Photo Essay • Landscape

The mountains were his masters. They rimmed in life. They were the cup of reality, beyond growth, beyond struggle and death. They were his absolute unity in the midst of eternal change.

—Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel

This edition of Smoky Mountain Living looks to the landscape for inspiration. Here our readers share what they have seen among the streams and trees and peaks.

A lone peak of high point is a natural focal point in the landscape, something by which both travelers and local orient themselves. In the continuum of landscape, mountains are discontinuity—culminating in high points, natural barriers, unearthly earth.

—Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking

Our upcoming October/November edition will be dedicated to exploring our fears. Have you conquered your fears of heights by climbing a mountain peak or learning to swim in a mountain lake? Have you spent a night in the woods telling ghost stories or ventured deep underground in a cave? Send your story of overcoming your fear and an accompanying image to photos@smliv.com by August 13, 2014.