Mount Rogers National Recreation Area Guidebook: A Complete Resource For Outdoor Enthusiasts Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
Encompassing more than 140,000 acres of scenic beauty in southwestern Virginia, the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area offers outdoor enthusiasts a myriad of activities, from hiking, camping, and fishing to horseback riding, picnicking, swimming, tour driving, and biking. In the only comprehensive guidebook for this region, now newly updated, Johnny Molloy covers all of these activities and more, providing visitors with everything they need, including detailed maps, to enjoy the entire Mount Rogers area-one of the true jewels of Southern Appalachia. Molloy details the more than 430 miles of marked and maintained trails that criss-cross the Mount Rogers NRA and nearby Grayson Highlands State Park. Organized both by type, such as long trails and rail trails, and the areas they cover, including West Side, Central Area, Far East, and High Country, the trail descriptions include comprehensive, narratives of each hike, noting the various trail junctions, stream crossings, and trailside features with their distances from the trailhead. With each trail summary is an information box that offers quick access to such pertinent data as trail type (foot, horse, and/or bike), difficulty, length, degree of use, trail connections, and highlights. Complementing the sections on the extensive trail system are chapters on many other recreational options. Anglers will find lists of the best streams and tips for both fly and spin-cast fishing. For those seeking a way to cool off after a mountain excursion, the book locates the area's favorite swimming holes. Molloy also reveals the best roads from which to view the gorgeous scenery and wildlife of the Mount Rogers area. Rounding out the guidebook is information on national forest and state park campgrounds, picnic areas, and accommodations and services in nearby towns, including motels, bed-and-breakfasts, outfitters, and stores.
Paperback: 280 pages
Publisher: Univ Tennessee Press; 2 edition (November 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1572336285
ISBN-13: 978-1572336285
Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.7 x 8.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #360,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #55 in Books > Science & Math > Nature & Ecology > Mountains #433 in Books > Travel > United States > South > South Atlantic #4105 in Books > Science & Math > Earth Sciences
I've used Johnny Molloy's books in the past, finding they offered information I couldn't have gotten in any other way, unless I were local. Here is another book worth getting for serious hikers.This book comes about as close to full information on the various possibilities in a natural area that could be asked.There is:1) fairly detailed description of a very large number of trails (I'm in no position to say "all"), including the Appalachian Trail. Access info to the trailhead is given;2) suggested loops, always appreciated (though I personally have come to appreciate "out-and-back" in these latter days; I'm slower, more appreciative, and, perhaps, more likely to have forgotten what I've seen a couple of hours back),3) biking loops,3) horse trails,4) fishing areas,5) swimming holes,6) scenic drives,7) picnic areas,8) campgrounds, horse camps, cabins, B&B, cottages, and hostels.I am a camper, and find that hiking books frequently don't include campgrounds, useful information for someone who is cheap* and likes to get going early. I'm not a bicyclist, but this is a big biking area (bicycle rental appears to be a major part of the local economy) and visitors will understand why after just a brief visit to the area.The book was published in 2008. I don't know if an update is in order.A single substantive criticism, in point of usability: maps are included, but they are schematic. I would prefer topographic maps. It would be helpful, as well, especially in view of the lack of topos, if altitude change were given. I don't know if there is a problem with permissions for USGS products these days. Some books of this type reproduce them, some don't. They are always the best hiking aid, at least when the trail route is correct. So, I recommend acquiring the Nat'l Geographic Trails Illustrated map to use with this book, or, perhaps, a comparable GPS product. If I lived in the area I would simply buy all the USGS quadrangles.Less substantive, because it presumably would not necessarily apply to all copies: my copy lacked an index. The index is listed in the contents, but just wasn't there. Since the descriptions are descriptions of trails, not destinations, the index is needed to make the book easily usable.*A private outfit called CAIFA runs m o s t of the campgrounds established by the US Forest Service. As of this writing, they are expensive: $22 a night, versus $14 for those still operated directly by the USFS.
Some areas of nature just have so much to offer that it can be overwhelming to enjoy it all. Now in an updated and expanded second edition, "Mount Rogers: National Recreation Area Guidebook" is a complete and comprehensive resource for the Mount Rogers region in Southern Appalachia and everything the area can offer its travelers. Molloy loves the region and wants other to develop an appreciation for it as well, and his book succeeds at this aim very well. "Mount Rogers" is a fine travel manual, and is sure to give outdoors lovers a new destination to consider.
Extremely helpful, especially with trail locations.
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