It's a new month and once again we have been seeing an increase in our blog traffic. One reason is our search engine traffic has picked up quite a bit since we
revamped everything back in October and
got a new address. Our other main reason is because of our fellow outdoor bloggers, our friends, our brethren. It is through you that we receive the bulk of our traffic, and we thank you all. We hope that we are sending traffic to you as well and would like to send more. So without further ado, here is a special thank you to our compatriots in the outdoor blogger realm, be sure to check them out and get a taste of their outdoor worlds.
Hendrick @ Hiking in Finland - Hendrick tells of his hiking, ultra light backpacking in Finland and provides us with gear reviews and as always a wonderful
week in review (a round up of great posts from outdoor bloggers).
Allyson @ High on LeConte - Allyson, along with her husband Chris, is the caretaker of
LeConte Lodge on top of Mount LeConte in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She shares a small snapshot of everyday life on top of the mountain.
Joe and Rebecca @ Outdoor Blogger Network - This is a directory and social network for outdoor bloggers. They also have a blog to help promote fellow outdoor bloggers that are in the directory and have gear review giveaways. If you have an outdoor blog, check them out, get listed, and join the fun.
Karl @ Live Free and Hike New Hampshire - Karl is a day hiker in, you guessed it, New Hampshire. He shares his tales of hiking in the mountains of New Hampshire, provides gear reviews, how tos and more. Additionally Karl has featured us a
guest blogger recently and for that we say thank you. Oh did I mention, he and his wife Jill are about to have a little hiker in their family. We are so excited for them and can't wait for posts about hiking with
Lylah, "The Peanut".
Owl Jones of Owl Jones.com. - Owl is a fly fisherman in Georgia. He shares his fishing tales and colorful commentary on a variety of topics and is always a "hoot", get it? Thanks Owl for all you do. He is also a moderator of the forums at the
Outdoor Blogger Network.
Mamabug @ Mamabug's Nature Photos - Mamabug loves nature, photography, and traveling. She's in Florida and shares her wonderful photography almost daily. She also like to frequent our neck of the woods and we love her for it.
Jeff @ Meanderthals - Jeff is a fellow Appalachia and provides us with trip reports from the Blue Ridge area of North Carolina and the Smokies. Check out his reports, they're very detailed and full of great information.
Greg @ Hiking Fiasco - Greg is good ole mate from Australia who loves to walk with everything in his pack for days at a time. Of course by the name of the blog you might guess that something always goes south on his walkabouts. For a good laugh definitely head over and check out some of his adventures along with his great photography. Did you know
a photo of a leaf of his was actually published?
Jim @ Husky Hiker - Brings us trail reports in the Massachusetts area and other outdoor anecdotal commentary. He's also wrote a book, "
Best Easy Day Hikes: Berkshires". Check him out and if you are in Massachusetts area pick up a
copy of his book
so you can enjoy those day hikes as well.
Dave @ Fat Man of the Mountains - What can I say, we laugh heartily while reading thee posts Dave writes. He has a great writing style and always leaves us waiting for more. He covers the Massachusetts area as well as reports of his progress on New Hampshire's 48 4,000 footers.
Jeff @ The Smoky Mountain Hiking Blog - Jeff provides with current news and happenings going on in and around Southern Appalachia, especially the Smokys and the Blue Ridge area, and more. Definitely a must add to the subscribe list.
Tom @ Two Heel Drive - Tom is always on top of things in the Piedmont area of North Carolina. A former Calfornian, Tom has made quite the place for himself in the Southern Appalachians and his blog is always a treat. Definitely full of good stuff.
Monty & Amy @ Cloud Hiking - Monty and Amy cover quite a bit of stuff. Avid hikers from the Nashville Area, they cover mountains, greenways, trails, and more. They even venture into East Tennessee from time to time and always provide great trail reports everywhere they travel.
Steven @ My Life Outdoors - Steven is down in Texas where everything is Big. Even his trips are big. He provides us with the latest news in the park in Texas and reports from his trips that span from Louisiana to Colorado. From hiking, to kayaking, to skiing, Steven does it all. He also has some pretty great give-a-aways from time to time too.
The Appalachia Irishman is from our neck of the woods and loves to hike House Mountain. That's not all though, he gets out to our other area parks too. Drop in check out his blog and tell him Tim and Robin sent you.
Brian Green @ Brian's Backpacking Blog - Brian is another outdoor blogger from the North Carolina area. Brian shares his knowledge, trials, and tribulations with becoming an Ultralight Backpacker. Additionally, he gives plenty of gear reviews, trip reports and more. Oh and he also has some great give-a-ways from time to time as well.
Jason @ Extreme Adventure News - Jason always has the latest going ons around the outdoor/adventure world. Constantly updated with worthy news items for the adrenaline junkies or plain ol' outdoor lovers.
Tammy @ Finger Lakes Trail Mix - Tammy has a passion for the outdoors and photography and displays both proudly with her thorough trail reports from New York's Finger Lakes area.
Craig and Gang @ Outcasts Hike Again - A group of firefighters from the Middle Tennessee area, always out backpacking it when not on duty. Craig and the gang provide with great trip reports from all over the Middle and East Tennessee area and sometimes Kentucky.
