Hiking the Carolina Mountains

Hiking the Carolina Mountains is the definitive hiker's guide to the mountains of North and South Carolina. Published in April 2007, Hiking the Carolina Mountains takes you beyond the most well-known hikes in the region. This is the first hiking guidebook to include Dupont State Forest, Panthertown Valley near Cashiers, and Green River Game Lands near Hendersonville in North Carolina. It also lists eight hikes in upstate South Carolina, an area largely undocumented in other guidebooks.

The book was written by Danielle "Danny" Bernstein, a life-long hiker who has hiked the entire length of the Appalachian Trail, summited every mountain higher than 6000 feet in elevation in the Southern Appalachians, and is currently working on becoming a member of the 900 Miler Club, reserved only for people who have hiked every trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Bernstein is also a hike leader for the Carolina Mountain Club, and is a hiking instructor at UNC-Asheville's College for Seniors. She also maintains a 5-mile section of the Appalachian Trail on the Tennessee/North Carolina border for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

Anyone familiar with the region knows that the mountains of western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina are a hiker's paradise. Rich with human history, they are also home to some of the greatest biological diversity in the world. Hikers here are treated to thousands of miles of trails offering fantastic views, stunning wildflower and fall foliage displays, and gigantic trees in old growth forests.

Hiking the Carolina Mountains lists 57 day hikes ranging in length from 2 to 13 miles, with destinations like the waterfalls of Dupont State Forest, the Blue Ridge Parkway's beautiful Craggy Gardens; the ruins of George Vanderbilt's palatial Buck Spring hunting lodge on Mt. Pisgah; and the summit of Cold Mountain. Each entry includes everything you need to know to get out and hike: maps and detailed directions, mileage, elevation gain, trail highlights, fees and hiking regulations, a list of films and novels set in each location, and more.

The book also covers sections of the Appalachian Trail, as well as trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Pisgah National Forest, Nantahala National Forest, and in upstate South Carolina.

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Jeff

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