This Land, Your Land

A.T. Journeys, the monthly magazine of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, looks at quick opportunities to bag peaks on the AT, and all three it suggests are in North Carolina.

"ATC’s Laurie Potteiger notes that deep in the heart of the southern Appalachians are magnificent A.T. 'peak' experiences that require little more effort than turning off your vehicle’s motor, silencing your cell phone, and stretching your legs," the article says.

Potteiger visits Wayah Bald, with its "expansive views of rows and rows of other pristine mountains in the distance," Clingman’s Dome, at 6,643 feet the highest peak on the A.T., which features "a large concrete observation tower with a circular ramp that provides spectacular 360-degree views of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park," and Roan Mountain, where "flower lovers make the pilgrimage to see one of the most notable displays anywhere in world" when wild rhododendron blooms in June.

Though some of the A.T. at Roan Mountain is inaccessible most of this summer as the day use area is renovated, hikers can still access the mountain from nearby Carver’s Gap, Potteiger says.

Authorities are looking for people who know about the death of a nesting female loggerhead turtle that was hit and killed by an vehicle on the beach at Ocracoke Island last Friday night. The National Park Service says it's the first time a nesting sea turtle has been killed by an ORV at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

(Note: there's a photo of the dead turtle at the first link above. It's not pretty.)

The turtle had crawled out of the ocean and attempted to lay a nest between Ramps 70 and 72. The turtle was hit by an off-road vehicle and dragged approximately 12 feet, causing fatal injuries.

The vehicle that struck and killed the turtle is likely to have been a four-wheel drive sport utility vehicle or pick-up truck, the Park Service says.

Vehicles are prohibited on the beach from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. during turtle nesting season. Loggerhead turtles are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

If you know anything about this incident, call the Dare Community Crime Line at 252-473-3111.

If you have any thoughts about whether the National Park Service should build a free public boat ramp next to the Coast Guard station at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, you have a month to make them known to those in charge of the project.

The Park Service and the state Wildlife Resources Commission are preparing an Environmental Assessment for the proposed construction of two boat ramps, docks and approximately 40-60 parking spaces, and dredging to provide access into the Hatteras Ferry Channel, a Park Service news release says.

The ramps would be for boats that draw up to five feet of water and fit on trailers.

A 30-day "public scoping period," from June 15 to July 15, is a required part of the process to prepare an Environmental Assessment.

Comment online at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/caha. Click on “Public Boating Access Area at Hatteras” to see the related documents. Or comment by mail to: Superintendent, Outer Banks Group, 1401 National Park Drive, Manteo, NC 27954. Your comments need to be postmarked by July 15, 2010.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has received $12.2 million in additional stimulus fund money to improve hiker parking areas and resurface two roads, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported last week.

The extra money will be used to pave the Foothills Parkway-East, the Smokemont Campground and the Heintooga Ridge Road, and to create new hiker parking lots and repave the roads leading to the popular Little River and Jakes Creek Trails in the Elkmont area.

The park has received a total of $77.5 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, the newspaper said.

The Blue Ridge Parkway has initiated a Twitter account and is tweeting since earlier this month.

The Asheville Citizen-Times' Girls Gone Outdoors blog quotes the parkway's chief of maintenance and engineering, Mike Molling, who says the Parkway will send out updates on the status of openings and closures along the 469-mile scenic roadway.

It's also sending notice of public programs along the Parkway and, in an April 23 message, mentioned a couple of special visitors.

Catch the BRP's tweets at @BLUE_RDGE_PKWY.

America's 392 national parks are offering free admission as part of National Park Week, April 17 to 25.

In North Carolina, this means savings at Wright Brothers National Memorial at Manteo, which normally charges $4 for ages 16 and older. It's the only one of nine national parks in the state that charges admission.

Recreation "user fees" such as permit fees, camping fees and tour fees are not waived during the National Park Week promotion.

The Blue Ridge Parkway grew by nearly 50 acres this week when the National Park Service accepted a gift of land from the Conservation Trust for North Carolina, the Ashevile Citizen-Times reports.

The 48.7-acre Roaring Fork Headwaters tract is on the border of Alleghany and Surry counties near Milepost 220.5. It is adjacent to 201 acres conveyed by the conservation trust to the park service in 2007.

The two properties are near the 3,400-acre Saddle Mountain Wilderness Area and 1,000-acre Cumberland Knob National Recreation Area, which are both in Virginia.

Correction: We've re-set the first link to go to the news release and corrected the date of Columbus Day.

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse opens to climbers for the season next Friday, April 16, the National Park Service announced this week. The season runs through Columbus Day, October 11.

It will cost $7 - or $3.50 if you're younger than 12 or older than 65 - to climb the 248-step iron spiral stairway (below) to the top of the tallest brick lighthouse in North America at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Tickets will go on sale daily at 8:15 a.m. and climbing tours will begin at 9 a.m., allowing up to 30 people in every 10 minutes. Ticket sales close at 4:30 p.m. in the spring and fall, and at 5:30 p.m. from the Friday of Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.

"The opening day of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse will continue to be a 'fee-free' day, as it has in the past, for local community members to climb the Lighthouse," the NPS news release says.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore has set five public hearings for consideration of the draft environmental impact statement/Off-Road Vehicle Management Plan for the seashore. "The Plan/EIS will guide the management of ORV use at America’s first national seashore for the next 10 to 15 years," a news release says. The National Park Service is also developing an ORV regulation for the seashore.

The hearing schedule includes dates in Ocracoke, Buxton, Kill Devil Hill, Raleigh and Hampton, Virginia, April 26 - 29. The meetings will follow a hearing-style format, which includes a brief presentation, with time allotted for public comments.

Federal law requires an annual report on the status of the herd at Cape Lookout National Seashore, and the latest says there are 114 horses on Shackleford Banks, according to a news release. Five foals were born in 2009; one died shortly after birth. Four young horses were removed to go to adoptive homes.

Six older horses died last year. At least two foals are expected this spring.

There's more information and the contact for the full report here.