And finally,
Jenni @ Your Outdoor Family - From the Chattanooga area Jenni provide wonderful insights and commentary about enjoying the outdoors with her family. She's a pretty busy gal so posts are spaced out quite a bit, but you can guarantee when one comes out, it's always worth the read.
There you have it. All our outdoor companions who've helped make Appalachia & Beyond what it is and helped provide the traffic we receive and for that, thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. Be sure to check them all out, there's a little something for everyone.
Happy Trails,
Tim and Robin
P.S. If you have us linked on your blog and you don't see your blog linked here send us an email @ appalachiaandbeyond (at) gmail (dot) com. We'll be more than happy to list you on our links. Additionally if you are interested in a link exchange we are more than happy to do that as well so long as your blog is outdoor related.
The first was last week sometime when we received an email that we had made it on to the Top 100 camping bloggers list hosted by justbackpacksonline. It goes on to say that they are going to widdle the list over the next few weeks from 100 to 75 to 50 and so on until they arrive at the best blog and award said blog a gift card (btw, I've yet to receive any notification as to whether we've made it to the next round or not). The criteria that the site mentions for widdling down the sites is a combination of content updates, and traffic sent to their site through the award badge they've provided for your blog. I have since removed the badge but have included the image here for you to see.
It's time for another Outdoor Blog Carnival. If you remember last month several outdoor bloggers, like ourselves, submitted their idea of the perfect hike for the June Outdoor Blog Carnival which was hosted by Outdoor Vancouver. Those who submitted did a fabulous job, and I so want to hike Grandfather Mountain over in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Anyway, to take it a step further, Ross from Pure Outside (Father of the Outdoor Blog Carnival) asked if we would like to host this month's carnival. If you're reading this, then you know our answer.
Today, Tom and Atticus will be giving away a collar from Lupine Collars and Leads. All you have to do is comment on their Facebook wall how you came up with your dog's or cat's name. At some time today they will pick the winner at random. Don't delay, you don't want to miss out on this opportunity for your four-legged friend.
for your four legged trail-mate. All you have to do is post your favorite hiking picture of your four legged companion to their Facebook Wall. At noon, Tom and Atticus will Randomly select a winner. You don't have much time so don't delay.
that I was awarded as a consolation prize in a contest, we went on two nice hikes, and we've been sharing small glimpses of Robin's pregnancy along the way. Now that May has ended and we thoroughly enjoyed the Memorial Day Weekend, the heat has kicked into overdrive and summer is upon us.
You still have an opportunity to get in for a chance at a pair of Vasque Skree hiking shoes over at Outdoor Informer. You can get one entry a day for a chance to win the shoes until May 24th. So what are you waiting for? Head on over and get your entry in today and every day until the 24th.
Finally, the Outdoor Blogger Network has a fantastic Gear Review give away this week. There are two prizes up for grabs to review, a pair of Vasque Taku GTX hiking boots
along with 2 pairs of hiking socks from Goodhew. The second prize is an Eagles Nest Outfitters (ENO) Double Nest Hammock. To get in on this, you have to have an outdoors related blog that is listed in their directory. Once you are listed in the directory, you just have to comment on the gear review give away post. The only other requirement for this is if you win, you have to write a review of the gear shortly after receiving the item, post it to your blog, and send the OBN a link to the review. For more information on the gear review opportunities and requirements check out their requirements page. 
by Glacier Glove. This time around Steven has simplified it to only one entry per person, and all you need to do is get the word out about the give-a-way. You can blog about, tweet it, or post it on Facebook. Once you've done that simply go back to MyLifeOutdoors.com and leave a comment on the give-a-way post by May 10th and you are in like Flynn. When you leave your comment be sure to tell Steven how awesome he looks with those gloves on. I'm sure it will make him giggle. :P
. Because of this, Osprey was kind enough to offer one of the packs for a give-a-way. To get a chance at this sweet pack, you just need to head over to Section Hiker, and leave a comment on the give-a-way post. There's a catch though. No ordinary comment will do. Philip wants to know who your hiking mentor is/was and don't just say someone's name, but rather give some detail, a story if you will. While you are at it, tell Philip how cool I think he is that he's section hiking the AT. One of these days I might be as cool as him. ;)
Tyler at MyCampMate.com (Yes the one and only social Camp Trip Planning App for the iPhone) is giving away a camping trip up to $50. That's right a camping trip, who couldn't use one of those right about now. So here's the scoop, May is National Invite a Friend Month at MyCampMate.com and to win the camping trip, is join MyCampMate.com and invite people your friends to join/register. The first 4 people that invite and have 50 friends win a camping trip up to $50 anytime anywhere. Just let Tyler know when and where and he will get it booked for you.
and a Granite Gear Toughsack
. Every month this year they are giving away some cool stuff and the fire starter and Toughsack from Granite Gear is the special gear they are awarding for May. All you have to do is go to there site find the listing for the May give-a-way (don't worry, currently it's the third item down from the top, May 1st post) and click the register link and fill in the info on the subsequent page. While you are there hit their feedback link and let them know they have a great site and some pretty cool give-a-ways.
and free entry into Rock Creek's Scenic City Trail Marathon and 1/2 Marathon. Once you've done that, if you are feeling really ambitious, tell your friends, family and everyone else you know to do the same. I would really be most appreciative and who knows might even have a give-a-way right here. I'll definitely write up a great post about the shoes and the race experience. Who wouldn't want to read that?
