Best of the Appalachian Trail: Day Hikes

by Leonard M. Adkins, Victoria Logue, Frank Logue

Overview

Your Comprehensive Guide to the AT’s Best Day Hikes

From Maine to Georgia, the nearly 2,200-mile Appalachian National Scenic Trail is an iconic destination. Whether you’re an experienced hiker or a casual explorer, let Best of the Appalachian Trail: Day Hikes guide you along the way. Summit the iconic Katahdin in Maine, explore Pennsylvania’s Chimney Rocks, splash in Tennessee’s Laurel Fork Gorge and Falls, and find out where Georgia’s Blood Mountain gets its name. Appalachian Trail experts Leonard M. Adkins and Victoria and Frank Logue have carefully selected their top 144 hikes—ranging from less than 1 mile to 11 miles—and present them for you to experience and enjoy.

Trail difficulty ratings and profiles, which include point-by-point descriptions of each hike, help to prepare you for what’s ahead. Trailhead maps and driving directions are provided to get you where you need to go. Plus, fascinating flora, fauna, and history tidbits entertain and educate you along all 144 hikes throughout the 14 states of the AT. Discover the best day hikes in this useful guide to the beloved long trail.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781634041454
Publisher:	Menasha Ridge Press
Publication date:	08/21/2018
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	142,979
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Leonard M. Adkins has been intimately involved with the Appalachian Trail for several decades. He has hiked its full length five times and lacks just a few hundred miles to complete it for a sixth. He has maintained a section of the Trail near McAfee Knob and was a ridgerunner for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. He has also served as an A.T. Natural Heritage Site Monitor, aiding the conservancy and the National Park Service in overseeing the welfare of rare and endangered plants. In addition, he has served on the boards of directors of the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club and the Old Dominion Appalachian Trail Club. Among other long-distance trails Leonard has completed are the Continental Divide Trail from Canada to Mexico, the Pacific Northwest Trail from Glacier National Park to the Pacific Ocean, and the Pyrenees High Route along the border of France and Spain. In all, he has walked more than 20,000 miles exploring the backcountry areas of the United States, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, and the Caribbean.

Leonard is the author of 20 books on travel and the outdoors. His Wildflowers of the Appalachian Trail was presented the National Outdoor Book Award, while The Appalachian Trail: A Visitor’s Companion received the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award. He has also written more than 200 articles for magazines such as Blue Ridge Country, Backpacker, Islands, The Roanoker, and Blue Ridge Outdoors. Along with his thru-hiking wife, Laurie, he lives in Virginia, within easy striking distance of the A.T. You may learn more about his adventures at habitualhiker.com.

Victoria and Frank Logue hiked the entire Appalachian Trail in 1988 and have returned again and again to hike its many sections on day and overnight hikes. Frank has also served on the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s Board of Managers. In addition, they have continued to hike out west and abroad, including Israel, Jordan, France, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Scotland, and England. They live in Georgia, where Frank works as an Episcopal priest and as an assistant to the bishop of Georgia. Victoria, a writer of fiction and nonfiction, recently published her fourth novel. Currently, they love visiting and hiking with their daughter, Griffin, in Arizona.

Read an Excerpt

56. GREAT SWAMP AND CORBIN HILL
EASY / 2.8-mile round-trip / 1.5 hours

You don’t need a car to reach the beginning of this hike. On weekends and holidays, the Metro North commuter train from New York City stops at the Appalachian Trail Station next to NY 22. (Visit mta.info/mnr for a schedule.)

Great Swamp is the second-largest freshwater wetland in New York, encompassing thousands of acres along its 20-mile length. Muskrats and other wildlife live among nine known rare plant and animal species, including spreading globeflower and Atlantic white cedar.

The views from the open fields of Corbin Hill take in West Mountain and Cat Rocks to the west, Waldo Hill and Sharp Hills to the north, and the route of the A.T. climbing the ridge to the east.

THE HIKE

Walk southward on NY 22 from the parking area, turn right onto a dirt road at 0.1 mile, and cross the railroad tracks at the Appalachian Trail Station. Soon follow puncheon across the wet areas of Great Swamp, crossing Swamp River on a footbridge at 0.4 mile. Cattails grow in great numbers beside the trail.

Begin the steady but gradual climb along the side of Corbin Hill. Open meadows, dotted by summer flowers such as gentian and mullein, provide the views. It is time to turn around when the trail enters woods near the top of the rise.

TRAILHEAD DIRECTIONS

Take I-84 to Exit 17 (Ludingtonville Road). Turn east (right from I-84 West, left from I-84 East), and drive 0.6 mile. Turn left onto Mooney Hill Road, and drive 2.5 miles. Turn right onto NY 292 South, and drive 0.8 mile. Turn left onto NY 311 North, and drive 1.3 miles. Turn left onto NY 22 North, and drive 5.7 miles to the crossing; the parking area is 0.1 mile farther.

