, but this is no place to rush. The best option is a hike from one village to the next along the sentieri, the narrow footpaths used by the villagers since time immemorial.
While you could trek the steep 12-kilometre sentieri from Monterosso to Riomaggiore, the most southerly of the towns, in a day, that would be like jogging through the Louvre.
CDT Montana, a branch of the Montana Wilderness Association that focuses on maintaining and supporting the Continental Divide Trail, had no problem filling most of its volunteer slots for this summer’s trail projects. That was until a longtime partner had to cancel leaving an entire project without any volunteers.
The trail maintenance project runs July 5-10, 2015 in the Benchmark area of the Rocky Mountain Front. CDT Montana is looking for four folks to help on the project but could take up to eight volunteers.
The group will car camp at the Benchmark Administration Site and will hike 2 to 4 miles a day to work sites on the trail.
The focus for the week will including clearing bushes that have crept into the trail corridor, maintaining erosion control structures and clearing out culverts.
The Benchmark trailhead is the Bob Marshall Wilderness’ most-used access points and is in need of some TLC.
The project is rated easy to moderate, and food is supplied to volunteers for the week. For information on volunteering, contact Shannon Freix at 406-499-2309 or [email protected]
In just a mile on level ground, you can reach a spot that can change the way you feel about things for a long time.
From the trailhead for the Pacific Crest Trail near Tuolumne Meadows, you can amble north for 20 minutes or so to a pristine meadow sprinkled with lodgepole pine, where a high mountain rim frames your moment in time. Unicorn Peak (10,910 feet), Cathedral Peak (10,940) and Fairview Dome (9,731) poke holes in the sky. Nearby, the Tuolumne River runs clear, cold and pure.
The only sounds are often meadowlarks, nutcrackers and other mountain songbirds singing their love tunes, or the flow of water pouring over rocks. The air tastes light and sweet. It’s enough to make you want to see more.
The Tuolumne Meadows area, perched at an elevation of 8,600 feet on Tioga Road in the high country of Yosemite National Park, features 10 trailheads from Tenaya Lake to Tioga Pass. It is perhaps the best trailhead site in America.
Some lead to places that can feel like they’re yours alone.
If you can surround yourself with anyone, surround yourself with hikers. They are the most down to earth, adventurous folks you’ll ever meet. They are the definition of pure, good vibes.
They’re all different, but they all have similar characteristics that make them simply irresistible. If you don’t hike, you should strongly reconsider. Here’s why:
Surround yourself with those who care more about fulfilling their souls than they do about keeping up with the latest trends and drama. Surround yourself with hikers.
The Palomar Mountain Observatory Trail is one of only four National Recreation Trails in San Diego County, California. From the tree-shaded, well-maintained trail there are bucolic vistas of grassy meadows with grazing cattle.
It also provides a chance to visit the Hale Telescope and the world-class Palomar Observatory. It is easily accessible and is a rewarding hike year-round. Palomar Mountain rises steeply from the Pauma Valley in the west and the Temecula Creek valley in the east, but the mountain itself consists of gentle rolling hills blanketed by a lush mixed forest of conifers and oaks with scattered patches of chaparral.
Palomar Mountain also is the home of the 200-inch Hale Telescope, only two miles from the campground and the trailhead. The Palomar Mountain Observatory, operated by Caltech and open to the public, has made fundamental discoveries about some of the most distant points of the universe and continues to be an important contributor to astronomy. The telescope and a small nearby museum are open to visitors daily.
Canyoneers are San Diego Natural History Museum volunteers trained to lead interpretive nature walks that teach appreciation for the great outdoors. For a schedule of free public hikes, refer to the San Diego Natural History Museum website.
More than 100 years after legislation was introduced to build a bridge over the Winooski River, hikers on the Long Trail will have a safe place to cross the river and head north.
The Green Mountain Club opened a new 224-foot Long Trail suspension bridge as part of the Winooski Valley Long Trail relocation.
The bridge, located just off of U.S. 2 in Bolton, Vermont saves hikers from a 3 mile walk down the highway from the woods of Camels Hump State Forest to the Jonesville Bridge and back onto the trail, said Mike DeBonis, executive director of the Green Mountain Club.
