September 2012

On the warmest day of the winter to date, everybody and his hiking buddy or honey squeezed into the lot where 311 reaches its highest reach on Catawba Mountain – to the point that more cars were parked along the side of the highway down toward Salem.

Still, walking the 546 miles of the Appalachian Trail through Virginia – from the Potomac River just outside of Harpers Ferry, W. Va. down to the Tennessee line below Damascus – is still 546 miles. Even if you do walk it all in day-hikes. Without eve

Dragon's Tooth Trail to AT to Dragon's Tooth and back. 5 miles. Another stupendous hiking day around Roanoke, as witness the parking lot on 311 at Catawba Mountain being so full that cars spilled down toward Salem along the roadside as we drove by. T

The Lick Run Greenway, completed in 2006, begins through Gainsboro, passing between the Roanoke Civic Center on one side and the Roanoke Catholic school/church complex on the other.Read more.

Bicycling from the boat launch area of Carvins Cove to the base of the Sawmill Branch Trail; hiking up Sawmill Branch to the Appalachian Trail and then south to Lambert's Meadow Shelter and back. 13.5 miles total (about 9 on bicycles).