Ihiked the Appalachian Trail on vacation. Honest. Unlike the unfortunate governor of South Carolina, I have the photos and blisters to prove it. As for the trail itself, we didn’t exactly hike the whole thing. After all, it runs for more than 2,000 miles, from Maine to Georgia, and we had only a couple of days. However, we did cover almost 20 miles on the AT on two hikes in Grayson County, some of it scrambling over rocks, some of it a pleasant walk in the woods.

COLUMBIA, S.C.—After going AWOL for seven days, Gov. Mark Sanford admitted Wednesday that he had secretly flown to Argentina to visit a woman with whom he was having an affair. Wiping away tears, he apologized to his family and gave up a national Republican Party post, but was silent on whether he would resign.

Mark Sanford hadn’t been seen since Thursday; last night his spokesman said he had gone for a hike on the Appalachian Trial, which passes through 14 states but not South Carolina.

Legally blind hiking magazine editor says it’s easier for him to lose his way, but he had the skills to survive.

A partially blind Appalachian Trail hiker used years of experience to assist in his rescue and made the most basic of errors in getting lost. “It’s just remarkable that he was able to do what he did, but he also made the same mistakes we all make,“ said Ryan Jordan, speaking of friend and hiking companion Kenneth R. Knight. Knight, 41, built a small fire in the dense Blue Ridge Mountains on Saturday that attracted fire and rescue teams that had begun an intensive ground and air search Friday.

A legally blind hiking-magazine editor who was missing along the Appalachian Trail in Virginia was found yesterday in good condition, authorities said. Kenneth Knight, 41, of Ann Arbor, Mich., was found about 5 p.m. near Snowdon, said Randy Sutton, a spokesman for the Blue Ridge Parkway. Knight was last seen several miles away last Sunday. Friends reported him missing when he failed to meet up with his hiking group and then did not take his flight home Wednesday.

More than 100 people searched into the night for a visually impaired hiking magazine editor who was missing along the Appalachian Trail. Kenneth Knight, 41, of Ann Arbor, Mich., was last seen at the shelter on Punchbowl Mountain near Buena Vista on Sunday morning, said Randy Sutton, a spokesman for the Blue Ridge Parkway. Knight was hiking a more than 60-mile section of the trail near the parkway with six friends and failed to meet up with them Tuesday, Sutton said. When he missed his flight home to Michigan on Wednesday, friends reported him missing.

More than 100 people searched yesterday for a visually impaired hiking magazine editor who was missing along the Appalachian Trail. Kenneth Knight, 41, of Ann Arbor, Mich., was last seen at the shelter on Punchbowl Mountain near Buena Vista on Sunday morning, said Randy Sutton, a spokesman for the Blue Ridge Parkway. Knight was hiking a more than 60-mile section of the trail near the parkway with six friends and failed to meet up with them Tuesday, Sutton said. When he missed his flight home to Michigan on Wednesday, friends reported him missing.

More than 100 people searched today for a visually impaired hiking magazine editor who went missing along the Appalachian Trail in Virginia.

More than 53,000 acres of the Jefferson National Forest in Southwest Virginia will be permanently protected from development under legislation that cleared Congress yesterday. The Virginia Ridge and Valley Act, authored by U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-9th , passed on a 285-140 vote and now awaits President Barack Obama’s signature. Obama is expected to sign the legislation.