The Green Mountain Club, established in 1910, is the founder, sponsor, defender and protector of the Long Trail System. The trail is made up of 272 miles of footpath, 175 miles of side trails and nearly 70 primitive overnight sites and shelters.
The Winooski Valley long Trail relocation includes 300 acres of land acquisition, 6 miles of new trail and the suspension bridge.
The Long Trail is the oldest long-distance trail in the United States.
Thanks to a new partnership between Albemarle County and the Kids in Parks program, there’s a new family hiking trail in Crozet, Virginia.
Kids in Parks is a national program designed to get kids outside and exploring. The new trailhead at Mint Springs Park is open with a kiosk stocked with interactive maps. Kids in Parks calls it a track trail, it has free guides that teach kids about birds, nature, safe hiking and more.
As families work their way along the path, kids can check off what they find and see. When they get home, they can register their hike on the track trail website to earn prizes. One track trail completed earns a nature journal, nine track trails completed earns a magnifying glass.
Kids in Parks has about 100 track trails across the country.
Mint Springs Park is open during daylight hours throughout the summer, the track trails hike is one mile long.
The mental game is huge when you’re in the woods. Alone, the ante is upped considerably. You’re more alert. More cautious. More in tune with what’s going on around you and inside of you.
These are all good things, but there’s a downside: There’s no one to commiserate with about aches and pains, no one to consult the map with, or share a difficult passage, or speculate about the weather. No one to laugh or joke or share the beauty and joy with.
It’s the first rule of the woods — never go alone. But people do it, and there’s even beauty in it.
“Hiking solo can be more rewarding,” said Elizabeth Thomas, a Trail Information Specialist with the Continental Divide Trail Coalition in Golden, CO. “You get to make your own decisions. You can go where you want when you want. Eat what you want. Get up when you want. Make camp when you want. And you’re far better off hiking alone than hiking with someone you’re incompatible with.”
Thomas holds the women’s unsupported speed record on the Appalachian Trail — 2,186 miles in 80.5 days. She has walked over 13,000 miles on the long trails, many of them alone. “I never cease to be amazed how empowering hiking is,” she said. “How exhilarating it is to do the seemingly impossible on nothing but my own two feet.”
But even if you’re healthy and strong, walking long trails is still a head game.
Here are Elizabeth Thomas’ keys to a good mental game in long distance hiking…
Never been hiking with your kids? Great Smoky Mountains National Park is presenting a series of programs this summer to help introduce families to hiking in the park.
These ranger led programs will give parents advice on how to prepare for a hike, what to take, what to watch out for, and some fun activities that you can do with children while hiking.
Not sure about bringing your toddler or your 5 year old on a hike? There will be some suggestions for bringing along these young ones too.
The park is kicking off these family programs on June 20, 2015 with a guest speaker and an opportunity to try out some family friendly camping and hiking equipment.
Here is the complete schedule…
Here’s another powerful benefit to walking. When your brain is completely overloaded and you need to take a life time-out and hit the reset button, nothing will accomplish that better than logging some cleansing miles on foot, solo. No phone, no headphones, just you and your feet. The long walk is a therapeutic tool to not only power up your mind but also to recharge its battery. Which, in turn, leads to much greater creativity once you’ve rebooted.
One day, when Marc Andreessen, the money man behind such tech giants as Facebook, Twitter, and Zynga, was out driving around his home in Palo Alto, California, he nearly hit a crazy old man crossing the street.
Looking back at the fool he had nearly run over he noticed the trademark blue jeans and black turtle neck. “Oh my god! I almost hit Steve Jobs!” he thought to himself.
It was Jobs that day, out on one of his many walks around the Palo Alto area, where Apple are based. Steve Jobs was famous in the area for his long walks, which he used for exercise, contemplation, problem solving, and even meetings. And Jobs was not alone. Through history the best minds have found that walking, whether a quick five minute jaunt, or a long four hour trek, has helped them compose, write, paint, and create.
Here are five reasons that walking is one of the best ways you can spend your time…
It’s a sound Camelback Mountain regulars have come to expect. Amid the Spotify, busy chatter of teenagers and welcome breezes, the chop of rescue helicopters cuts through the air, its occupants combing the terrain for the latest broken ankle or victim of Valley heat.
Phoenix, Arizona mountain rescues spiked by more than 30 percent in 2014 over the previous year, and 2015 so far is keeping up the pace, according to records maintained by the Phoenix Fire Department.
