Blue Ridge Country

Photo atop Mt. Pleasant look southwest toward the Peaks by Ken Knott.

Photo atop Mt. Pleasant looking southwest toward the Peaks of Otter by Ken Knott.

Blue Ridge Country editor-in-chief Kurt Rheinheimer and his wife Gail woke up on Valentine's Day in 2004 looking to do something a little different in recognition of the occasion.

Since then, Kurt and Gail have hiked at least once every weekend for more than seven years. Of those 360-plus weekends, they have missed 14, virtually all due to occasional balkiness from Kurt's old-man knees or achilles. For the first two years (Valentine's Day 2004 through Valentine's Day 2006) they didn't miss a single week. They completed the 550 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Virginia in the summer of 2008, and have walked more than 3,500 miles total, mostly in Virginia but including hikes in West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Florida, Oregon and ... New Zealand!

Kurt & Gail Rheinheimer Featured in Channel 7 (WDBJ7.com) - October 30, 2011
Couple finds love for each other - and nature - through hiking.

Spring Tease: Sinking Creek Mountain

Saturday, February 19, 2011 Kurt Rheinheimer
Spring Tease: Sinking Creek Mountain

If it's a beautiful, tease-of-spring day, it's an especially beautiful tease-of-spring day on the Great Trail, and even more especially with The Greatest Day Hiker.

 

Apple Orchard Falls, Frozen

Sunday, February 13, 2011 Kurt Rheinheimer
Apple Orchard Falls, Frozen

Some Valentine's Day anniversaries of our first weekly hike (Feb. 14, 2004) are better than others. On this, our eighth return to the scene of the original crime, the day was warm enough to walk with two layers and no gloves or ear cover (well, me an...

Missing the Best Lunch Spot

Sunday, February 6, 2011 Kurt Rheinheimer
Missing the Best Lunch Spot

Maybe part of the reason we'd never gone up the Little Rocky Row Trail off of U.S. 501 along the James is that it is off of U.S. 501, where big trucks come around the bend in a big damn hurry, where the trailhead's easy to miss and where the parking ...

January Thaw in the Air, Not So Much on the Ground

Sunday, February 6, 2011 Kurt Rheinheimer
January Thaw in the Air, Not So Much on the Ground

With temperatures projected to be in the 50s (and actually being there as we got out of the car), it seemed like a safe-enough day from the perspective of weather to go up to the great view from breezy, exposed, 3,250-foot Barney's Wall above the Casc...

Hiking Fast

Sunday, February 6, 2011 Kurt Rheinheimer
Hiking Fast

It was 18 degrees when we got out of the car at 1 pm, and so The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All was double-timin' it from the first step; and for a change, I was right behind her with no problem. It probably added to the hurr'up that the Old Hotel Tr...

'Shwhackin' Fort Lewis Mountain

Friday, February 4, 2011 Kurt Rheinheimer
'Shwhackin' Fort Lewis Mountain

Cold day and short time calls for a short hike, and when it can be both nearby and new, we figure we are in for a good hiking day.

 

A Cold Hike with Hot Italian - Virginia's Falls Ridge Nature Preserve

Sunday, January 23, 2011 Kurt Rheinheimer
A Cold Hike with Hot Italian - Virginia's Falls Ridge Nature Preserve

New hike on a cold cold day. Not-so-new instance of a Falls Ridge Nature Preserve hike seeming way shorter than its stated distance (cf Grassy Hill near Rocky Mount and Bottom Creek Gorge near Bent Mountain). Is it maybe chronic with The Nature Conserva...

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Featured Blue Ridge Video

The Fool in the Woods, aka Blue Ridge Country editor in chief Kurt Rheinheimer, is back with more great woodland information and secrets, this time reporting on how Virginia's Devil's Marbleyard was formed.
See Kurt's Hikes Blog.