Smoky Mountain Living, June 2014

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING

“IDOL’S” CALEB JOHNSON | SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVALS | GALLERY GUIDE JUNE/JULY 2014

Celebrating Southern Appalachians THE

BALLOONS TAKE TO THE SKY • EDUCATING NATURAL LEADERS • THRIFTY BUSINESS • GREAT ADVENTURE COMPANIES

Forever Young Summer is made for exploration

OUTDOOR ADVENTURES

College programs make nature their classroom

ARE YOU A SCROUNGER? smliv.com

JUNE/JULY 2014 • VOL. 14 • NO. 3

Learn how to find materials to repurpose

Get High in a Hot Air Balloon Hiking With “The Hunger Games”

Contents

FEATU RE STO RIES

SUCH GREAT HEIGHTS To soar across the mountains in a hot air balloon is to experience the landscape in a way that few get to do; however, professional balloonists are ready to make their great adventure available to you.

BY PAUL CLARK

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ACADEMIC ADVENTURE

TRASH TO TREASURE

EXPEDITION LEADERS

Two universities are proving that an education becomes more wellrounded given time spent experiencing nature’s thrills.

Scroungers are on the hunt for a bargain, or better yet, somebody’s nothing to turn into something good. You can be a scrounger too.

Whether its whitewater you seek, a zipline through the trees, or a journey underground, adventure companies can make it happen.

BY ANNA OAKES

BY MARY CASEY-STURK

BY JAKE FLANNICK

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58

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WWW.SMLIV.COM

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Contents MOUNTAIN VOICES

DEPA RTME N TS

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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A young man from Asheville, N.C., finds himself in the Hollywood spotlight

MOUNTAIN MUSIC

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In summertime, the music’s thumping and the temperature’s high

OUT & ABOUT

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

One need not see the way to know where one is going

OUTDOORS

22

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Wilderness areas provide a primitive experience

MOUNTAIN LETTERS

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A woman pursued and in pursuit of more than what she has

ON THE COVER Freedom!, the portrait of a young girl on the run through a pasture.

Finalist in the Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition.

PHOTO BY AMANDA PRINCE

Good Living

CUISINE

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Food tastes better when you know from where it came

ARTS

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Textile artists turn quilting into fine works in East Tennessee

MOUNTAIN VIEWS The adventure of flying solo

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

33 72

Southern Appalachian Mountains Gallery Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 East Tennessee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Abingdon, Va. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Select Lodging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

N O R T H

C A R O L I N A

ore... m e r o l p x e

Cool events!

Come see what the fuss is all about...

We invite you to experience our charming and historic mountain communities.

Come explore, kick back and relax.

Check out

Wine & B eer Tasting!

So Many Places to Bike & Hike!

Mid June to Mid August

Friday Nights 7 - 9pm

N O R T H FOOD

S

ACCOMMODATION

C A R O L I N A

EVENTS

FESTIVALS

ATTRACTIONS

org

historichendersonville.

NER VACATION PLAN

We Invite you on a Journey to Yesterday...

Extensive Civil War Exhibit Old General Store Early Architects of the County History of the Train Arrival In Henderson County July 4, 1879

Order a FREE! Travel Planner

Explore history!

828-694-1619

1 Historic Courthouse Square, Hendersonville, NC

www.hendersoncountymuseum.com

historichendersonville.org 800.828.4244 or 828.693.9708 WWW.SMLIV.COM

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SHOP • EAT • HIKE • GOLF • EXPLORE • SHOP • EAT • HIKE

July 18-27, 2014 With Dancers and Musicians from: Taiwan, Turkey, Colombia, Russia, Romania, Trinidad, Hawaii, USA. Featuring special performances from local Appalachian and Cherokee cultures. * Tickets & Information: 877.FolkUSA | www.folkmootusa.org Paid for in part by the HCTDA, www.VisitNCSmokies.com *subject to change

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customerservice@beverly-hanks.com SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

p e rs p e ct i ve s :

FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR

I met my husband at 34 Church Street in Waynesville, N.C., in August 2003. Not that I knew it at the time. In fact, I think I didn’t even speak to him, as I was there to interview for a job I wasn’t sure I wanted. It had taken only nine months of working as a general assignment reporter at a community paper in South Carolina for me to become burned out and disillusioned with the profession. I wasn’t sure I wanted to continue to be a reporter. I wasn’t sure I wanted to move back to the mountains. Really, I wasn’t sure of anything at all.

Being unsure gave me permission to take a leap. If I liked the job, I could stay. If I didn’t, I could leave. I was young, and at that juncture, open Sarah E. Kucharski to adventure. Shortly after my interview, I was offered the job at Smoky Mountain News, accepted it, left South Carolina, moved to Maggie Valley, and took up residence at my desk in the newsroom on Sept. 23. My first assignment was to contact a local sheriff for a story about the county’s jail. I’d become adept at fraternizing with law enforcement during my days in South Carolina where it seemed that every other week brought another shooting or bank robbery or drug bust.

Little did I know, my cops chops, high-heeled boots, and stories of cruising Charleston on the back seat of a motorcycle with a purported Hell’s Angel gave me a certain je ne sais quoi among my new workmates. In particular, Travis, a quiet graphic designer who had been with the company for three years, described me as “intense and a little bit scary.”

Always up for a challenge, I decided I liked Travis; he, however, was a good Southern boy and too polite to make a move, so after a year and a half, I made mine. Nine months later we were engaged, and five months after that we were married. Our boss, who had given his nod of approval to the relationship, came to the wedding, and we, after a weekend celebration, went back to work on Monday.

Travis and I shared office space in Waynesville, and then in our company’s remote office in Sylva, and then once again in Waynesville. We were together on a seven-day-a-week basis for five years, until 2008, when a change in duties meant that I began working from home. Though many spouses cannot imagine working together, for us, the challenge came in working apart. Our work identities were the cornerstone of our relationship, and, in working from home, I began to lose touch with him and with the coworkers who were so much like our family. My transition from Smoky Mountain News to the helm of Smoky Mountain Living further emphasized my disconnect, as I no longer was a part of the weekly news cycle but instead focused on a much larger region and an altogether different production schedule. Moving onward and upward didn’t come without certain penalties.

