The hills are alive with socially distant adventures.
April 15, 2021
This article is part of On The Road Again: A Texan s guide to road trips in Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
As I emerged from an aspen-shaded stretch of the Cliff Creek Trail, in Colorado’s West Elk Mountains, I inhaled big gulps of cool air and reveled in the muscle burn from miles of steep hiking. A 360-degree view opened around me, and except for my husband, Chris, I didn’t see another soul on that July day in the middle of a pandemic year. I stopped, spun around a couple of times, and pretended I was in the opening scene of
Gettysburg father and daughter launch 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail attempt
Updated 12:06 PM;
Today 12:06 PM
Brian and McKenzie Long, of Gettysburg, have launched their thru-hike attempt on the Appalachian Trail. (Contributed photo)
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Gettysburg father and daughter Brian and McKenzie Long this morning stepped onto the Appalachian Trail at its southern terminus on Springer Mountain in Georgia. They hope to finish a thru-hike of about 2,200 miles sometime in September at the northern terminus on Mount Katahdin in Maine.
They had planned to make the trek last year, but like thousands of others opted to postpone in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy urged all hikers to stay off the trail last year.
Athens activist hikes to raise funds for animals in need redandblack.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from redandblack.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
As a wilderness hiker, Allyson Hester-White has absorbed inspiring images from high on a mountain ridge, but she needs no such stimulating sights when it comes to her innate drive to protect mankind’s canine companions.
“My heart just belongs to dogs always has,” the Athens resident said. “I was the kid who chose animals over dolls. It always has been part of my nature.”
Hester-White recently received a permit to hike the John Muir Trail in California a 211-mile, 21-day trek through rugged Western landscapes so esteemed that three sections are protected as national parks.
The hike planned for this summer has become more than her personal desire to connect with the outdoors. Hester-White hopes the trek will financially benefit two local animal-welfare organizations, the Athens Area Humane Society and Athenspets.net, the latter an organization she founded 21 years ago when she was an undergraduate student at the University of Georgia.