A fantastic loop through the George Washington National Forest in Virginia.

From the TH for Turkey Pen trail, you will follow a jeep trail for about 1.5 miles, and then take a left, crossing a small stream onto the Mills Creek trail. For the next 9 miles or so the trail is mostly a single track climb. A lot of the climbing is easily runnable and almost flat. As you approach the Slacks trail and Bald Mountain you really start to climb, with nearly 1000 ft of gain in the last 1.5 miles.

Submitted by Steve Auch (with photos by Steve Auch):

Centered in the middle of the Berchtesgaden Alps Nationalpark in Bavaria lies the famous Königssee (King’s Lake). Surrounded by mountains with a spectacular view direct in the famous east face of Mt. Watzmann. The lake has a maximum depth of 190m and a scope of around 20k. The water is pure drinking water and since 1909 only electric-powered passenger ships are allowed.
If you want to circumnavigate the lake you have to use the hiking trails which lead over mountain passes in a continuous up and down.