In the years to follow, the company grew, and eventually we outgrew our office at 34 Church Street.

We hesitated to move too far from the historic downtown area and ultimately didn’t. Years of memories were sorted, donated, tossed, or packed away, and on the first weekend of May, we moved less than a block away to 144 Montgomery.

Much to my pleasure, the we includes me. I have an office of my own, located across the hall from Smoky Mountain News’ editor.

Beyond our offices is the new newsroom, beyond that, the publisher’s office, and beyond that, Travis.

Ten years after our first meeting as coworkers, we are beginning a new adventure as coworkers once again.

This edition of Smoky Mountain Living is dedicated to all adventures great and small—to the joy and discovery that’s possible when one decides to take a leap.

WWW.SMLIV.COM

Though many spouses cannot imagine working together, for us, the challenge came in working apart.

— Sarah E. Kucharski, managing editor

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p e rs p e ct ive s :

FROM OUR READERS VOL. 14 • NUMBER 3

The view from Vista Rock, located in N.C.’s Chimney Rock State Park.

MARGARET HESTER PHOTO

KUDOS FROM A FELLOW MAGAZINE VETERAN To the Editor: In a publishing world where print magazines, especially regional ones, have been hit hard, Smoky Mountain Living stands out as a reason to keep flipping pages by hand—terrific writing, lovely design, and fabulous photography.

Please know that these kudos are at facebook.com/smliv and coming from a working writer and twitter.com/smokymtnliving. someone who has held top-of-theFans have access to special masthead positions at two magazines—a promotions and giveaways including subscriptions, tickets quarterly regional and a national slick. In and more! other words, I’m snobby and picky about magazine content and production. Yours is great on all levels. I was especially happy to see you’ve sustained the venerable tradition of publishing a back page essay and the one by Matt Payne was a poignant delight.

Last year, my husband and I put North Carolina on our list of possible places for retirement. Your magazine just might have bumped the Smoky Mountain region to the top of that list.

Connect with us

Meredith Gould Baltimore, Maryland (but really a New Yorker)

Submit your letter to the editor by email at editor@smliv.com or by mail to Editor, Smoky Mountain Living, PO Box 629, Waynesville, N.C. 28786. Letters should be exclusive to Smoky Mountain Living. We do not publish open letters or third-party letters.

Letters should preferably be 150 to 175 words, should refer to the magazine in general or an article that has appeared within the past two editions. Letters must include the writer’s address and phone numbers. No attachments, please.

Smoky Mountain Living reserves the right to use material at its discretion, and we reserve the right to edit material.

We'll do our best, but due to the volume of correspondence we receive, we are unable to respond to all questions and comments.

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SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

Publisher/Editor . . . . . . . . . . . Scott McLeod editor@smliv.com General Manager . . . . . . . . . Greg Boothroyd ads@smliv.com Advertising Sales Manager . . Hylah Smalley hylah@smliv.com Managing Editor . . . . . . . Sarah E. Kucharski sarah@smliv.com Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . Travis Bumgardner travis@smliv.com Graphics . . . . . . . Micah McClure, Emily Moss Finance & Admin. . . . . . . Amanda Singletary Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Greg Boothroyd, Whitney Burton, Amanda Bradley Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scott Collier Editorial Assistant . . . . . . Glenda Kucharski Contributing Writers . . . . . . . . . . Paul Clark, Chris Cox, Jake Flannick, Joe Hooten, Jeff Minick, Anna Oakes, Susan Reinhardt, Mary Casey-Sturk Contributing Photographers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Spencer Black, Jenny Brown, Daniel Burleson, Sharon Canter, Paul Clark, Derek DiLuzio, Sarah L. Ernst, Mark Haskett, Eric Heistand, Margaret Hester, Charles Johnson, Brent McGuirt, Houck Medford, Lou Murrey, Amanda Prince, Jim Ruff, Collin Waldron, Lynn Willis Contributing Illustrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mandy Newham-Cobb Smoky Mountain Living is published bi-monthly

by SM Living LLC. Smoky Mountain Living has made every effort to insure listings and information are accurate and assumes no liability for errors or omissions.

For advertising information, contact Hylah Smalley at 866.452.2251 or hylah@smliv.com.

For editorial inquiries, contact Sarah E. Kucharski at sarah@smliv.com.

Smoky Mountain Living assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. Queries should be sent to Sarah E. Kucharski at sarah@smliv.com. ©2014. All rights reserved. No portion of this magazine may be reprinted without the express, written consent of the publisher.

Smoky Mountain Living is published bi-monthly (Dec/Jan, Feb/Mar, Apr/May, Jun/Jul, Aug/Sep, Oct/Nov) by SM Living, LLC, 144 Montgomery Street, Waynesville, NC 28786. Periodical Postage paid at Waynesville, N.C., and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: please send address changes to Smoky Mountain Living, PO Box 629, Waynesville, NC 28786.

p e rs p e ct i ve s :

ABOUT OUR WRITERS

Susan Reinhardt

is an award winning journalist, columnist, and author of five bestselling books, including her latest novel, Chimes from a Cracked Southern Belle.

Besides traveling and serving as a taxi cab and debit card to her children, she loves to eat and try new restaurants and recipes. She loves everything about Western North Carolina, from the heartbeat of the city life to roaming the outlying areas, finding charm and adventure.

Mandy Newham-Cobb

is a lefty vegetarian artist and illustrator living right outside of Philly.

Newham is the illustrator of three children’s books: “Razzmatazz!,” “‘Bullet’ Joe: A Kansas City Monarch,” and “The Little Brown Hen.” She earned her bachelor of fine arts at Florida State University and her master of fine arts in drawing at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Jake Flannick

Mary Casey-Sturk is a

freelance travel and features writer.

Her work has appeared in the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Tennessean, Smoky Mountain Living Magazine, Venice Gondolier Sun, Kentucky Explorer Magazine, Nashville Arts Magazine, examiner.com and others.

