Spanning the border between Virginia and North Carolina, the Blue Ridge Parkway is the most heavily visited unit of the National Park system. These short, easy hikes will entice the more than twenty million annual visitors to stretch their legs and hit the trail. At-a-glance information and maps will help readers determine which hikes are the best for them.
My goal is to write guide books that engage readers as much as the articles I publish in national magazines and newspapers (some have won awards from the Society of American Travel Writers and North American Travel Journalists Association).
Check out a winter 2011 article and video about Mount Mitchell:
http://www.wncmagazine.com/feature/outdoors/life_at_the_top
"Hiking North Carolina," is the bestselling statewide trail guide and the newest printing includes many updates. "Hiking the Blue Ridge Parkway" and "Best Easy Day Hikes Blue Ridge Parkway" are bestsellers, both just revised and expanded in 2010. And the new "Best Easy Day Hikes Great Smoky Mountains National Park" is one of only four books in the popular "Best Easy" series to be bundled with a National Geographic/Trails Illustrated map (of the Great Smokies, at a great price!).
I'm a writer and photojournalist, but part of what makes my books different is that I'm a trail professional, too. Trail managing agencies have adopted trail suggestions recommended in my books. I founded the trail program at Grandfather Mountain, designed and built new trails, and orchestrated backcountry research that helped the mountain become the world's only privately-owned Biosphere Reserve (and now a state park). During the completion of the Blue Ridge Parkway at Grandfather, I helped create the trail network that's in place today.
The professional trail builder/manager part of my life isn't past. I was just named the task force leader for the Mountains-to-Sea Trail along Grandfather Mountain's Tanawha Trail to Blowing Rock, NC. I'll be teaching trail building workshops for the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in 2011 (www.ncmst.org/).
Writing books that help people find outdoor adventure gives me the same satisfaction I get designing and building new trails, or just advising hikers I used to meet in the Grandfather backcountry. That's why my books' trail descriptions explore an entire area, recommend a range of hikes, and include history, ecology, climate, and culture.
My passion for sharing the outdoors is why I'm especially honored when someone buys one of my guides, perhaps at a signing, and asks me to sign it for someone they love and want to encourage to get out on the trail, to get fit--and enjoy nature with the gift-giver!
As a longtime photojournalist, I know photos impart a true sense of place, and most of my books include a lot. My pictures have appeared in Backpacker and Outside. I've photographed European ski areas for "SKI Magazine," had full-page photo spreads in "USA Today." And I'm a bona-fide map fanatic. My books have plentiful, accurate maps.
Along the way I've been a founding editor of "The Mountain Times" in Boone, mountain columnist for "The Charlotte Observer," and until 2009, the longtime editor-in-chief of United Airlines' "Hemispheres," the United States' most award-winning inflight magazine (named "World's Best inflight" in 2006).
Today, I'm expanding my list of books. Expect an upcoming revision of "Southern Snow: The Winter Guide to Dixie" (it's been called a "cult classic"). Please troll around on Amazon for the latest. And check out my Web site--www.randyjohnsonbooks.com--to read many published articles, view my trail videos, and a schedule of presentations.
I hope you'll consider my guides. Here's wishing you the kind of hiking experiences that inspire me to write them!
