The southern end of the Blue Ridge Mountains, cloaked in green foliage and draped in tumbling waterfalls. The southernmost end of the Appalachian Trail. The majestic Smoky Mountains. Wind-swept coastal barrier islands, Spanish moss-draped swamps, coastal plains, and chiseled canyons.
There’s a whole lot of outdoor beauty in the South, and we’re on a mission to inspire our community to get out, get active, and explore it all.
We’re a small team of two with a shared belief that something special happens when today’s always-connected, high-stress society spends some quality time on a trail. Several hours or several days in the outdoors works wonders to melt away stress, whether it’s running a 5k, scoring a summit sunset, or waking up in a tent to the day’s first golden rays. There’s just nothing better than disconnecting from the internet and connecting back to the land that we’re so lucky to call home.
Eric Champlin is our founder, a former advertising creative director. Rob Sollie is our co-founder, a former landscape architect. We started publishing Atlanta Trails and Asheville Trails to share our favorite hikes with our friends over the past eight years. And we recently launched Trailful Outdoor Co., our shop featuring our collection of locally-printed shirts, hats, and goods, designed by our crew and inspired by our favorite Southern adventures.
Learn more about who we are and why we love doing what we do in our story.
Our mission is to deliver the absolute best and most detailed info on trails in the South. And our goal is to help our community find a great trail and get the most out of every adventure. Our sites include features that most other publishers skip: interactive trail maps, directions, elevation profiles, original photography, and detailed trail descriptions. And throughout our sites, we include really important guidance on how to Leave No Trace, what to pack for each adventure, and how to practice good trail etiquette.
To us, it’s not just about getting people out. It’s about getting them out with as much information as possible, and a mindset to help preserve and protect the places that they love.
We give back to our community whenever we can. We’ve sponsored the Atlanta BeltLine Running Series, a bunch of races and running events, and the Georgia Trail Summit. We donate a percentage our earnings each year to Leave No Trace. We donate our time to trail-related non-profits and advocacy organizations. We encourage our readers to support organizations like the Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway and give back through trail cleanups and volunteer organizations. And we’re only getting started.
Our community fuels our passion.
There’s a fairly common notion that the outdoor culture isn’t strong in the South, and that the outdoor community is all about the West Coast. We don’t believe that misconception, at all. To our community, our forests and mountains and rivers and coastlines are not only local and easily accessible. They’re also remarkably beautiful.
We publish three digital outdoor magazines, with a total combined annual readership of over 1.5 million. (That’s more than 6 million page views each year.) And on social media, our communities total nearly 200,000. We’re working hard to grow our community every day. Why? We’ve got a serious passion for the outdoors, and want to share that passion with our growing community, every chance we get.
Let’s chat.
Email us at hello@ashevilletrails.com.
Asheville Trails, Atlanta Trails and Trailful are published by Summit19 Studio LLC, 101 South Main Street Suite 8 #310, Hiawassee, Georgia, 30546.
Please Remember
Always leave no trace, pack out everything you pack in, and if you see trash, pick it up and pack it out.
Stay on the marked trail, tell someone where you're going, pack safety and wayfinding essentials, and don't rely on a mobile phone to find your way. Please always practice good trail etiquette. And before you go, always check the trailhead kiosk, official maps, and the park or ranger office for notices of changed routes, trail closures, safety information, and restrictions.
