Recreation & Gardening
Featured
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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
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Tiny Spirit in the Sky
If you want to see hummingbirds, the Discover Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, is a good place to start. These tiny winged creatures are delightful to spot as the hover effortlessly at a feeder. Read more
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
Holly Kays photo
Streams, Salamanders, and a Celebration of Childhood
It was a hot, humid summer afternoon, and I was out for some fun with my 11-year-old buddy Emily. And for some reason, I’d chosen one of the steepest hikes Western North Carolina has to offer as the day’s adventure. Read more
Aug 1, 2020
On the Trail in the Smokies
Although rarely ridiculously hot, late summer in the lower elevations of Great Smoky Mountains National Park can be awfully muggy and buggy. But not to worry if you’re a hiker—cooler hiking options abound in the park’s higher elevations. Read more
Aug 1, 2020
Bugs That Harm, Bugs That Help
While gardens are in many respects a reflection of their gardener, they are in no way cut off from the surrounding environment. It isn’t long before herds of aphids are clinging to your prized tender shoots. Read more
Aug 1, 2020
Jim Renfro/NPS photo
A Conversation with the Smokies’ Air Specialist
Jim Renfro has been at Great Smoky Mountains National Park since coming on as a volunteer in 1984, and a lot has changed in those 36 years. Visitation has exploded, elk have returned and wildfire has forever altered the iconic Chimney Tops. Read more
Aug 1, 2020
Gary Peeples photo
Thankful for the French Broad River
The French Broad confounds us with its direction, upsetting our assumed ideas that north is up and somehow higher than south or downward. The French Broad proper starts near Rosman as the four forks of its headwaters converge to begin its journey. Read more
Aug 1, 2020
