View on Map I went to Big Bend planning to climb Emory Peak, but feeling conflicted. It’s the highest peak in the park at 7825 feet, and there is some exposure to the climb making it a genuine, if easy, challenge. But. It’s a popular destination. But. There are antennae on the top placed by the Park Service. But. I had loosely chosen Lost Mine as a secondary target and in some ways I really wanted to do it. There…
View on Map Mount Rogers is both the high point of the TJ NF and the state of Virginia. As such, it is a pretty common target and can be crowded. I figured by attempting it in winter I would avoid most other hikers. A friend expressed an interest in winter camping so this was a great opportunity to drag him along. I had attempted this peak once before, in the summer, with the same friend, but he had a…
View on Map Picking a goal for the White Mountains was easy. There are many amazing things in this Forest, but one truly legendary pursuit: a winter ascent of Mount Washington, home of the worst weather in the world. While the top of the mountain is technically a state park, the entirety of the ascent is through the Forest and at least in this case, it’s truly about the journey, not the summit. From Bradford Washburn to David Roberts and…
View on Map The highpoint in Chattahoochee is Brasstown Bald, a circus like fee area and not a great candidate for me. I also considered the iconic Springer Mountain, the official start of the Applachian Trail, but I’ve hiked it before, and it also tends to be crowded. Considering the above I decided that a wildspot was in order, and as usual I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I’ve logged a few dozen miles in the Chattahoochee, many of…
View on Map The highpoint for Talladega was tough to track down. Do a search and it seems pretty straighforward: Cheaha Mountain is the highest point of both the Forest and the state of Alabama. Great, all done. But when you pull it up on the map you quickly realize that Cheaha isn’t in the Forest at all, it’s in the namesake State Park. Okay, what’s the second highest point, maybe that’s correct. Well, almost every single source I found…
View on Map Wayne NF is an extreme example of how aspirational our National Forests can be. Congress declared the boundaries at nearly a million acres, but the actual holdings are about a quarter of that. It’s further broken up into three distinct pieces, separated from each other by several hours of driving. Each of those three sections is a patchwork of public and private land ownership. If you hike far at all you’ll inevitably end up on a road…
View on Map The northern part of Sumter NF is in a region known as the foothills, the high hills that mark the edge of the Appalachian chain. Fork Mountain is therefore something of a misnomer. At 3255 feet it falls short of what most would consider a mountain. Nevertheless, the terrain is steep with plenty of elevation change. Another oddity of this area is the Fork Mountain Trail, which avoids the actual Fork Mountain for the most part. Not…
View on Map As usual I left after work and had to drive several hours to get to the Forest. I also stopped to pick up a friend (the same friend from Cherokee National Forest) so we arrived in the wee hours. I had located a Forest Service road with likely campsites and sure enough we found one easily. After a brief night walk to stretch our legs we settled in to camp. The next morning was sunny and cool,…
View on Map I arrived in the Green Mountains late in the afternoon. I had chosen a developed campground for the first night, since I didn’t know what to expect. The campsite was reasonably private and had the usual picnic table, fire ring, and grille. Nothing fancy, but better than a motel. I decided on a random spot because the highpoint is a ski resort, and I don’t know enough about the Forest to have an opinion on what is…
View on Map Ocala came together on short notice and I didn’t have much time to plan. I had to be in Orlando on a Sunday evening and so it seemed a shame not to take advantage and get an outdoor weekend while I was at it. I had visited Ocala twice before but it had been many years. Given the time constraints I decided to jump on Forest Service roads until I found a likely base camp to explore…