2019 has come and gone, and it was an excellent year for hiking. Over the course of the year, I added 43 posts to Live and Let Hike and notched nearly 150,000 site visits (81,000 visitors). As always, the travel was diverse, spanning hikes and scenic drives from 13 states (plus the District of Columbia), …
Conventional wisdom suggests that slot canyons—narrow, slithering cuts in the sandstone—are relatively confined to the American West: Arizona, California, and Utah. Yet this is not precisely true. While different in character from its western counterparts, The Channels—also known as “The Great Channels”—in southwest Virginia meet the same usual definition of a slot: a sluice in …
Continue reading The Channels via Brumley Mountain Trail (Jefferson National Forest, VA)
Of the many hikes in the Peaks of Otter Recreation Area—part of Jefferson National Forest in central Virginia—the most popular is the Sharp Top Trail for its stunning views of the area. A second walk to consider, however, is the nearby Fallingwater Cascades Trail, which explores a shaded stream valley just off the northbound Blue …
Continue reading Fallingwater Cascades Trail (Jefferson National Forest, VA)
Viewed from the valley below, Sharp Top (3,862’) in central Virginia is an imposing peak, once thought by 19th century Virginians to be the highest point in the state. Although later surveyors found this not to be true (the honors go to Mount Rogers at 5,728’), Sharp Top remains a popular destination for hikers seeking …
Continue reading Sharp Top Trail (Jefferson National Forest, VA)
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