By the end of June 2014, Phoenix fire crews had been called out on 120 rescues from the city’s famous mountain hiking trails, an increase from 80 during the same time frame in 2013. Now, not halfway through June 2015, Phoenix fire has been called out on 116 mountain rescues.
“Call volumes are going up, no doubt about it,” said Phoenix Fire Department Capt. Aaron Ernsberger. “Our population goes up, and people, they are more health-conscious. (But) they don’t understand that these mountains out here are pretty serious.”
Phoenix Fire Department Capt. Mike Billingsley said many of the hikers are also from out of town and unfamiliar with the concept of dry heat.
Many travelers are familiar with the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage walk, but there is a new journey that seems to be gaining traction with everyone from history buffs and outdoorsy types to those looking for a creative way to disconnect from email and cell phones for several weeks in the European countryside.
The inaugural European Peace Walk (EPW) took place last summer, a century after The Great War began. Groups of travelers left Vienna on a six-country, 23 day walk of peace to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I.
On July 27, 2015 the second annual walk will begin and participants will cover nearly 342 miles, starting in Austria and traveling through Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, and Slovenia before ending at the Mediterranean Sea in Trieste, Italy.
Walkers come from all over the world, and have many reasons for participating, from honoring family members who died or were actively involved in the war to those who want to celebrate peace and honor the past to travelers eager to slowly walk through small towns and villages, exploring parts of Europe many tourists rarely visit.
The walk will visit historic and cultural places of interest along the way. Last year’s walkers slept in hostels, schools, a brewery, sports halls, mountain huts, Rock Cafes, student residences, and even a cowboy’s fish farm. Changes this year also include improving the quality and reducing the price of accommodations for participants.
The Zagori region in north west Greece is little known among visitors heading to Athens and the islands. But amid its mountains, canyons and ancient villages are superb hiking trails, delicious local fare and top places to stay.
Forested mountains stretch into the distance – the craggy peaks still topped with snow – and the clear waters of the Voidomatis River whoosh by below. In a country so blessed with ancient ruins, islands and beaches, people tend to forget about Greece’s mountains as a holiday option.
Unspoilt Vikos-Aoös National Park is in the Zagori region, near the Albanian border and an uncomplicated three-hour drive from Thessaloniki airport. As with everywhere in Greece, times are hard in this region, and businesses are keen to attract tourists. Prices have been slashed. The national park has smooth, empty roads, pristine hiking trails and traditional stone villages, many of which are home to good-value restaurants, B&Bs and small hotels.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the villages were prosperous staging posts for Ottoman traders, and the paths they traveled are now ideal for hiking: routes between villages range from under two hours to all-day treks.
With more than 4,000 miles of hiking trails, it’s not too hard to get away from it all in New Hampshire. But if you want to get even further away, you could head out on the Cohos Trail, one of the wildest, most remote trails in New England.
The Cohos Trail is a 165 miles long approximately. It utilizes new trail, moose paths, existing trails, old ways, old rail beds and it gets you where you have to go.
The trail begins on the Davis Path in Crawford Notch and ends in Pittsburg at the Canadian border customs stop. Bring your passport and you can hike another 70 miles into Quebec.
Certainly in the New England region, this is the longest trail. It’s also one of the most remote trails. It’ll get you into the arctic, above timberline. It’ll get you on the shores of huge lakes, the tallest cliff in the state. And of course a lot of woods walking. It is a woods trail by and large.”
Huge lakes and tallest cliff aside, what really draws hikers to the Cohos Trail…is the lack of other hikers.
Nearly 5 million people visit Grand Canyon National Park each year, but many do not get far below its limestone rim. Even fewer head to the bottom.
Why? The simple answer is: It’s hard.
The hike down to the banks of the chalky green Colorado River, and especially back up, is challenging, even grueling. Even if you’ve trained on stair climbers and hills with a 30-pound backpack, hiking the Grand Canyon will test your endurance and your ability to remain hydrated.
But the sweat and sore muscles are worth the experience as you gaze at the red-hued rock formations from the South Kaibab Trail, cross the steel bridge over the fast-moving river and dip your hat in the cool waters of Bright Angel Creek.
Here are some tips for making the most of your Grand Canyon hiking and camping experience.
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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