Recreation+Gardening
Featured
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On the Trail in the Smokies
In 2016, coinciding with the National Park Service centennial, I completed 40-day hikes on more than 70 trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park with the ultimate goal of writing a book titled Smokies Chronicle. Read more
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Bird-Banding Program Offers Data and Delight at Tremont
You never know what you’ll find in a mist net. As they made the rounds one June morning this year, researchers at the Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont in Great Smoky Mountains National Park were surprised to find a female Kentucky warbler. Read more
Ben Anderson photo
Walking Across the Old North State
North Carolina’s wondrously diverse Mountains-to-Sea Trail zigs and zags nearly 1,200 miles, from Clingmans Dome in Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Jockey’s Ridge on the Outer Banks. It offers quite a journey across the Old North State. Read more
Aug 1, 2024
Planning for Time on the Water
Picture this: A 652-mile trail, passing through four states and dozens of cities and counties. Impressive, right? Now imagine that it’s on a river. Read more
Aug 1, 2024
A Grand Performance
As the days grow warmer and the landscape ripples with color, a growing treetop chorus drives the message home—spring is here, and new life is thriving. Read more
May 25, 2024
On the Trail in the Smokies
The scenic Cosby section of Great Smoky Mountains National Park harbors the trailheads for two extremely challenging trails: Snake Den Ridge and Low Gap (Tennessee side). It also is the jumping-off point for less strenuous paths. Read more
May 25, 2024
Smokies Life
One of the four nonprofit partners of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Smokies Life, now has a new home—The Great Smokies Welcome Center—a space to call its own that feels perfectly tailored to the organization’s mission. Read more
May 25, 2024
GSMNP Superintendent Talks Visitation, Parking Tag Program
Great Smokies Mountain National Park has seen new changes in recent years, from soaring record attendance placing it head and shoulders above the field for the most visited national park to a first-of-its-kind parking tag program. Read more
May 25, 2024
Holly Kays photo
The Best Medicine
I sat at a long table at Fontana Village’s Wildwood Grill, sinking my teeth into an enormous burger and enjoying a depth of peaceful happiness that I rarely achieve without a large dose of time in the woods like the one I’d just had. Read more
Mar 25, 2024
On the Trail in the Smokies
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is often called a hiker’s park. And it’s true that, across the seasons, hordes of hikers take to the park’s 850 miles of established trails to immerse themselves in a mix of scenery, biodiversity and human history. Read more
Mar 25, 2024
