Web Extras

CURRENT Web Extras

Kurt and Gail Rheinheimer

A Warm-Weather Trail Party

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.
Kurt and Gail Rheinheimer

Walking Virginia

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
Kurt and Gail (plus 2) on Dragon's Tooth

The November Hikes

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
Roanoke Skyline

An Urban Walk

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.
Kurt and Gail Rheinheimer

Hikers Not Bikers

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).

Departments

At Coopers Rock State Forest, new Stargazer cabins invite guests to look up through skylights and telescopes.
Country Roads

Even Closer to Almost Heaven

New Stargazer cabins at Coopers Rock State Forest offer a skyward escape in the mountains of West Virginia.

©Duncan Seaman
Country Roads

A Mountain Tradition Turns 90 

Visitors flock to Galax, Virginia, each summer for the Old Fiddlers’ Convention, a days-long celebration of Appalachian music.

Synchronous Fireflies
Creature Feature

The Light Fantastic

Fireflies are struggling with the effects of artificial light.

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