Oh To Live On... Chigger Mountain
Va. 614 from Appalachian Trail crossing to Little Cove Mountain Trail to AT back to 614 at Jennings Creek. 7.8 miles. (Our total for the day was about 9.3, given a foolish 1.5-mile detour.)
We've been hiking in these Virginia woods a long long time no...
The Big Itch
Poison ivy is nothing to be trifled with. Years ago, I wrote a column for this magazine called “In Praise of Poison Ivy” – about how its berries keep birds alive in winters when there is little else for them to eat. Praise isn’t something I’ve been m...
Livin’ & Lovin’ Log Homes
Nick Berndt, owner of Appalachian Custom Homes in Sylva, N.C., wheels his Tundra up a winding incline to the site of a 3,700-square-foot hybrid timber frame home he’s building for a Dillsboro restaurant owner who recently moved to the area from Florida...
Smoky Mountains National Park - A Magical Place
Bill Robertson is happiest on the trail, in the Great Smokies’ backcountry, when there’s no one else around. He has hiked every trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, exploring its interior over the course of nearly two decades since moving ba...
Land Trusts: Varying Approaches to Saving Land
The Conservation Trust for North Carolina is "a land trust that focuses mostly on the Blue Ridge Parkway , although we also help the 23 other land trusts that exist all over the state," says CTNC executive director Reid Wilson. "We lobby for them, manage...
Vintage Recreations - Salvaging Old Fabrics for New Uses
When I was little, I often pretended to be a fashion designer, using colored pencils and sharpies to create fanciful and exotic dresses, handbags and jewelry like the kind I saw celebrities wearing. But I was not blessed with my grandmother’s sewing ...
New River Float: Ivanhoe to Foster Falls
The National Committee for the New River organized a float this summer from Boone, N.C. to Gauley Bridge, W.Va., where the New joins the Gauley to form the Kanawha. Tim Thornton paddled along and dropped a line whenever he found a wireless connection; th...
Elizabeth Hunter - Monarch Demos in North Carolina!
Contributing editor Elizabeth Hunter will be leading her annual monarch butterfly demonstration on September 26 at the Orchard at Altapass , Little Switzerland, N.C. The workshop will run from 1:00 to 2:30. Call 828-765-9531 for more information.
