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From The Editor

CURRENT From The Editor

From the Editor: Every Day’s a Great Day for a Picnic

If you have the gear and the goodies, the context and the companion, there’s no reason that every lunch in the woods shouldn’t be a full delight.

From the Editor: Army-Surplus Canteens and Packs – Keeping the Old Ways Alive (or not)

The accoutrements for hiking have changed over the years, but remnants of the old ways remain.

From the Editor: The Photo

You’re out doing something you love, and somebody gets a candid shot of it? Might be the best kind of photo there is.

Towns: Finding the Heart and Soul

The magazine debuts a new column this issue—one that goes deep inside the places where we live, the places we come to love.

From the Editor: Staengls Rule! A 30-year Serendipity

What are the chances of a story in our first issue having a completely unplanned family tie to one in this 30th Anniversary issue? Maybe pretty good once you consider that family’s commitment to the region we love.

Current Issue

There are hints in this sequence of Kurt Rheinheimer’s brilliant (!)deploying of his rain tarp of what it takes to stop for a great lunch in any season: See silly cap, jillion-dollar rain jacket, waterproof boots and red pack cover still protecting Gail Rheinheimer’s pack contents.

From the Editor: Every Day’s a Great Day for a Picnic

If you have the gear and the goodies, the context and the companion, there’s no reason that every lunch in the woods shouldn’t be a full delight.
The Appalachian Trail shelter in this 1955 photo is strongly suggestive of old ways remaining alive today; the chair and the packs not so much. Kurt Rheinheimer (green hat), here with his late father, also seems to have changed a bit over those years.

From the Editor: Army-Surplus Canteens and Packs – Keeping the Old Ways Alive (or not)

The accoutrements for hiking have changed over the years, but remnants of the old ways remain.
The magic of a candid photo is even more poignant when it’s against a backdrop of Virginia mountains and sky.

From the Editor: The Photo

You’re out doing something you love, and somebody gets a candid shot of it? Might be the best kind of photo there is.
Part of Radford, Virginia’s charm is the Riverway in Bissett Park along the New River.

Towns: Finding the Heart and Soul

The magazine debuts a new column this issue—one that goes deep inside the places where we live, the places we come to love.
A family in 1988. From left: Galen, Luke, Anita, and Aaron Staengl (from this magazine’s inaugural issue).

From the Editor: Staengls Rule! A 30-year Serendipity

What are the chances of a story in our first issue having a completely unplanned family tie to one in this 30th Anniversary issue? Maybe pretty good once you consider that family’s commitment to the region we love.
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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.

June 29, 2026
©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.

June 29, 2026
Synchronous Fireflies
Creature Feature

The Light Fantastic

Fireflies are struggling with the effects of artificial light.

June 29, 2026

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