Jeff Minick

lives in Asheville, N.C., where he tutors home-educated students and writes for various publications. He is the author of two books, both self-published: “Amanda Bell,” a novel, and “Learning As I Go,” a collection of essays and reviews.

Joe Hooten was born in Macon,

Ga., but spent his formative years surfing the beaches near his home in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. He eventually found his way to Western North Carolina.

Hooten taught public middle and high school history in Hendersonville, Cary and then Raleigh for 10 years before moving back to Asheville with his wife and three young kids in 2008. Hooten writes about his all-time favorite hobby—music—for The Smoky Mountain News and Smoky Mountain Living. A second-rate guitarist, he can be found most evenings pickin’ some tunes on the back porch while enjoying the beauty of the Appalachian Mountains.

spends these days working partly as a freelance writer. It is a livelihood that has evolved over the past few years, as he has worked to live in different parts of what he considers a wonderful country. He grew up in the hills and woods of western Pennsylvania, and is now branching out in the majestic southern Appalachians . Writing is a path he has taken to try to find meaning, to try to capture the essence of a place and its people.

Chris Cox lives in the Crabtree

community of Haywood County, N.C. and has been teaching English and humanities at Southwestern Community College for 22 years. He is a graduate of Appalachian State University and the author of “Waking Up In A Cornfield,” a collection of his columns. Currently, his column appears in The Smoky Mountain News. He likes to write in the same brown chair, always while listening to the Miles Davis album “Kind of Blue” and drinking lots and lots of coffee.

WWW.SMLIV.COM

Paul Clark is a resident of

Weaverville, N.C., and has been a journalist for more than three decades.

He is currently studying photography and videography.

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p e rs p e ct ive s :

MOUNTAIN MUSINGS

Call of the wild is music to my ears Back when I was a young woman with thin thighs and frosted blonde hair, I had my share of suitors.

And if a certain relationship became serious, my father led the paramour into the poolroom, took out a cue stick, and offered him the same. As the balls broke, an explosion of cracking noises, my father paused. Once the balls had rolled to stop, my dad would look the gentleman caller dead in the eyes.

“I just want you to know something,” he’d say, bending over the green felt of the mahogany table, eyes a steely blue. “My daughter is a free spirit.

You may like her, you may love her. But you sure won’t be able to Susan Reinhardt tame her. She does what she wants to do.”

He issued this same warning to both of my husbands. If asked today, decades after Dad uttered his first alerts, they’d agree with him. My spirit tends to romp, gallop and pitterpatter along roads that often curve, wind and careen.

That doesn’t mean I don’t respect others or their boundaries and feelings. It just implies that I love adventure.

At age 4, I insisted on riding the biggest roller coaster in Myrtle Beach, despite not meeting the age and height requirements. As a woman in middle years, I still ride roller coasters, both the physical and emotional kinds.

I grew up in a small Georgia town under strict parental rule, and my spirited streak hibernated due to fear of punishment should I venture from the expectations of authority and societal norms.

I can remember the first time I did something extraordinarily bold, and the trouble I got into later. I was working as an intern for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal back in 1981. The weekend editor asked me to cover an air show, held on a warm and gorgeous Sunday afternoon. He gave few specific instructions, and being new to the reporting business, I decided to turn the experience into a story he’d never forget.

At the air show, a pilot who went by the name “Byrd,” asked if I’d like to get into his open-aired, two-seater stunt plane and

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accompany him as he did wild tricks in the air. I figured a man named Byrd ought to know something about flying. I was wearing a frilly dress as he performed loops, flew upside down, cut the engine in a series of free-falls. He would look back to see if I was OK, and other than holding down my dress, I’d give him a nod of approval. We landed and I couldn’t wait to return to the newsroom to write a first-person piece focusing on the exhilaration from flying stunts at the air show.

The next day at work, the big boss called me into the office, fussing about how due to liability and this and that, I never should have ridden in that airplane and how if something had happened, he could have been sued for every penny.

The story ran on the front page and was a stepping stone to my becoming a columnist.

My first real reporting job out of college was with the Myrtle Beach Sun News. I loved covering hurricanes, not just from the sidelines, but actually out in the raging storms, the fierce winds and torrential rains. The adrenaline pumped as I’d stand on a pier, waves swelling and crashing, a camera and notepad gripped tight in my hands.

After a couple years, being 24 and thinking a whole world awaited, I gave a two-week notice, bought a one-way ticket on a cheap airline called People Express, and made my way to St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. I’d saved some money, rented a fairly fancy tent, and decided this was where I’d live and write my “Great American Novel.”

— Lewis Caroll, “Alice in Wonderland” Back in Spartanburg, upon finding out her daughter had uprooted and left the mainland, Mama flew into a fit of tears, and Daddy just shook his head, probably poured a bourbon and shot a game of pool.

It was 1986, and the water in the Caribbean gleamed and shimmered a hue of blue I’d never seen except in gemstones.

I spent my days sunning and snorkeling, and my evenings riding the ferry to St. Thomas looking for work in the restaurants and beach bars.

A few months into this journey, I ran out of savings, couldn’t find a job, and I’d written a total of ten pages in my new novel. The time had come to admit defeat, so I called Mama from the airport and asked her to meet my plane in Columbia, S.C., later that afternoon. She never has let me forget my “adventure” to St. John, as she still calls it my “immature and irrational phase.”

I moved to Asheville the year after, beginning a new life in the mountains that I’ve yet to leave.

Maybe I’m more settled now that age has crept in, but the call of the wild still whispers while I dream. And I can still hear my father’s warnings, “You may like her, you may love her, but you sure won’t be able to tame her.”

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

“Actually, the best

gift you could have given her was a lifetime of adventures.”

81-36

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p e rs p e ct ive s :

MOUNTAIN VOICES

Caleb Johnson.

DONATED PHOTO

It’s a Wednesday night in May and the final five contestants stand in the swirl of neon lights on “American Idol’s” glitzy stage.

A long way from home

BY SUSAN REINHARDT

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Each is hoping for that shot at stardom and a record deal, a chance to leave humble roots in small towns, most of the final batch of performers being from the from the South and having worked jobs like waiting tables, playing in bars, clerking at grocery stores and farming.