GPS TRAILHEAD COORDINATES N41° 35.575' W73° 35.247'

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Maine

• MAINE TRAIL TABLE
• Katahdin
• Baxter Ponds Loop
• Little and Big Niagara Falls
• Gulf Hagas
• Barren Ledges
• Pleasant Pond Mountain
• Avery and West Peak of Bigelow
• West Peak of Bigelow and The Horns
• Sugarloaf Mountain
• Saddleback Mountain
• Moxie, Long, and Sabbath Day Ponds
• Dunn Notch and Falls
• Baldpate Mountain
• The Eyebrow
• Speck Pond

New Hampshire

• NEW HAMPSHIRE TRAIL TABLE
• Mount Hayes
• Wildcat Mountain
• Mount Washington
• Webster Cliffs
• Ethan Pond
• Mount Lafayette and Mount Lincoln
• Mount Liberty
• Lonesome Lake
• Mount Moosilauke
• Wachipauka Pond
• Mount Cube
• Smarts Mountain

Vermont

• VERMONT TRAIL TABLE
• Clarendon Gorge
• White Rocks Cliff
• Little Rock Pond
• Styles Peak
• Prospect Rock
• Stratton Mountain

Massachusetts

• MASSACHUSETTS TRAIL TABLE
• Eph’s Lookout
• Mount Williams
• The Cobbles and Gore Pond
• Gore Pond
• Warner Hill
• Finerty Pond
• Upper Goose Pond
• Cobble Hill
• Benedict Pond and The Ledges
• Ice Gulch
• East Mountain
• Jug End
• Jug End and Mount Everett
• Mount Everett

Connecticut

• CONNECTICUT TRAIL TABLE
• Bear Mountain and Sages Ravine
• Lions Head
• Lions Head and Riga Shelter
• Rand’s View
• The River Trail
• St. Johns Ledges and Caleb’s Peak
• Indian Rocks
• Ten Mile River and Hill

New York

• NEW YORK TRAIL TABLE
• Great Swamp and Corbin Hill
• West Mountain
• West Slope of Hosner Mountain
• Canopus Hill
• Denning Hill
• Anthony’s Nose
• Buchanan Mountain
• Fitzgerald Falls and Mombasha High Point
• Eastern Pinnacles and Cat Rocks
• Prospect Rock

New Jersey

• NEW JERSEY TRAIL TABLE
• Pinwheel’s Vista
• Pochuck Crossing
• High Point Monument
• Sunrise Mountain and Culver Fire Tower
• Rattlesnake Mountain
• Sunfish Pond

Pennsylvania

• PENNSYLVANIA TRAIL TABLE
• Winona Cliff, Lookout Rock, and Mount Minsi
• Wolf Rocks
• Lookout Rock and Hahn’s Lookout
• Weathering Knob
• Blue Mountain
• Bake Oven Knob
• The Cliffs and Bear Rocks
• Windsor Furnace, Pulpit Rock, and The Pinnacle
• Auburn Lookout
• Table Rock
• Hawk Rock
• Boiling Springs
• Chimney Rocks

Maryland

• MARYLAND TRAIL TABLE
• Raven Rock, Devils Racecourse, and High Rock
• Annapolis Rock and Black Rock Cliffs
• White Rocks
• Weverton Cliffs
• C&O Canal Towpath

West Virginia and Virginia

• WEST VIRGINIA TRAIL TABLE
• Harpers Ferry and Split Rock
• Devils Racecourse
• Bears Den Rocks and Lookout Point
• Compton Gap to Compton Peak
• Marys Rock
• Hawksbill Loop
• Lewis Spring Falls and Blackrock
• Bearfence Mountain Loop
• Blackrock
• Bear Den Mountain
• Mill Creek
• Humpback Rocks
• Hanging Rock
• Brown Mountain Creek
• Bluff Mountain
• Fullers Rocks and Big Rocky Row
• Apple Orchard Mountain and The Guillotine
• Hay Rock
• Tinker Cliffs
• McAfee Knob
• Wind Rock
• Angels Rest and Pearis Mountain
• Dismal Creek Falls
• Garden Mountain
• Chestnut Knob
• Comers Creek Falls
• Rhododendron Gap
• Mount Rogers
• Buzzard Rock
• Straight Mountain and the Virginia Creeper Trail

Tennessee and North Carolina

• TENNESSEE AND NORTH CAROLINA TRAIL TABLE
• Iron Mountain
• Laurel Fork Gorge and Falls
• Dennis Cove Loop
• Grassy Ridge
• Roan Mountain
• Little Rock Knob
• Cliff Ridge
• Big Bald
• White Rocks Cliffs, Blackstack Cliffs, and Big Firescald Knob
• Lovers Leap Rock
• Max Patch
• Charlies Bunion
• Clingmans Dome and Mount Collins
• Rocky Top
• Shuckstack
• Wesser Bald
• Siler Bald
• Standing Indian Mountain
• Ravenrock Ridge

Georgia

• GEORGIA TRAIL TABLE
• Tray Mountain
• Source of the Chattahoochee
• Wolf Laurel Top Mountain
• Blood Mountain
• Springer Mountain and Three Forks Loop
• Springer Mountain

Appendix: Trail-Maintenance Clubs

Index

About the Authors

About the Appalachian Trail Conservancy

Editorial Reviews

Ideal for those who want to experience the AT’s best in short bursts.”
—David Miller, Library Journal

From the Publisher