The North Carolina Legislature passed a law that now authorizes the use of full-color specialty license plates. This money is used to support several national parks in the state.

Earlier this year we told you about a flagrant act of vandalism along the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, where someone went crazy on all-terrain vehicles on the Max Patch bald along the Tennessee-North Carolina line. Now we can tell you a man has been convicted of vandalism in connection with the incident and sentenced to three months in jail.

In what has to be a surprising development, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy is once again looking for an executive director and chief executive officer, as Mark Wenger, on board for just 18 months, is leaving at the end of the month.

America’s premier hut system is 125 years old this year. Scattered for 56 miles along the Appalachian National Scenic Trail in New Hampshire, the Appalachian Mountain Club’s system of 8 huts and two major lodges are all about a day’s hike apart. “This is an AT adventure of the first order,” says Rob Burbank, of the Appalachian Mountain Club. “Imagine an opportunity to hike one of the most rugged and spectacular sections of the Appalachian Trail with just a tooth brush in your pack!”