Kurt’s Hikes

CURRENT Kurt’s Hikes

The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All always looks like this after she has to bushwhack.

‘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.
The 80-foot falls was mostly ice on this day.

A Cold Hike with Hot Italian – Virginia’s Falls Ridge Nature Preserve

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 Conservancy to overstate trail dis
Tinker Mountain, a little nub of Brushy Mountain just above the skinny end of Carvins Cove, Tinker Mountain again after its turn westward, Read Mountain and – against the skyline –the Peaks of Otter.

Hiking McAfee – Number 16

This great walk seems to come up for us around New Year's and on July 4, which got me to wondering how many times, since Valentine's Day 2004 when we began the hiking oddity, we've done it.

Steak Grinders, Nonscenery and the Difficulties of Finding Dang CDs

When it's cold and snowy and the day after Christmas, it can be hard to get out on the road and into the woods.
Along the Appalachian Trail just south of Va. 785 crossing, looking north up the Catawba Valley with Tinker Cliffs in the background.

Bear! …Cow.

We set out at just after noon from the snowy Dragon's Tooth Parking Lot, about which The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All had also been a better predictor than I, as her bet was there'd be three cars in the lot and mine was six. There were two.

Departments

Knoxville Asian Festival, August 29-30,  Knoxville, Tennessee. Photo courtesy of Asian Culture Center of TN
Events

Fall 2026 Festivals & Events Guide

From the Virginias and the Carolinas to Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, our annual compendium is the perfect travel companion. Inside,

4th of July Parade & Festival, July 4, Blowing Rock, North Carolina.
Events

Summer 2026 Festivals & Events Guide

From the Virginias and the Carolinas to Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, our annual compendium is the perfect travel companion. Inside,

CALENDAR OF EVENTS