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Planning a hike along the Blue Ridge Parkway or in the Pisgah National Forest? Heard about a place called DuPont State Forest that your buddy said was a great place to hike? Or just in the mood to browse through some photos of the mountains? Then relax and have a look around!

This site is your on-line hiking guidebook for the Mountain region of North Carolina, containing all of the information you need to make your next trip complete. Have fun browsing and hiking!

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Hike to the Waterfall on Hickory Branch

Instead of watching the super bowl, I hiked to the waterfall on Hickory Branch today, near the historic Curtis Creek area in the Pisgah National Forest. It was a beautiful winter day, and not only would I rather do just about anything but watch football, there’s not much I’d rather do than hike to a [...]

Posted on February 8, 2010 3:21 am

Trails Mixup

It turns out I had the Panthertown Valley trails mistakenly under the South Mountains State Park trailhead! I’ve corrected this, and added all the new official Forest Service trails in Panthertown Valley. Check ‘em out, and GPS maps of the trails are coming soon!

Posted on January 22, 2010 7:02 pm

Two New Waterfalls Added to Site

I spent New Year’s Eve visiting two waterfalls near Highlands, NC which I have added to NorthCarolinaWaterfalls.info: Picklesimer Rock House Falls and Big Shoals (Secret Falls). The weather was foggy, and it had snowed around 1-2 inches the night before, which was actually great weather for hiking! The recent precipitation meant the water was up, [...]

Posted on January 3, 2010 7:25 pm

Visit to Catawba Falls

Catawba Falls is located just off of I-40 in the Pisgah National Forest, near Old Fort, in McDowell County. Despite its’ being on National Forest property, however, the falls has long since been off-limits to the general public due to the only reasonable access trail being on private property. But good news! Recently, the Foothills [...]

Posted on December 28, 2009 4:03 am

“The Loop” On US 441 in Great Smoky Mountains Added to Google Maps

A while back, I was surfing around Google Maps and noticed that “The Loop” on US 441 in the Smokies wasn’t showing up properly on the map. And when you tried to use the Street View to go around the loop, it jumped from the lower part of the road to the upper part at [...]

Posted on December 15, 2009 7:22 pm

Articles

Proposal to add 50,000 acres to Blue Ridge Parkway lands

According to the Asheville Citizen Times and the Times-News Online today, the Blue Ridge Parkway Protection Act has been introduced into the house, which would authorize $75 million to acquire high priority lands adjacent to the existing Parkway corridor. The goal of the bill, which is being introduced while the Parkway celebrates its 75th anniversary, [...]

Posted on January 26, 2010 6:13 pm

Visit to Catawba Falls

Posted on December 28, 2009 4:03 am

A New Battle Between Mt. Mitchell and Clingman’s Dome?

In response to my post about the new observation platform atop Mt. Mitchell, Allen said: “Now that the old 45 tower has been replaced by the observation deck on Mt. Mitchell, is a person standing on the Clingmans Dome tower in the Smokies at a higher elevation, or does the Mt. Mitchell deck still put you [...]

Posted on March 26, 2009 2:48 pm

How a Bear Made Me Sick

One fine Saturday in June, 2007, I decided to take a short hike up to the waterfall on Hickey Fork Creek. It’s a fairly easy hike, and I decided to leave my water in the car for this one. After 20 minutes on the trail I arrived at the falls, soaked in the scene for [...]

Posted on March 21, 2008 8:48 pm

A Call To Action: Hemlocks Threatened by Tiny Hemlock Wooly Adelgid

Update 8/7/07: Hemlocks which still appear to be healthy along the Parkway and Linville Falls are likely ones which have been chemically treated, rather than helped by the predator beetles. Hemlocks are dying rapidly where untreated or treated only by the predator beetles, and it appears that the biological control method will be ineffective. Since [...]

Posted on August 7, 2007 2:08 pm

Graveyard Fields Trail Renovation

A major trail re-construction and re-location project at Graveyard Fields will eliminate erosion, protect sensitive plant habitats, re-build a bridge washed out by the storms of September 2004, and provide a generally more pleasant hiking experience to visitors of one of Western North Carolina’s most popular recreation areas. The relocated trails are quite a distance from [...]

Posted on June 15, 2006 3:02 pm

WNC’s Forests Threatened by Exotic Diseases

Dogwood Anthracnose. Chestnut Blight. Butternut Canker. Gypsy Moth. Hemlock Wooly Adelgid. Beech Bark Disease. Oak Decline. Sudden Oak Death. Balsam Wooly Adelgid. Locust Miner Beetle… The list goes on and on. These threats, or potential threats in the case of Sudden Oak Death, are ravaging the forests of Western North Carolina and much of the Southern [...]

Posted on June 13, 2006 2:56 pm

Shortcutting Switchbacks Tramples Trillium!

WNC’s mountainous terrain and large tracts of public lands bode well to our recreational enjoyment, including various forms of backcountry travel such as hiking and mountain biking. And, of course, most of this travel occurs on trails. Ah, the trail. A path to a waterfall, a path to a view, a path to freedom and [...]

Posted on April 1, 2005 5:15 pm

Opinion & Personal

Waterfall Accidents An Unnecessary Tragedy

Update 7/23/2009: two more waterfall accidents happened just this week; luckily both individuals survived. A 14-year old boy fell off Triple Falls near Brevard while a 21-year old girl fell off Glen Falls near Highlands. This marks the second accident at Glen Falls this year. We wish both people a full and speedy recovery, and [...]

Posted on July 8, 2009 3:03 pm

Archived news and more articles are on the WNCOutdoors.info Blog.

Hiking in Western North Carolina

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