The fans in Hollywood scream as popular host Ryan Seacrest, megawatt smile in place, jaunts onto the stage, introducing judges Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr. Among the four finalists competing for a record contract and a chance at lasting fame is a young man from Asheville, N.C., Caleb Johnson, 23, who has risen to Hollywood stardom.

“It’s been an amazing ride. We’re all a supportive family,” he said of the “Idol” finalists. “It’s a tough thing being an entertainer. But as long as you love it, you find peace with it.”

Though always a performer, Caleb’s love for singing is relatively new—he had never belted out a note until his junior year at Erwin High School.

“A buddy of mine had asked me to sing in his talent show,” Caleb said about his first singing experience, belting out a song by Credence Clearwater Revivial. “Everyone freaked out and said, ‘He can really sing’—the first line out of my mouth and the audience erupted. It was then I knew this is what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.”

Caleb’s parents, Tamra and David Johnson, were just as surprised as the rest of the talent show audience when their then 17-year-old son took a bass guitar and pressed his lips to a microphone.

“I remember going and sitting in the audience and the principal sitting next to me,” said David Johnson, a former football player and coach. “When Caleb came out and he started singing, everybody started going crazy.”

“Did you know your son could sing?” the principal at Erwin asked David.

“No,” David said. “I didn’t even know he could play a bass guitar.”

Tamra had never known her son to sing at home, not even in the shower. “I was really shocked,” she said.

At the end of the night, the principal looked at the Johnsons, “eye to eye,” as David recalls, and made a prediction: “Your son’s going to be on TV one day.”

Fans have come to know Caleb for what he’s brought to “American Idol” each week—his goofy humor and the uncanny ability to rock out to music’s heavy-hitting best—so it comes as little surprise that he grew up a rather rascally kid whose passion for life began as soon as he started walking.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

“Everyone freaked out and said, ‘He can really sing’—the first line out of my mouth and the audience erupted. It was then I knew this is what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.”

— Caleb Johnson on his first singing experience

Caleb’s mother, Tamra, who works as a CPA, said he used to get into trouble in elementary school for talking too much and had trouble keeping his hands to himself.

“I’d get notes home from the school,” she said. “He always had a very active imagination.

He loved books, and it would be very dramatic the way he’d read.”

Caleb loved dinosaurs, and entertained himself using towels for capes. When Caleb was 18 months old, his father, David, who works for his county’s parks and recreation department, taught him to sing all the words to the “Star Spangled Banner,” and, as a piano and guitar player, may well be the source of Caleb’s talent. Tamra’s grandfather also was musical and a member of the Parker Brothers band in the 1930s.

However, David’s first dream was to groom his son to be a football player.

“I was a college football coach until about two years ago,” he said. “He’d go to a lot of my practices and was a big kid. As a parent, you want them to fall into your footsteps.”

Caleb had other notions. He played a little baseball, took up track and tennis, and joined the drama club and chorus. He also did mission work and some volunteering at his church, Cal-

vary Baptist.

After the infamous high school talent show, Caleb found an ad on Craigslist. A band in the nearby town of Maggie Valley was seeking a lead singer. His father was apprehensive, but drove his son to the audition. The band, Rock Bottom, signed him on immediately. A year later he became a member of Elijah Hooker, playing gigs across the area.

But a freak car accident fractured Caleb’s pelvis. As he lay in the hospital recovering, he turned the television to that season’s “American Idol” finale and knew what he wanted to do next. A few months later, he and his mother flew to Austin, Texas, for him to audition in one of the show’s cattle call-style events in which thousands perform in front of producers, not the celebrity judges.

He was awarded one of the show’s passes to move on and perform in Hollywood, but he was cut in the final rounds of audition, having stopped singing in the middle of his song, “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder.

Disappointed but undaunted, he tried out again the following year, making it to the top 40, Tamra said. That year he forgot the lyrics, a fatal mistake many unseasoned performers have WWW.SMLIV.COM

made. Caleb took a year off to play gigs and record a CD with Elijah Hooker, then one day out of the blue, Caleb proposed auditioning for “Idol” again.

His father was supportive.

“You’ve been doing this a couple years now, and it might take you 15 years to get to where you want to be, or a year to do the Idol thing again,” his father, David, remembers telling him. “When you get a little bit older, you may want to try this again. You never know until you try.”

So he did, and the old cliché that the third time’s a charm proved true. He auditioned in Atlanta last fall and has been been a fan-, judge-, and media-favorite since, delivering powerhouse rock performances.

The adventure has been the stuff of which dreams are made—a room at the legendary Sunset Marquis, where the Beatles, Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones have all snagged a suite or two; meeting Bono, Grace Potter, and various movie stars; and getting his own star-quality recognition.

“It’s kind of a surreal experience,” Caleb said.

“People who you look up to know who you are.

It’s an incredible thing. I’m on the right path.”

Over the past seasons of the show, singers who either win or make the top ten, are invited on the Idol’s Summer Tour. The show has produced such stars as Kelly Clarkson (the first Idol), Carrie Underwood, Ruben Studdard, David Cook, Scotty McCreery, Phillip Phillips, Candice Glover, Chris Daughtry, Bo Bice, Fantasia, Clay Aiken, and Adam Lambert. Jennifer Hudson, who came in 7th during her time in 2004, went on to win both an Oscar and a Grammy.

Tamra used one of Caleb’s favorite words— surreal—to describe watching her son’s rise to fame.

“It’s an overwhelming sense of pride and excitement,” she said. “I’m just really excited for his future and hoping a door will open.”

But sudden fame hasn’t changed the adventurous son Tamra and David raised.

“What I see is the growth and the way he handles himself onstage,” said David, who has spent months traveling around several states, putting up flyers and banners to support his son. He’s even gotten truck drivers to post the photos that say, “Vote for Caleb” on their rigs.

“It’s incredible the impact you make on others’ lives,” Caleb said, of his experiences on the show.

“It’s inspired me and made me feel empowered.

It’s uncanny to see how it affects people.”

(Caleb’s final “American Idol” standing was yet to be determined as of publication. To check in on where he is now, visit facebook.com/ IdolCalebJohnson or americanidol.com/ contestants/caleb-johnson.)

