Bernstein is an Appalachian Trail end-to-ender, a hike leader for the Carolina Mountain Club, and a hiking instructor at UNC-Asheville's College for Seniors. She maintains a 5-mile section of the Appalachian Trail on the Tennessee/North Carolina border for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

As a Together We Read site coordinator, she leads an annual hike related to the book chosen each year by this organization which aims to promote reading of regional literature in western North Carolina.

Bernstein's hiking experience extends far beyond the Blue Ridge mountains. She has completed numerous personal hiking challenges, including New Hampshire 4,000-footers (48 mountains over 4,000 ft. in New Hampshire), Winter Catskills (34 peaks in the New York Catskills climbed in winter), and New Zealand Great Walks (9 multi-day hikes in New Zealand). She most recently completed the Smokies 900, a challenge which involves hiking all the trails in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Danny Bernstein's writing has appeared in Appalachia, The Charlotte Observer, Blue Ridge Country, Blue Ridge Outdoors, Southern Hiker, Smoky Mountain Living, Smoky Mountain News, and Western North Carolina Woman. She is the author of Hiking the Carolina Mountains (2007) and Hiking North Carolina's Blue Ridge Heritage (2009) and lives with her husband in Asheville, NC.