Your guide to dozens of hikes in Western North Carolina -- from easy strolls to waterfalls to full-day epics in the backcountry. Including full-color photos, hike basics, and detailed directions, this guide covers the mountains from Asheville westward, including hikes along the Blue Ridge Parkway, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and in national forests like Pisgah.

The mountains of western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina are a hikers paradise--rich with human history and home to some of the greatest biological diversity in the world. This guide includes 57 day hikes ranging in length from 2 to 13 miles, with destinations including 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; the summit of Cold Mountain, and more. Each entry covers everything you need to know to enjoy your hike: maps and detailed directions, mileage, elevation gain, trail highlights, fees and hiking regulations, films and novels set in each location, and more.

Western North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains are some of the oldest on earth, boasting old-growth forests, pristine streams, and ancient heath balds with stunning views. This guide includes 72 great day hikes ranging from 1 to 13 miles, with destinations like the stone tower of Hanging Rock State Park, Max Patch on the Appalachian Trail, the "Opera Box" at Chimney Rock State Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway's Craggy Gardens, the waterfalls of Linville Gorge, and Gregory Bald in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Each entry includes complete driving and hiking directions, maps, trailhead GPS coordinates, elevation gain, trail highlights, and related historical anecdotes, plus books and movies set in each locale.

North Carolina's fire lookout towers once stood watch over the mountain forests. Today, they risk becoming forgotten monuments to the value of our wild lands. Hiking North Carolina's Lookout Towers restores glory to these historic forest sentinels. It proves the lookouts to be scenic treasures accessible to anyone who enjoys a vigorous walk in the outdoors and the view from the top of a mountain. Including among the 26 towers covered in the book are Shuckstack Lookout, a steel tower in Great Smoky Mountains National Park overlooking Fontana Dam and Fontana Lake Wayah Bald Lookout, a stone structure built by the CCC that has been converted into an observation tower offering breathtaking views of Nantahala National Forest Mount Mitchell Lookout, a new observation tower that has followed several previous lookouts atop the highest peak in the eastern United States Mount Cammerer Lookout, a historic tower once in disrepair that now represents a landmark effort in lookout restoration Green Knob Lookout, a former live-in tower that offers stunning views of Pisgah National Forest and the Black Mountains The tower chapters contain detailed hiking routes of varying difficulty, historical information, descriptions of the views, photos, and maps. Information on lookout tower organizations, towers with restricted access, removed towers, and lookouts just outside the state is also included. Hikers and outdoor enthusiasts alike will find North Carolina's lookout towers to be the perfect hiking destinations. Book jacket.

A guide to over 200 waterfalls. Over 80 black-and-white and color photographs are included.

"A concise guide to South Carolina's Foothills National Recreation Trail. Includes detailed trail maps, complete driving and hiking directions, trailheads with GPS coordinates, recommendations for thru-hiking, and suggestions for day and overnight hikes"--

Eileen Ramsay was at the centre of a unique period in yachting history, and this wonderful book, featuring her classic photography, celebrates an extraordinary woman and her extraordinary subjects.Eileen's heyday was between 1957 and 1970 - a time when eccentrics ruled, records were there for the setting, and women weren't often to be found behind the lens. But Eileen established herself as one of the greatest yachting photographers of her time, taking famous portraits of such sailing icons as Sir Francis Chichester, Eric Tabarly, Olympians like Rodney Pattisson and Keith Musto, and historic pictures from the first OSTAR (Observer Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race). She was the only photographer Sir Francis Chichester allowed on his Gypsy Moth yachts, and managed to photograph the notorious charmers Uffa Fox and Max Aitken.Her unique archive records the explosive growth in dinghy and offshore sailing during the post-war years, and includes pictures of the first Enterprises, Mirrors, Ospreys, Optimists and the first America's Cup 12 metres Sceptre and Evaine.This beautiful book features:- the post-war explosion in dinghy sailing- the growth of offshore racing- the pioneering days of the OSTAR race and solo circumnavigations- the 12 metre class and the America's Cup- post-war powerboat racing- iconic cruising yachtsmen as well as sailing eccentricsThere are also wonderful personal tributes to Eileen throughout by sailing personalities such as Vernon Stratton, Keith Musto and Uffa Fox.

250 of the best waterfalls found in North Carolina with full descriptions, comprehensive directions, and four-color photographs.

"Lists fifty overnight backpacking excursions in the mountains of North Carolina and South Carolina, with maps, hiking and driving directions, and backcountry campsite locations. Destinations include Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests, Linville Gorge Wilderness, and more. Includes information on choosing and using backpacking gear; trail etiquette; and selecting a route"--Provided by publisher.

This beautiful, colorful book is a second edition of the popular guidebook of the Mountain to Sea Trail through Western North Carolina. In improving and reissuing this book, the sharing of the special history of a unique area of our state is perpetuated. The book includes maps as well as step-by-step map profiles. Mr. Weber, now 81, a long-time resident of Brevard, North Carolina, and member of the Carolina Mountain Club, completely re-walked the trail prior to his revisions using both professional GPS equipment as well as a mechanical measuring wheel. As a result, the new release provides a degree of accuracy few other guides are matching. One reviewer says, you "know exactly how far you will walk and exactly how much effort your hike will require." In other words, it let's you plan your hike for both difficulty and exact distance before you even leave home. The book has more than an updated history on the remarkable development of the trail itself. In addition, the book reviews-often-illustrated with archival photographs-information on the history of some of the areas through which the trail passes. This part of the second edition is newly researched and expanded from that of the first edition. These areas include George Vanderbilt's Buck Spring Lodge, Chase Ambler's Rattlesnake Lodge, Graveyard Fields, the North Carolina Arboretum, Mount Pisgah, Craggy Gardens and Mount Mitchell State Park.