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Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation Eric Heistand • Overlooked

Environment Category Daniel Burleson • Forest Ghosts

Landscape Sharon Canter • Lifting the Veil

People’s Choice Lynn Willis • Table Rock Fire

The Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition is a partnership among Appalachian State University’s Outdoor Programs, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation and the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts in Boone, N.C. One of the region's most prestigious photography competitions, AMPC attracts amateur and professional photographers from across the country. Selected photographs from the competition were on display at the Turchin Center through June 7. Submissions for the 12th Annual AMPC should be sent in by Nov. 21, 2014.

For rules and submission guidelines, visit appmtnphotocomp.org.

Best In Show Charles Johnson • Autumn Leaves

Flora/Fauna Sarah L. Ernst • Moss, Rocks, & Vines

Culture Lou Murrey • Boilin’ Sorghum Down

Adventure Collin Waldron • Blue Ridge Summer

Jenny Brown A Rainy Summer Weekend Adventure

Honorable Mention Derek DiLuzio • Spring Fishing

Honorable Mention Spencer Black • Love Shuffle

Honorable Mention Sarah L. Ernst • Full Steam Ahead

Eric Heistand The Disciple

Derek DiLuzio • Carolina Slick Rock

Houck Medford • South End Runner

Brent McGuirt • Sunset Climb

Honorable Mention Jim Ruff • High Country High Rider

Smoky Mountain Living’s upcoming August/September edition will be dedicated to our region's landscapes. Send your landscape images—mountains and foothills, sweeping scenics and intimate gardens—to photos@smliv.com by June 23, 2014. Submissions should be hi-resolution digital images and include information about where and when the photos were taken and by whom. Reader submitted photos are unpaid, but those selected are rewarded with publication in our nationally distributed magazine. Don’t forget to connect with us at facebook.com/smliv, smliv.com and @SmokyMtnLiving on Twitter.

d e p a r t m e n t :

MOUNTAIN MUSIC

The Blue Ridge BBQ & Music Festival (left) in Tryon, N.C., adds smokin’ hot music to the mix.

PAULA ROBERTS PHOTO

and country music over the two-day event.

This year’s performers include: The Honeycutters, The Whiskey Gentry, Randall Bramblett Band, and plenty more.

Admission: $8 adults, under 12 free

The Sounds of a North Carolina Summer he music festival season across the Southern Appalachians starts in early spring and goes full throttle all the way until the first frost. Smaller than Bonnaroo or Coachella, these fantastic music fests don’t come with the headaches of gridlock parking, midnight runs for bottled water, or random tent-hoppers who have decided they’re your new best friend, so get out for a little musical adventure and discover these hidden gems.

Doc & Rosa Lee Watson MusicFest ‘N Sugar Grove July 11-12 • Sugar Grove, N.C. musicfestnsugargrove.org Since 1997, Music Fest has been one of the most treasured festivals in North Carolina. “A celebration of Appalachian music and cultural heritage,” this music festival was named after Deep Gap’s Doc Watson, who performed at the inaugural event. Its named changed to include Rosa, Doc’s devoted wife who was in constant attendance over the history of the festival. Held at the Historic Cove Creek School, artists such as Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Chatham County Line, He Said She Said, The 23 String Band, and many more fulfill one’s bluegrass craving.

Admission: $55 for a two-day pass, $20-$25 daily

All Go West June 7 • Asheville, N.C. allgowest.com As the transitional neighborhood becomes more user friendly, West Asheville boasts plenty of note-worthy eateries, bars, brew pubs, and music halls to get any local or adventurous outof-towner excited. The ultra-cool All Go West music festival has grown in popularity over recent years. There’s a plethora of excellent homegrown food, music, and merch to enjoy as the burgeoning Haywood Road scene becomes

Folkmoot USA July 18-27 • Locations across Western North Carolina folkmootusa.org Recognized as “The State International Festival of North Carolina,” Folkmoot has drawn visitors from all over the country (and world) as the festival experience holds multi-national and cultural events featuring traditional dance and music.

Workshops, performances, and a spectacular parade are among the many highlights of this distinguished festival. There’s a chance you may see performers from Taiwan, Turkey, Trinidad,

BY JOE HOOTEN

T

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Sirens On the Mountain June 20-21 • Boone, N.C. sirensonthemountain.com Located in the beautiful highland country of North Carolina, Sirens On the Mountain music festival is a celebration of women in the arts, pairing crafters, artisans, and world-renowned musicians in a vibrant and embracing atmosphere. This two-day event consistently is one of the well-attended festivals in the Southeast.

With the artisan village and culinary arts on display, it’s easy to see why incredibly talented musicians like Rickie Lee Jones, Bettye Lavette, Michelle Malone, and Rising Appalachia would want to take part of this peaceful event.

Admission: $90 for a two-day pass, $50$60 daily

a hip street fair that’s well worth exploring.

Admission: free Blue Ridge BBQ & Music Festival June 13-14 • Tryon, N.C. blueridgebbqfestival.com This well-known barbecue showdown held at Harmon Field in charming Tryon, claims it is “one of the most popular sanctioned barbecue competitions in the United States,” so pace yourself as you stuff your belly full of amazing ‘cue because there are two stages of Americana SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

Mountain Song Festival Sept. 12-13 • Brevard, N.C., mountainsongfestival.com Hosted by the Steep Canyon Rangers, the Mountain Song Festival quickly is becoming one of the region’s most anticipated festivals.

Benefiting the Boys & Girls Club of Transylvania County, lead singer of the Rangers, Woody Platt has helped organize this festival since its inception in 2006. Past performers have included Doc Watson, David Holt, Del McCoury Band, and Steve Martin. Tickets are a hot item, so consider grabbing some before summer air starts turning cool.

Admission: $80 for a two-day pass, $40$47 daily

Colombia, and of course the local flair from esteemed Appalachian musicians and cloggers.

