View on Map I’ve spent many days and nights exploring the Nantahala. It is one of my favorite Forests and as a result I’ve done most the things that have caught my interest, not leaving much for a rightpoint. The highpoint of the Forest is pretty low, has a gravel road to the top, and the summit is covered with cell towers and associated equipment. Not much of a goal that represents the Forest. Given all that, I figured this…
View on Map The Roan Highlands are a series of grassy balds stretching twelve miles along the North Carolina/Tennessee border. Among them is Grassy Ridge which is one of only three 6000+ footers with natural 360 degree views on the East Coast. Roan High Knob, while not a bald itself, anchors the chain to the east and is the highest point in the Forest at 6285 feet. My plan was to summit this peak, then traverse a section of the…
View on Map I had a tough time settling on a goal for the Croatan. Like so many eastern forests, it is patchwork of public and private lands, and seems very scattered in function. Unlike a lot of coastal lowlands there is no real water route through the area. It touches on the Neuse river in spots, but that couldn’t be said to be a defining characteristic. The terrain is swampy and the vegetation is insanely think so off trail…
View on Map Uncompahgre National Forest comprises almost a million acres in Southwest Colorado. The area is remote, far from any interstate highways or major cities. Starting from lush pine forests at the lower elevations, large swathes of the Forest sit at high altitudes with rank on rank of dramatic peaks. The highest of those peaks is the 14321 foot Uncompahgre Peak. It is the ninth highest in the continguous United States and the 17th most isolated. Despite those impressive…
View on Map The Pisgah is a Forest near and dear to my heart. I used to live right beside it and have spent many days and nights wandering it’s hills and valleys. This is an ancient range and it feels that way. Most of the forest is second of third growth, but the intense moisture and riotous greenery give little indication of that. My goal is Balsam Cone, one of the 6000ers, the highest peaks on the East Coast….
View on Map The low slung hills of the Uwharrie Mountains are remnants of a once great coastal range, eroded by time and humbled by geology in the form of the rising Piedmont plains. Now barely clearing a thousand feet, man further reduced their grandeur by completely deforesting the entire range until large swaths received federal protection in the 1960s. The forest came back in some fashion and recreation took over from farming and grazing. This is mostly a local’s…
I’ve started a journey to visit, and try to genuinely partake in the dream of, all 154 National Forests and 62 National Parks in the United States. This is a long and loose goal, one designed, a little counterintuitively, to promote quality over quantity. Read on to discover why I’m doing this and how I came to choose this particular trail. I’ve been visiting public lands for many, many years. I’ve camped, hiked, climbed, biked, canoed, kayaked, snowboarded, skied, run,…