Fall Travel

The uneven terrain of a trail requires you make hundreds of tiny adjustments to your gait, enhancing your brain power as well as your leg muscles.

New Research: Hiking Equals Health

From the hips and knees to the brain and the attitude and lots of places in between, new research makes a strong and positive distinction between just walking and hiking.
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Maple Roots: A Business Seeded Deeply in Family

Western North Carolina brothers Matt and Tim Nichols say their natural nerdiness made moving from collecting action figures to some 1,200 cultivars of maple trees a natural.
First light paints the mountains near a wind-shaped oak on Max Patch in North Carolina.

Photo Essay: Loving on the Cold

Hey, let’s not short the cold season, hard as it may be to step outside into it. Our contributing photographers certainly brave the elements, and are back with the beautiful proof.
The last light of sunset illuminates a sparkling layer of rime ice on Spy Rock near Montebello on Virginia’s Appalachian Trail.

Photo Essay: Fall Gives Way

It’s that first afternoon that feels like snow. That westerly breeze that leaves no doubt a new season is about to arrive. Our contributing photographers were there to capture it.
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Singing in the Garden: The Perfect Excuse for a Hike

I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. —Anne of Green Gables

Departments

Behind Blue Ridge Country

Even More Sweet Virginia Breezes

Casually cruising to Claytor Lake in southwest Virginia, I felt like I had come home – back to where it

CALENDAR OF EVENTS