Admission: ticket prices vary, parade and international festival events free Mountain Dance and Folk Festival July 31-Aug. 2 • Asheville, N.C. folkheritage.org A long standing tradition, the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival dates back to 1928 when pickers of all stringed instruments would come together “along about sundown” on the first weekend of August to celebrate their mountain heritage. Expect to get in touch with Scot-Irish ancestry. This year’s performances take place at the Diana Wortham Theatre in downtown Asheville.

Admission: $55 for three-day pass, $20 nightly NC State Bluegrass Festival Aug. 14-16 • Marion, N.C., adamsandandersonbluegrass.com Nestled in the foothills just on the eastern side of the continental divide, the quaint town of Marion will hit a milestone this year as it celebrates the 40th annual bluegrass festival. Held outdoors at the Tom Johnson Camping Center, some of the best old-timey, string band, bluegrass music can be heard over this three-day event. Catch artists like Gene Watson, Jimmy Fortune, Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, and a host of other talented pickers in this family-friendly event.

Admission: $75 for a three-day pass, $30 daily

Brevard, N.C.’s, Steep Canyon Rangers host the Mountain Song Festival, a benefit for the Boys & Girls Club of Transylvania County. DAVID MCCLISTER PHOTO

Smoky Mountain Folk Festival Aug. 29-30 • Lake Junaluska, N.C. lakejunaluska.com As summer starts fading away, the Methodist community and retreat at Lake Junaluska becomes the heavenly backdrop to a unique and long-standing folk gathering. Focusing on traditional mountain music and dance, the festival features everyone from banjo players to ballad singers, bagpipers to fiddlers, as well as authentic buck dancing and square dance teams.

Admission: $125 two-night package includes lodging, food, and tickets

Brewgrass Festival Sept. 20 • Asheville, N.C., brewgrassfestival.com Even after having earned the esteemed title of “Beer City USA,” Asheville has seen a continued rise in brewing culture as craft breweries continue to pop up all the time while two major breweries are setting up shop in town (Sierra Nevada and New Belgium). It seems like beer might one day draw more visitors than the stunning Blue Ridge Mountains. Pairing nearly 50 different breweries and bluegrass music in its 17th year, the Brewgrass Festival is now the most popular and awaited festival in Asheville. Tickets always sell out and the attendance is mostly adults, so find a babysitter and a safe ride home.

Admission: $55

The Smoky Mountain Folk Festival is held annually at Lake Junaluska near Maggie Valley and Waynesville, N.C. DONATED PHOTO WWW.SMLIV.COM

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OUT & ABOUT

New film captures one man’s AT trek toward redemption

DONATED PHOTO

Bill Irwin was an angry, middle-aged man with few prospects and fewer friends. His four marriages had failed. He was an alcoholic, a five-pack-a-day smoker, a manipulator, a user, and a rare eye disease had left him blind and embittered. But the Bill who sat alone night after night drinking himself into oblivion, who refused to get a Seeing Eye dog because it might inhibit his amorous pursuits, became a hero.

In 1990, Bill, with his Seeing Eye dog Orient, became the first and only blind person to have completed the 2,168-mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine without human assistance or companionship. He had no maps, no GPS, no compass.

Though Bill passed away at age 73 in early 2014, his story is the focus of an upcoming film to begin production this September. Director Michael C. Ross has worked on feature films and television, including Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator” and ABC Studios’ “Army Wives.” Producer Paula O’Neal has more than eight years of experience producing motion pictures, working for Twentieth Century Fox/Fox 2000 and reality television.

Learn more at blindcouragethemovie.com.

EAST TENN. HISTORY FOCUS OF AUG. 16 EVENT

SHENANDOAH HONORS A FAMED DAUGHTER

The Seventh Annual East Tennessee History Fair will be held Aug. 16 in downtown Knoxville. This year’s focus will be “From the Cherokee to the Present – Celebrating Our Region’s History.”

Fair events traditionally include live music in Krutch Park and various other locations; walking tours of historic homes, Civil War sites, graveyards and museums, and other sites of relevance; craft demonstrations, book signings, genealogy activities, children’s activities, and free admission to the Museum of East Tennessee History.

For details about this year’s fair, visit easttnhistory.org.

“Becoming Patsy Cline,” on display through July 6 at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, tells the story of Virginia “Ginny” Patterson Hensley before she became music icon Patsy Cline, one of the Shenandoah Valley’s most globally recognized personalities.

Through the use of objects, clothing, and rare photographs, the exhibition will describe the singer’s family history, examine her early influences, and detail the development of her singing career.

Known by her friends and family as “Ginny,” Virginia Patterson Hensley was born on Sept. 8, 1932, in Winchester, Va. In “Becoming Patsy Cline,” visitors are

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introduced to Ginny’s mother, Hilda Patterson Hensley, and learn how Hilda’s independent spirit and devotion shaped Patsy’s character, work ethic, and success. The exhibition details the Shenandoah Valley communities where Ginny lived and describes the struggles her family endured moving from town to town while trying to emerge from poverty.

Cline began singing in amateur talent shows, and tried to become a pop singer before her transformation into a country music singer. The exhibit features key figures who contributed to Ginny’s rise to fame and details the pivotal moments that launched her career.

For more information, visitthemsv.org.

From the flatlands of Florida to the Georgia hills

DONATED PHOTO

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Georgia Department of Natural Resources – Wildlife Resources Division (GADNR), Quail Forever and Tall Timbers Research Station & Land Conservancy have partnered to enhance, promote and conserve quality habitat for northern bobwhite and to promote and support youth shooting sports programs and education.

“Only through collaborative efforts like the Florida/Georgia Quail Coalition will we be able to reach our conservation goals of more substantial habitat restoration for bobwhite quail and all species that depend on early successional habitat,” said GADNR’s Wildlife Resources Division Director Dan Forster. “Conservation and hunting go hand in hand so through supporting youth shooting sports programs and education we will complete the cycle that leads to success.”

To increase and enhance quail habitat, money for projects will be spent on frequent small-scale prescribed burning, removing oak trees, roller-chopping dense palmettos and hardwood thickets and thinning rows of planted pine trees.

The result of such management practices will create a forest and canopy that is more open, allowing sunlight to reach the forest floor, so that native grasses and weeds can grow, which provide quail food and cover from predators.

