When mountain biking first came on the scene in the southeastern United States back in the late 1980's, people could ride their bikes on almost any trail. Seeing a cyclist on a “foot-only” trail was a novelty for most people. As…
This week marks 25 years since we opened our publishing doors in 1991. That made us wonder: Just how many miles of adventure trails have we covered in our guidebooks over the years? A deep dive into our database yields some numbers we think…
When Milestone Press published Jim Parham's new Tsali Trails Map on April 1 of this year, we pledged to donate a portion of the proceeds toward maintenance of Tsali's trails. This week, we made our first donation from sales of the map, which covers…
Our friend Hawk Hagebak Hawk hails from Atlanta, and his love for the Southern Appalachians brings him and his motorcycle our way every once in a while. Hawk stopped by recently, this time with his wife Lisa and their 16-year-old daughter, Annabelle. They were…
We love where we live and work, but once in a while it’s good to get away. This fall we ventured into new territory: Quebec. To be more specific, the Petit Trail du Nord (Little Train of the North), a…
Over the course of a year, I spend a lot of time in the backcountry. Many a night I'm sleeping on the ground or suspended between two trees in my hammock. I love it, and I swear it’s much better…
Most professional photographers, and plenty of serious amateurs, carry professional equipment. That means large tripods, SLR camera bodies, and bulky lenses. But many of us who hike to photograph wildflowers and other natural features don't have the luxury of toting so much weight,…
The photo above shows a perfect cloudless day—great for spending time outside. But when it comes to photographing wildflowers, direct sunlight is not your friend. Of course you need light to take a photo, but direct sunlight is not your friend. This translates…
If you want to photograph wildflowers in the Southern Appalachians, you have to go where they're blooming. And to learn where they're blooming, you have to be thinking about altitude. As outdoor writer Danny Bernstein notes in her first guidebook,…
When we think about a wildflower outing, we tend to think about an excursion on foot, walking a woodland trail in search of, perhaps, a specific species that's known to bloom at a certain time. But how many of us…