Build It. Bike It. Be a Part of It.

The Adventure Cycling Association is working in partnership with dozens of state and federal agencies, nonprofits, volunteers and the U.S. Congress to create an official U.S. Bicycle Route System, connecting America’s urban, suburban and rural areas.

The project, dubbed as U.S. Bicycle Route System: Build It. Bike It. Be a Part of It., will connect cyclists across the U.S. with cities, transportation hubs, scenic and historic destinations through existing (and new) infrastructure; and will be numbered and officially recognized by state and federal government agencies.

This visionary project will be similar to the national and international systems blossoming across the globe (such as Euro Velo).

The Adventure Cycling Association is already working on projects within these states: Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, California, Oregon, and Washington. Other states are just getting started: North Dakota, Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Utah. And still more are reported to be ready to go: Maine, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. All these states are in different stages of development and have varied techniques for implementation based upon resources, volunteers, and governmental structure.

Last week, the Adventure Cycling Association kicked off a grassroots fundraising effort to raise more than $20,000 to support organizing and cartographic efforts for the route system. They're working through social media outlets to get people to donate as little as $10.

For more information on the project please click here, and to contribute, please click here.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.

Video: Linville Gorge Wilderness Area

Blue Ridge Outdoors recently published a short article on the Linville Gorge Wilderness Area. Included in the article was a short video taken at sunset in the springtime at Wiseman's View in the Linville Gorge.

The video gives a nice overview of this spectacular wilderness:




For more information on hiking in the Linville Gorge Wilderness, please click here.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.

Happy Birthday, Glacier National Park

Today, Glacier National Park in Montana celebrates its 100th Anniversary as a national park. On this day in 1910, Glacier became the 10th national park in the system.

Throughout the summer Glacier will be hosting special centennial events, including a re-dedication of park headquarters, special tours, a film festival, and art shows. As with the 75th Anniversary of the Great Smoky Mountains, Glacier has also developed a special website.

Words and pictures can't describe how beautiful Glacier Park really is. If you've never been there, it definitely needs to be on your "bucket list". With over 700 miles of trails, Glacier is definitely a hikers paradise.

In case you missed it, last fall I posted an article about our experiences at Glacier during our two visits to the park. The posting includes several photos as well.

Here's a short highlight reel Glacier National Park has produced to entice you to come celebrate with them this year:




Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.

Guide to all the Trails in the Smoky Mountains

Liz Etnier, author of the Day Hiker’s Guide To All The Trails In The Smoky Mountains, recently sent me an advanced copy of her brand new third edition of the book.

The Day Hiker’s Guide is completely unique in comparison to all the other hiking guide books for the Smokies.

If you’re planning to conquer all 800+ miles in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and thus become a member of the Smoky Mountains “900” miler club, this book is an essential resource. If you’ve ever looked closely at a map of the Smokies you’ll notice that many of the trails are interconnected. Without a good plan of attack, a person attempting to hike every mile of trail in the Park could end up repeating hundreds of miles.

Liz has solved this problem by laying out a logical approach to hiking each of the 151 trails in the Park in just 75 day hikes, making the process as efficient as possible.

Liz, an avid hiker and a member of the Smoky Mountains “900” miler club herself, has written this guide to assist others who aspire to hike all the trails in the Great Smoky Mountains. Her approach minimizes duplication of miles hiked while ensuring that no trail segments, or spurs, are left behind. Indeed, if you follow her approach, you can hike all the maintained trails in the Smokies in a total of only 1060 miles! The day hikes contained within the book range from just a few miles to some that are over 20 miles in length.

The guide divides the Smokies into nine areas, and includes excellent color-coded maps showing the hikes for each area, as well as tables that list the trail sequence and total mileages for each hike. Included as well are a list of available car or boat shuttle services for the more remote hikes, a handy checklist of all trails, and over 30 color photographs of the Smoky Mountains, wildflowers, and historic structures in the Park.

The book comes spiral-bound with heavy glossy paper, making the book a durable and handy companion on all your hikes.

For more information, and to purchase the book, please visit Liz’s website by clicking here.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.

Backpacker dies in Smokies

A Michigan man died yesterday after being found unresponsive during a backpacking trip in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

This past Friday night, Ross Sabin Enderle, 26, of Pontiac, MI, and his three hiking companions, stayed at the Icewater Spring Shelter, roughly 3 miles east of Newfound Gap along the Appalachian Trail.

When his companions woke the next morning and tried to wake Enderle, they found him unresponsive. One of the hikers contacted E-911 via cell phone and park rangers were notified around 7:45 a.m.

When rangers arrived at the shelter at 9:14 a.m., Enderle showed no signs of life. He was taken to Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva, N.C.

Authorities are awaiting results from an autopsy and a toxicology report. Rangers are continuing an investigation to determine the cause of death but preliminary findings indicate there was no foul play.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.

Become a Backpacker Magazine Map Correspondent

Summer hiking season's on, and Backpacker Magazine is looking for a few good hikers to help them expand their digital map room and make even more miles of trails available for download to GPS units, smartphones, and computers. All you need is a GPS unit, a love of the outdoors, and a bit of a gear fetish.

Potential prizes await for all contributors - with the most productive contributor earning a closet-full of Editors Choice gear and an epic trip to the Colorado Rocky Mountains with our map editors.

Backpacker Magazine wants quality trips; with 1-2 pictures per mile (at least 5 images per hike), waypoints for key points-of-interest on the route (trail junctions, water sources, campsites, summits, overlooks, tricky spots, etc.), and, if you can, on-trail video clips. (Here's a near-perfect example on Olympic NP's Hoh River) Your trip could end up in the magazine.

Additionally, each trip you submit enters you in a raffle for a monthly piece of gear; the more trips you submit, the better your chances for winning that month's piece of gear.

But it gets better: By the time hiking season ends in November, Backpacker will count all your submitted trips, and the person with the most gets a full complement of Editors' Choice 2010 gear AND a trip out for an epic adventure in a secret spot in Colorado's Rockies.

If you're interested, just click on to the official BACKPACKER Map Contributor contest page.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.

Smokies ranked 9th by TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor.com just released its 2010 Travelers’ Choice Awards and the Great Smoky Mountains have been named the 9th best destination in the U.S. for Outdoor & Adventure Destinations.

The Travelers’ Choice Awards are based on the millions of real and unbiased reviews and opinions from travelers on TripAdvisor.com. The winners were determined by a combination of travelers’ destination comments, favorite places, and overall destination popularity on TripAdvisor.

Destinations were named in the following categories: Top Destinations in the U.S. and World, Best for Families, Romance, Beach & Sun, Culture & Sightseeing, Food & Wine, Nightlife, Outdoor & Adventure, Relaxation & Spa, and Top Emerging Destinations.

Here are the top 10 U.S. Outdoor & Adventure Destinations according to TripAdvisor:

1. Rocky Mountain National Park, CO
2. Acadia National Park, ME
3. Moab, UT
4. Jackson, WY
5. Grand Canyon National Park, AZ
6. Yellowstone National Park, WY
7. Yosemite National Park, CA
8. Lake Tahoe, CA
9. Great Smoky Mountains, TN
10. Aspen, CO

I'm kind of surprised that Yellowstone and Yosemite didn't rank higher. Click here to see all the rankings for all categories from TripAdvisor.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, and more.