If you’re in the publishing business for a long time, you eventually discover that stories come back around and you make connections you may have forgotten about.
Sometimes that means you have to develop new ways to write about a recurring event, and other times it means you finally get the opportunity to tell a story you meant to write years ago.
My wife, Lori, and I have always loved camping. From the time we started dating as students at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, we have been known to just throw our camping stuff in a vehicle or on our back and take to the woods.
We backpacked around Europe after college (we stayed at a lot of hostels, but we also had a tent and pitched it in campgrounds or surreptitiously in out-of-the-way spots from Greece to Finland). We kept it up when the kids came along, and thanks to Lori we became efficient car campers, keeping all our gear in a couple of huge plastic containers so we could quickly take off Friday afternoons after school and come back Sunday. Just this August we spent two weeks exploring Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and tent camped almost every night.
For close to 10 years, a group of good friends who all have children close to the same age have been spending long Labor Day weekends camping at Lake Chatuge near Hayesville, North Carolina. Jack Rabbit campground is right on the lake, there’s mountain biking and running trails nearby, and it’s just a relaxing time for parents and big fun for the kids.
A few years back during one of these trips I saw a camper like none I had ever seen. The old pop-up style campers in a metal or fiberglass box that you pull behind your car have never attracted me. Though I can appreciate being dry and off the ground and having some amenities, they were just too old school for my taste.
But this trailer was extremely modern and high-tech looking. Lori and I started a conversation with the owners, and the more we talked the more I appreciated their rig. It was a busy weekend and the couple was gone the next day, but I remembered them telling me the camper was made in Brevard, North Carolina.
Turns out, I re-discovered that camper while editing one of the features in this edition’s “Made in the Smokies” feature. Constance Richards’ piece on outdoor gear makers included a story about SylvanSport and its founder, Tom Dempsey, who also founded Liquidlogic kayak company in 2000. The GO Easy Adventure Trailers are what I saw at Lake Chatuge, and they are lightweight combinations of storage trailers and campers, able to haul all your toys and gear and convert into a sleeper at night. Owning one of those trailers just might be in my future.
Cutting-edge outdoor gear is certainly something we appreciate here at Smoky Mountain Living, but the “Made in the Smokies” feature includes several other regional companies and individuals, people creating everything from collector’s edition banjos and hammer dulcimers to unique jams and jellies.
Speaking of the outdoors, mornings the last week or so have hinted of fall, which is many people’s favorite time to explore the Smokies. One trek we recommend is to visit Wytheville, Virginia. We did a walk around this mountain town, and on page 42 you can read about its history, shops and inns. If it’s the wilderness you’re seeking, writer and outdoorsman Greg Kidd has offered up four of his favorite fall hikes, all great suggestions if you find yourself in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Finally, we make sure every single issue of Smoky Mountain Living features great stories about the people and the history of these mountains. Jim Casada’s story about Sam Hunnicutt is fascinating. Hunnicutt was born in 1880 and wrote a book about his exploits hunting and fishing in these mountains.
There’s plenty more in this issue of Smoky Mountain Living, and here’s hoping you can find in them a way to make a connection with these mountains we call home.
— Scott McLeod, publisher