Soft-spoken ranger Rick Ryan stood near the edge of a precipice 100 feet above Clear Creek and said this: “Parks are great places where we can go to find ourselves …
Green Clean: Seeking ‘Shinrin-Yoku’ on the Boogerman Trail
Reeking of the usual quiet desperation, I needed a cleansing session of forest-bathing, or shinrin-yoku—a kind of wellness therapy researched by the Japanese for over 30 years, reputed to prevent …
Hiking the Smoke Ring Trail Around the GSMNP
“It won’t rain on me,” said Travis “Shepherd” Hall, the long-distance hiker who was descending the Smokies’ Chestnut Top Trail with me last Friday afternoon. Hall, who hiked the Appalachian …
Seeking Just Enough Adversity at Abrams Creek Campground
When I asked biologist Drew Crain and his son Jared, 19, what constitutes the ideal camping experience, Drew said good food—and Jared, who first said there was no ideal, added …
Conservation Fisheries Reintroduces Endangered Species to Local Rivers
Steve Scarborough showed me the exact spot on his property where I could take a step from the Tennessee Valley onto the Cumberland Plateau. On one side of us was …