• Market: Nearly 50 million people went hiking in the U.S. in 2019, with reasons ranging from enjoyment of the outdoors to health and exercise
• According to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, an estimated 3 million people hike along the AT each year
• 51 hikes that range from easy walks on level ground to ambitious, multi-day backpacking excursions over rugged terrain; no matter a person’s level of fitness or outdoor experience, there are trips that will fit their abilities, time constraints, and quest for adventure
• Descriptions of more than 400 miles of trails, including the most popular hikes and marvelous new areas that are too often overlooked
• Interpretive information about the human and natural history of the area
• Detailed, full-color maps and photographs
• Trail information chart with key details about every featured hike
• Trails in every corner of southern Virginia—a person in the area is never more than a 30-minute drive from one of the hikes
• Meticulously accurate information—the total distance of each hike was determined by walking each trail with a surveyor’s measuring wheel
• Author is a naturalist, writer, and photographer who won a National Outdoor Book Award and the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award

Leonard M. Adkins has logged more than 20,000 miles hiking the world’s backcountry. Each hiking season finds him on some new adventure. He has hiked the entire Appalachian Trail five times; traversed the Continental Divide Trail from Canada to Mexico; followed the full Pacific Northwest Trail through Montana, Idaho, and Washington; and walked several hundred miles upon Canada’s Great Divide Trail. He has also trekked the full length of the Pyrenees High Route from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and has explored Iceland’s interior. With his wife, Laurie, he hiked West Virginia’s Allegheny Trail, the Ozark Highlands Trail in Arkansas, and the Mid-Atlantic’s Tuscarora Trail. Together, they tramped New Zealand’s Milford Track and a number of the country’s other Great Walks. And, of course, he has hiked every one of the trails in this book—along with many other pathways to determine which ones were the best to include. In addition, he walked each of these routes with a surveyor’s measuring wheel to ensure the accuracy of the mileage and the description.

Leonard is the author of more than 20 books and over 200 articles on the outdoors, nature, and travel and is the walking columnist for Blue Ridge Country magazine. His writing has received numerous awards including the National Outdoor Book Award and SATW Foundation’s Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award. He has also been a Ridge Runner and a Natural Heritage Monitor for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, helping to observe and protect rare and endangered plants, and he has been on the boards of directors of two Appalachian Trail maintaining clubs. He and his wife live in North Chesterfield, Virginia.