Author

John Quillen 30 posts 0 comments

John is a self-described orophile whose mountain addiction has taken him across the globe in search of fresh peak experiences. After completing all the Smokies trails, he sought high points both obscure and well known. With two remaining, he hopes to become the first Tennessean to complete the global Seven Summits.

Departments

The Meigs Line

John Quillen 0
Walking in the footsteps of a forgotten expedition I was surfing through bottomless rhododendron patches on Blanket Mountain for miles. This stretch out of Elkmont, Tennessee, in the Smokies, was as off trail as it gets. My objective…
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Lightning in a Bottle

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Prior to his service as a Seabee during the Second World War, my uncle Jay was quite the prankster. I’ve oft envisioned him scouring the family farm fields on the Jefferson/Hamblen county line, glass jar in hand, filling it with any…
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Departments

Rocky Fork

John Quillen 0
A patch of heaven worth fighting for Prior to 2015, this rough patch of hill country was like many in our region, abandoned by timber barons to all but local adventurers. Fortunately, thanks to the rescue efforts of Unicoi native…
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Bolivia Bound

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We're off to the Andes! I was sick with flu-like symptoms for a week after paying $200 for a yellow fever shot. Other team members just had vivid dreams for a month. But that was not my biggest worry as we crossed the 24 hour threshold…
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The Big South Fork

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Often seen as the Smokies' little sibling, the Big South Fork rides like an emergency $20 bill in my wallet. As leaf peepers crowd the usual, high-altitude routes, I sneak off into this gorge to feast on colors that flow downstream…
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Atop Orizaba

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Summiting the Mexican Volcanoes with a Knoxville Crew Popocatepetl was blowing smoke rings like a fifties French movie star. This volcano cut a menacing triangle across the entirety of Mexico with a halo crown of billowing fumes,…
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Outdoors

Home of Giants

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Visiting the mighty before they make their final—and unplanned—departure In the 1800s, naturalist William Bartram once remarked that you could swing from limb to limb from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River without ever…
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