Timberline Adventures Cycling & Hiking Vacations

The Heartland
Texas Hill Country • Kentucky's Bluegrass Country • Dakota Dreamin' • Wisconsin's Door County

Leelanau/Macinac Explorer • Black Hills of South Dakota • The Katy Trail

Appalachian Highlands:
Blue Ridge of North Carolina • Great Allegheny Passage/C&O Historical Trail: Pittsburgh to D.C.

     The Heartland, in perhaps its most expansive expression, can be said to embrace geographically the interior of the continental U.S., reaching from the Appalachians to the Rockies, from the Canadian border to the Gulf. Its utter vastness discourages any sweeping generalizations about its character.

    To consider the Heartland merely as a geographic distinction, though, would miss its greater significance. The Heartland well may be our nation’s geographic center, but perhaps it more aptly should be thought of as America’s spiritual core—the heart and soul of our country. The region may lack the towering snowclad mountains of the Rockies, the pounding surf of the Pacific shoreline. Instead, its beauty is more subtle, and is eloquently expressed in the rugged limestone cliffs that line the banks of the Kentucky and Missouri Rivers, the terraced cherry orchards of Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula and the remarkable sand dunes that guard Lake Michigan’s eastern shoreline, the bucolic charm of Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula, the lush grasslands of the Kentucky horse country and the rolling ranchlands of the Texas Hill Country, the friendliness of countless rural hamlets, and the charm of its lakeside communities that remain as nostalgic reminders of an earlier generation.

    Timberline has cherished our long-standing love affair with the Heartland, and our attachment to this region continues and grows with each passing season. The extensive collection of proud programs that we have planned for the Heartland reflects the utter vastness and diversity of the region.

E-Mail: timber@earthnet.net