Outdoors

Off-trail in the Smokies, remembering a friend's final bushwack to what's next My feet were dangling way too far from terra firma so I death-gripped a bending piece of rhododendron. The branch stretched with increasing gravity, and my…
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An anecdote about wilderness kinship I had been trying to talk my friend, Kim, into backpacking for years. She was an avid hiker who was sufficiently fit to do the Spence Field turnaround in a day or a Leconte route via the Boulevard. I…
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Homer’s unstoppable spirit on the Triple Crown As we moved further into Virginia, the Shenandoah was in our sights. Frank Whitehead, my usual cohort, and I were ready to hit some more level ground. We were beginning to believe that the…
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Time is running out to experience the fire towers of the Smokies  There used to be 17 fire towers in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park that were utilized prior to the 1930s by the Forest Service. I know little of their…
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Finding my way through the season with wildflowers as my guide I have a dog-eared, spiral-bound book that predates me with photographs some would consider laughable nowadays. Long since pushed aside by the Google lens and phone app…
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I've had a few close calls in the mountains. But none so wild as the summer of 2013. After a heinous spate of bad luck and weather, my climbing partner Brian Moran and I were dropping down from Camp 3 on Broad Peak in the Karakoram…
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Up steep rock faces or under the intense flow of a waterfall you’ll find the unsung heroes of East Tennessee rescues Charlie Avery has logged many hours parked along Newfound Gap Road. He has a real, old-fashioned park service radio…
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Nothing tastes quite like outdoor gastronomy cooked up by friends When it comes to backcountry eating, I tend to be described as a minimalist. In order to keep weight down on a five day hike without resupply, this is a necessary…
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The search for a forgotten crossing from North Carolina to Tennessee My relationship with Ekaneetlee runs as long as the creek. Since first reading of this secret passage from North Carolina into Tennessee, I was consumed with a desire…
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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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