Here, we outline a multitude of gorgeous spots off the beaten path in our national forests.
This moderately strenuous hike through the mountains of eastern Tennessee follows an old logging trail to the 100-foot Big Falls on Lower Higgens Creek. Several creek crossings and caves mark the remainder of the path to Birchfield Camp Lake.
Just two miles away from busy Interstate 77, visitors to West Virginia’s Camp Creek State Park trade the hum of passing traffic for birdsong and the rushing chatter of waterfalls.
By Dana Kuhnline Bad Branch Falls near Whitesburg, Ky., was one of the first hikes I experienced when I moved to Appalachia almost 10 years ago. I happened to be chaperoning two vans full of at-risk teenagers on a weekend…