Barry Holloway

Box Turtle (marked with a green circle) and Tall Oaks (marked with a blue square) are part of the Morgan Trail system which both start and end at the same location. The 2.5 mile Box Turtle is rated as a beginner trail with smooth flow and easy climbs and descents. Tall Oaks, at 3.5 miles, is intermediate because of rooty sections, slightly steeper climbs, and a few small rock gardens and logs t...

Morel Ravine (marked with a red square) and Little West Virginia (marked with a black diamond and red square) are part of the Morgan Trail system which are both reached by riding the Tall Oaks (blue square) trail.Enter Pocahontas State Park by turning onto State Park Road, from Route 655, Beach Road. Beyond the entrance station, proceed straight for over a mile to the first left for the Heritag...

Lakeview I, II, and III are rated intermediate single track mountain bike trails with continuous descents and climbs, great flow, tight turns, rooty sections, a few logs, and some rocky areas. Because the trails are stacked loops, you can ride only one or all three. Riding all and the connector trail totals 12.5 miles with an elevation gain of 850 feet. Elevations along the entire route range f...

Though the legend sounds far more exciting, the formation is actually the hardened lava plug of an ancient volcano. After the volcano eroded away, the plug is all that remains. The troll’s name, Hvítserkur, translates to “white shirt”. During summer, many seagulls and fulmars nest upon the formation, their excrement and the natural light gray splotches on the rock led to the name. So there you ...

Austria’s Zillertal Valley is a spectacular region of the Alps offering a plethora of hiking options. Locals as well as tourism hosts overwhelmingly recommended Olpererhütte! From Mayrhofen, a public transit bus delivers hikers directly to the trailhead. Mayrhofen is a great village to use as home base for a few days, and it’s only 1 1/2 hours, by train, from Innsbruck, 3 from Salzburg. Catch t...

From the beautiful colonial city of Cuenca, Ecuador’s third largest city and a Unesco World Heritage Site, it’s an easy bus or taxi ride to Parque Nacional Cajas (Cajas National Park). There are many hiking options, but for a short day hike, the San Luis trail provides a moderately strenuous circuit hike through lake dotted grasslands to the summit of Cerro San Luis at 4,240 meters (13,910 feet...

The easier drive to the Silver Creek / Grizzly Gulch trailhead is reached by traveling south from Lake City and turning right onto County Road 30. Although parts can be rough and the shelf road around the base of Sunshine Peak may cause a tighter grip on the steering wheel, in dry conditions a high clearance 2WD vehicle should be able to make it. Approaching from the west from Silverton and ove...

To view this waterfall, hiking is not necessarily involved since the top of it is next to a small parking area along CR-633. If you feel like scrambling and bushwhacking, it’s possible to make your way down either side to small pools and cascades with a total drop of about 100 feet. The terrain is steep; you’ll want to carefully consider your route. I wouldn’t recommend children going any furth...

After driving road 711 clockwise from Hvammstangi around the Vatnsnes Peninsula and stopping to visit Hvítserkur, I had to decide whether to continue straight on 711 or turn left onto 717. Since both led to the Ring Road, either was suitable. Maybe because it looked as if 717 might pass closer to a lone peak in the valley ahead, I turned left. It’s a great way to travel, spot something interest...