About Danny

No place is too far to walk if you have the time.

I’m a hiker, hike leader and outdoor writer. I’ve been walking since my early twenties, and that’s a long time ago.

My twitter handle is @dannyhiker.

I walked Le Chemin de St. Jacques in
2013, the Camino del Norte in 2017 and the Camino Frances in 2018.

Before that , I walked the Mountains-to-Sea Trail Across North Carolina, 1,000 miles through the state and  completed the trail in 2011.

I am an avid hiker, an active member of the Carolina Mountain Club (CMC) and a life member of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

I have hiked the whole Appalachian Trail and completed the South Beyond 6,000, 40 mountains over 6,000 foot mountains in the Southern Appalachians.

I finished all the trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, over 800 miles. The club that gives out the patch and the recognition is the 900 miler club.

I lead day hikes for Carolina Mountain Club and Friends of the Smokies. I have led day hikes, week-end trips, and long vacation trips for the Appalachian Mountain Club. These include excursions to the Smokies, Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, Mt. Greylock in Massachussetts and several trips to Colorado and the Canadian Rockies. I have hiked internationally, including Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

HIgh Falls in Ice

High Falls in Ice

My Writing Life
When I’m not hiking, I write about the outdoors. My latest book, DuPont Forest: a History, published by The History Press, is now out – in September, 2020.

My book, Hiking the Carolina Mountains was published in April 2007. My second guidebook, Hiking North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains came out in April 2009. My next book was The Mountains-to-Sea Trail Across North Carolina published by The History Press in 2013.
Forests, Alligators, Battlefields: My Journey through the National Parks of the South, was my personal contribution to the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016. 

My Previous Life
In my previous life, I was in computer science, way before computing was cool. I was a software developer for half my career and a college professor teaching computer science at Kean University in New Jersey the second half.

I have a slide show on North Carolina’s hiking heritage, which I can customize for your group. You can contact me directly:

Danny Bernstein, Asheville, NC

dannyhiker  [at] gmail [dot] com