Date: June 30, 2009
Contact: Oconaluftee Visitor Center, (828) 497-1904
Great Smoky Mountains National Park will host author Danielle "Danny" Bernstein on Tuesday, July 7 at 10 a.m. at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center. Bernstein’s newest guidebook, Hiking North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Heritage, lists 66 day hikes, ranging in length from 1 to 13 miles. On the front porch of the visitor center, Bernstein will talk about hiking within the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, an area designated by Congress for its natural, cultural, historical and recreation attributes within the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains. Bernstein will be available to sign books, which can be purchased at the center’s bookstore, and talk with visitors until 1 pm.
The book provides a full description of each hike, clear maps and detailed directions, mileage and elevation gain, trail highlights, fees and hiking regulations, and even books and movies related to each hike location. The new guide also includes three auto tours with shorter walks.
Throughout the book, Bernstein discusses the unique history of specific trails and hiking areas, from moonshining and the origins of NASCAR in Stone Mountain’s Wilkes County to Moses H. Cone’s Flat Top Manor on the Blue Ridge Parkway. She tells hikers how they can follow the path of the Overmountain Men during the Revolutionary War, visit the fragile environment of Bat Cave Preserve in Hickory Nut Gorge, and walk beneath the monumental and controversial Linn Cove Viaduct. The new book has been endorsed by the Blue Ridge Natural Heritage Area designated by Congress in 2003.
Bernstein, also author of Hiking the Carolina Mountains, is an Appalachian Trail end-to-ender and recently completed the more than 800 miles of trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She leads hikes and writes about the outdoors from her home in Asheville, N.C.
