Outdoors

Where Does the Cherohala Skyway Begin? Your Guide to This Scenic Drive

Everything you need to know about the Cherohala Skyway There’s a road running across the mountains connecting Tellico Plains, Tennessee to Robbinsville, North Carolina. And if you catch it on the right day, when the sky is the right blue and fluffy white clouds dot just the right places, it seems like the top of the world.  IN THIS ARTICLE

The Internet Has Rediscovered Kudzu Again – Is It a Menace or an Opportunity?

Arby’s in South Knoxville, a viral kudzu post Once thought a miracle cure for erosion, kudzu is thriving in the mountains whether we want it to or not.  We moved to Tennessee in 1990. At the time, we settled into a house in rural Blount County, not far from the Sevier County line. It was an immersive introduction to all

The Best Historic Places To Visit on Your Trip to the Smoky Mountains

A Virtual Tour of a Local’s Favorite Historic Places in the Smoky Mountains Traveling is about a lot of things. It’s about getting away from the daily grind and freeing yourself of the responsibilities that come with work. Additionally, it’s about bonding with friends and family. It’s also about seeing other parts of the country and world and absorbing cultures

The 10-Story Limestone Tunnel That’s Become a Tourist Magnet

This 850-foot-long tunnel was once called the 8th wonder of the world The irony of aging – or one of them – is that it takes time to acquire the wisdom to grasp the depth and breadth of our ignorance. I was a confident young man. Well-read and inquisitive and possessed a certain acumen for retaining and recalling that which

The Mountain Waterfall Trail that Reopened After 2 Years and Then was Damaged by Hurricane Helene

The mountain waterfall trail that reopened after 2 long years but then damaged by Hurricane Helene Catawba Falls is an easy hike with a stunning waterfall in North Carolina, and it’s open to the general public after a long hiatus though flood waters destroyed some improvements. The Appalachian Mountains of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina have a wide range

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Entrance Fees, What You Should Know

Is there a fee to enter the Great Smoky Mountains National Park? There are several reasons the nation owes the great state of Tennessee a debt of gratitude. Many of them are related to food, sports or music. We also owe a few apologies on that count, if we’re being honest. Some of them are bigger than others. Hey, the

5 Things Not to Do When Hiking in the Smoky Mountains, According to a Local

A Local Offers Tips on What Not To Do When Hiking in the Smokies There’s something primal about the great, wide places of the world. You feel it standing on a lonely shore, looking out over a great grey ocean. You feel it on the precipice of a canyon or valley, looking across a wide expanse. And you feel it

aerial view of anakeesta park in gatlinburg

5 Things Not To Do During Your Next Visit to Anakeesta

A local offers advice on mistakes to avoid to make the most of your next trip to Anakeesta It arrived one day without much fanfare, just seemingly appearing on top of the mountain. Self-billed as Gatlinburg’s “theme park”, there wasn’t a lot to do at Anakeesta that first season. However, a program of steady improvements has seen expansion nearly every

old structures in the great smoky mountains national park

This Smoky Mountain Trail Leads to Lost Ruins, Abandoned Structures

Following the trail to abandoned cabins and forgotten history in the Smokies There is an alternate history of how things might have been different if the National Park had not been created. In the decades before the park, there were a variety of groups that changed the future of the park. Logging companies – to the chagrin of naturalists campaigning

woman in front of gatlinburg sign

3 Most Non-Touristy Things to Do in Gatlinburg

Want to explore Gatlinburg the way the locals do? Here are three suggestions When I was young, my wife Leslie and I were lucky enough to go to France and England a couple of times. We’d go in late March and early April and hope to catch an unseasonably warm week. We were lucky more than we weren’t. But warm