Additionally, Georgia recently reduced the price of its wildlife license plates, which provide vital funds for conserving rare and other wildlife such as gopher tortoises and swallow-tailed kites. Tags have helped acquire thousands of acres of wildlands open to Georgians, restore bobwhite quail and habitats, and enhance trout fisheries.

Learn more at georgiawildlife.com.

WWW.SMLIV.COM

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NEW MAP OUTLINES NORTH GEORGIA RECREATION AREAS

d e p a r t m e n t :

OUTDOORS

Dupont State Forest offers many scenic spots for filming locations. VISITNC.COM PHOTO

In Western North Carolina forest, film location remains a big draw More than three years after the filming of a major blockbuster in a Western North Carolina state forest, fans from across the country and abroad continue to be drawn to the region’s lush beauty.

In 2011, “The Hunger Games” was shot in part in DuPont State Recreational Forest near Brevard, N.C., and subsequently there was a two-fold increase in the number of visitors within a four-month period.

“They just got stampeded,” said Tammy Hopkins, who is leading group tours themed on “The Hunger Games” along with partner Leigh Trapp. Hopkins also serves as a liaison between the town and the film industry and Trapp has led such group tours of other major film locations in the past.

Besides exploring the forest, Hopkins and Trapp continue arranging archery and slingshot classes—weaponry skills used in the film—in nearby Brevard, about 35 miles south of Asheville. They also offer tours in and around Atlanta, the set of the latest film in the series, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.”

PROTECTED SPECIES UNDER REVIEW The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is gathering information on dozens of endangered and threatened species across the Southeast, including ones in the Southern Appalachians, as part of a long-overdue review of which ones need the most protection.

The review includes more than two-dozen species found across the region that are listed as An Appalachian elktoe mussel is tagged endangered, meaning they face extinction, to track its movements. FILE PHOTO under the Endangered Species Act. Under the law, the Fish and Wildlife Service is required to conduct such a review every five years, though it rarely meets that time frame largely as a result of limited resources, a spokeswoman for the agency said, describing the review as a “massive undertaking.”

In the Southern Appalachians, the review includes the Appalachian elktoe, a freshwater mussel largely found in shallow streams and rivers, and the painted snakecoiled forest snail, which is found mainly in southwestern Tennessee.

During the review, federal wildlife officials are expected to collect data about the species from surveys and researchers’ monitoring to measure changes in habitat and population.

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Finding the many trailheads and campgrounds stretching across the mountains of North Georgia now might involve a little less effort and perhaps fewer wrong turns with a new online map of outdoor recreation areas across the state created by the state’s Department of Natural Resources.

Besides hiking and biking trails, the map, called the Georgia Outdoors, includes state parks, public fishing areas and game lands.

In many ways, the new map underscores the state’s natural splendor—particularly true for its mountainous northern end, where a network of trails and wildlife-viewing areas abound.

The map is accessible from any computer or mobile device. Among other features, it works with GPS tracking to enable users to find nearby outdoor recreation areas, from archery ranges to historic sites.

To view the map, visit georgiaoutdoormap.com.

SPYING AN ELUSIVE MIGRATORY BIRD Birders and wildlife enthusiasts across the Southern Appalachians reported dozens of sightings earlier this year of the increasingly elusive rusty blackbird, as part of a survey meant to help biologists and conservationists understand its declining population.

The migratory bird’s feathers are a mix of silver-gray and charcoal has faced one of the most significant population drops of any of its kind in North America, decreasing by 85 to 95 percent over the past four decades.

The idea of the survey was to collect more information about the habitats and behavior of the bird, which leaves Canada each year to winter across the Eastern and Midwestern United States, including the Southern Appalachians. It gravitates toward crop fields, pecan orchards and areas of shallow water.

Despite efforts to track the medium-sized bird, the exact cause of its dwindling population remains puzzling.

That is especially true for its migration patterns, which also are considered “a big mystery,” said Judith Scarl, a conservation biologist with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies who sought to raise awareness about the survey.

“We cannot even begin to design conservation strategies to protect this species during one of the critical periods in its annual cycle,” she said.

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d e p a r t m e n t :

OUTDOORS

y

The Big East Fork, part of Shining Rock Wilderness.

MICAH MCCLURE PHOTO

Atop Shining Rock Wilderness

BY JAKE FLANNICK

T

he winds roared overhead, howling across the treetops so fiercely at times that the thought of reaching the exposed, blustery mountaintop of the Shining Rock Wilderness seemed a bit formidable and Mother Nature impossible to ignore.

The gusts were unrelenting atop the massive chunk of quartz protruding from the mountain that is visible from the Blue Ridge Parkway to the south. At this elevation, perhaps 6,000 feet or so, twisted tree limbs quivered in the turbulence.

The mostly panoramic view from the top was perhaps no more spectacular than that of any other overlook in the Southern Appalachians.

Soft blue and purple mountains undulated endlessly under sunny, blue skies, their humps resembling what some have described as the backs of sleeping dinosaurs.

But the sweeping sight of an unspoiled landscape that draws scores of nature enthusiasts each year brought the kind of wonder and fulfillment that might come only after such an ascent.

The Shining Rock Wilderness covers some 18,000 acres in the southern end of Haywood County in the Pisgah National Forest, its elevation ranging from slightly less than 3,500 feet to more than 6,000 feet. It was established in 24

For many, a walk in the woods probably is seen as just any other getaway—a chance to leave what is familiar. But on a deeper level, we have some innate desire to connect with the wild. the early 1960s under the Wilderness Act, which Congress passed for the preservation of some nine million acres of pristine federal land.

The wilderness is the largest of its kind in North Carolina, made up of a network of tributaries and trails with names like Old Butt Knob and Greasy Cove.

The Big East Fork trail, named for the streams that flow into the lower-lying Pigeon River, stretches about three and a half miles.

Cascades abound along the trail’s lower section, making it necessary to navigate across rocks or felled trees over rushing waters.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

fs.usda.gov/nfsnc.

The trail is considered among the more physically demanding, though it might prove more strenuous for those who rarely take such excursions. While its terrain flattens at times, offering some respite, much of the trail is made up of a series of steep slopes, with stretches sometimes bringing one’s knees to sharp angle above one’s waist.

