8 Follow the footpath (look out for the little yellow arrows on posts) until you cross Sparrowhall bridge.
Just beyond the elk, the wildflower-studded footpath tops out on high, windswept bluffs with superb vistas.
From the network of footpaths radiating out from the center, we chose a 2.1-mile trail that led out to a blustery cape that featured -- somewhat improbably -- a serene statue of the Virgin Mary, which has presided over this wild expanse since 1881.
The next day, our hosts pointed out the footpath along the banks of the Severn.
"This was not simply laying out a footpath and putting white blazes on some trees," said Pamela Underhill, superintendent of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, which is managed by the National Park Service and the nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conservancy, with contributions from various state and federal agencies.
Walk out Myriad footpaths wind through lovely landscape – this is hiking heaven, particularly if you plan a walk with refreshments attached.
The Quebrada de Humahuaca, a long and dramatic canyon of multi-hued and towering rock formations, makes for a memorable road trip ending at the tiny village of Iruya, where the road peters out and footpaths provide the only access into the mountains.
You'll find a footpath on the north bank of the River Alde at Slaughden; from there, head out across the marshes.
We were copying our parents, who had been beating each other up, eating each other's barbecue, chasing each other down the hacked-out footpaths to the beach, thirty years earlier, under the same sky.
A few were well proportioned but some bore ungainly, claw-ended branches that reached out over the footpath.
