Recreation & Gardening
Featured
On the Trail in the Smokies
Winter can be a fine time to hike in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, even for those of us who favor warmer weather. Kindly note use of the word can, as the season is often not so fine for hiking in the park. Read more
Dec 1, 2020
Beekeeping
North Carolina has a variety of state symbols that exemplify the region’s unique resources and economic history. The state insect, the honey bee, was brought into this country by European explorers in the 1600s. Read more
Dec 1, 2020
A Conversation With the Smokies’ History Sleuth
Antoine Fletcher, an anthropologist by training, has been tasked with getting the word out about scientific research in the park—and with heading up an ongoing effort to uncover long-ignored African American history in the Smokies. Read more
Dec 1, 2020
The Way Things Change
Standing in a forest in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in western North Carolina, it’s difficult to imagine anything interrupting the familiar sounds of nature. Read more
Dec 1, 2020
A Cold Night and A Warm Fire On the A.T.
I’d been feeling low-level grumpy for weeks about the fact that I’d somehow failed to fit a single backpacking trip into the fall months when an interesting message popped up on Facebook. Read more
Oct 1, 2020
Some Don’t Want to Blend In
The regal forms of butterflies and moths are often some of the most memorable visitors to a landscape. Although they tend to look quite different, both belong to the same order of insects, Lepidoptera. Read more
Oct 1, 2020
A Conversation With A Smokies Stargazer
After retiring to Swain County following successive careers in engineering and nursing, Knox Worde’s lifelong interest in science turned skyward. Worde currently serves as president of the Astronomy Club of Asheville. Read more
Oct 1, 2020
Saving Waterfalls
I fell in love with DuPont Forest only a few years after its creation. But in the year 2000, High Falls and other waterfalls and lakes were in serious danger of being part of a high-end housing development instead of public land. Read more
Oct 1, 2020