The same trails that make Virginia so popular with bicyclists also make it a hiker's heaven. The state's rails-to-trails paths along old railroad beds are both good and easy. Some 450 miles of the Appalachian Trail snake through Virginia, nearly climbing Mount Rogers and paralleling the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Skyline Drive in many places. The best backcountry trails are in Shenandoah National Park and Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, with less-traveled trails in the George Washington and Jefferson national forests.
For information and maps of the Appalachian Trail, contact the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, P.O. Box 807, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425-0807 (tel. 304/535-6331; www.atconf.org). Three good books give trail-by-trail descriptions. The Trails of Virginia: Hiking the Old Dominion, by Allen de Hart (University of North Carolina Press, 1995), is the most comprehensive guide to Virginia's trails. The Hiker's Guide to Virginia, by Randy Johnson (Falcon Press, 1992), is a slimmer, easier-to-carry volume, as is Hiking Virginia's National Forests, by Karin Wuertz-Schaeffer (Globe Pequot Press, 1994), which covers trails in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests in the Shenandoah Valley and Southwest Highlands.