Exertion was apparent among a small group of hikers along the trail. They appeared weary, leaning and sitting on logs under rays of sunlight after coming down from the mountaintop. There was little dialogue, only a few terse exchanges.

Asked how much farther to the top, one replied, “About two more miles—it’s uphill.”

The climb was a chance for reflection, musing on a number of questions, such as why people might thrust themselves into nature, sometimes traveling great distances by automobile simply to go for what some might merely consider a long walk.

For many, a walk in the woods probably is seen as just any other getaway—a chance to leave what is familiar. But on a deeper level, we have some innate desire to connect with the wild.

Whatever the reasons, reaching the top of any mountain is, of course, fulfilling, especially after climbing the side of a huge rock against what feels like gale-force winds. And any trip down feels more like a victory lap.

However, perhaps focused more on finding a perch to sit and eat—sliced apples, cheddar cheese and hard salami—my trip took an unintended detour. Eventually a landmark helped to rediscover the way home and the brief disorientation served as a not so subtle reminder of the significance of staying vigilant in the wilderness.

Unlike other federally protected land such as national forests and parks, wilderness areas bear little sign of civilization. Any wilderness is managed in a way meant to “minimize evidence of human presence,” as the U.S. Forest Service puts it. As a result, trails are unmarked and sometimes difficult to discern, leaving open the possibility of straying off course.

“We try to go for solitude,” said Jeff Owenby, the recreation program manager for the Pisgah forest, describing time spent in the wilderness as “a more primitive experience,” and perhaps a perplexing one should one’s adventure be as much in getting home as in reaching the mountain’s peak.

Vibrant. Active. FulďŹ lling.

1617 Hendersonville Rd. Asheville, NC www.deerfieldwnc.org toll free (800) 284-1531 (828) 274-1531 press 1

Plan your trip today and discover your perfect adventure!

Until you’re here …

… we’re there for you.

We know that as much as you’d like to be here, perhaps you haven’t made Western North Carolina your home — yet.

However, you can still be a part of the community with the Smoky Mountain News, the region’s free weekly covering news, events and issues that affect life here in the mountains. And when the time comes to make Western North Carolina your permanent address, or maybe to just come back and visit, our blue boxes will be waiting.

For subscription information, call 828.452.4251 or visit online every week at www.smokymountainnews.com.

144 MONTGOMERY ST. • WAYNESVILLE, NC • 629 W. MAIN ST. • SYLVA, NC

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WWW.SMLIV.COM

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MOUNTAIN LETTERS

Evocative novel recalls post-Revolutionary era

BY JEFF MINICK

T

hough “The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn” is sold as a religion/fiction/historical work, its front cover evokes a romance. Running toward the mountains, dark hair in disarray, her dress just beginning to slip from her shoulders, Tamsen is a woman sought after and seeking more.

The story begins in the years just following the Revolutionary War. Tamsen Littlejohn’s stepfather has arranged a meeting with Ambrose Kincaid, a relatively wealthy Virginia landowner. Her stepfather hopes that Kincaid and Tamsen will marry and he thus then gain Kincaid’s favor and money. When Tamsen rejects the arrangement, her stepfather confronts her, strikes and accidentally kills her mother, and tries to force Tamsen into a union with Kincaid. Tamsen escapes and flees into the wilderness, where she meets Jesse Bird, an attractive young man who was raised in the Shawnee tribe. Tamsen and Jesse seek to elude their pursuers: Kincaid, who wants to marry Tamsen; the stepfather, who wants to silence Tamsen for witnessing her mother’s killing; and other assorted characters who are convinced Jesse was the one who murdered Tamsen’s mother.

However, anyone interested in the history of our region, or the period in which the novel is set, will be drawn to the detail with which author, Lori Benton, describes her main characters and tells of events in these mountains. Though she lives in Oregon, Benton

The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn, by Lori Benton.

Waterbrook Press, 2014.

ISBN 978-0307-73140-4

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grew up in Eastern North Carolina and often visited the Appalachian mountains during her younger years. In “The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn,” she pays tribute to those visits and reminds us once again of what those who came before us endured.

For readers interested in Appalachian literature, the novel stands apart from other historical novels for several reasons. First, Benton focuses on the few years following the Revolutionary War when the people of the Tennessee region lived under two governments vying for power and land—one in North Carolina, the other centered in Franklin, Tenn. Readers unfamiliar with “The Lost State of Franklin” will find here insights into the struggles of the time as to who would govern the vast territory that today makes up Western North Carolina and the state of Tennessee.

In addition, Benton explores the tensions among different ethnic groups and classes swept up in this conflict through the white’s incursions into Shawnee and Cherokee territories, relationships among slaves and their owners, and differences between older, more established families and those earning a hardscrabble living from the land. She examines, for example, class differences between an established landowner like Kincaid and a social climber like Tamsen’s stepfather. Tamsen herself, whose mother was a former slave and whose stepfather wants to use her as a stepladder into greater wealth and prestige, illustrate these forces.

Benton also demonstrates the powerful religious faith that imbued early American settlers. Unlike some Christian fiction, “The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn” does not beat readers over the head with character’s religious views. Prayer and the practice of reading scripture are intrinsic to Tamsen, her mother, Jesse Bird, his adopted father Cade, and others. When her characters pray or seek some sort of divine assistance, their grasping for direction seems a natural outgrowth of their period and education.

However, readers may find themselves grasping to follow the first few pages of the story, and there are moments when the novel relies on a romance’s unrealistic conventions. It’s ending, for example, produces a series of coincidences that may offend some readers. (Such readers do need to remember that the number of settlers and trailblazers in these mountains involved only a few thousand people and that these people might well run into each other in their different wanderings.)

Despite these flaws, “The Pursuit of Tamsen Littlejohn” is both entertaining and instructive. It evokes the early settlers’ trials: making a living from the land, fighting various political battles, struggling against prejudice and bigotry, trying to follow certain religious precepts and standards of morality while engaged in wars of the heart and soul. Tamsen herself teaches readers to persevere through all sorts of trials to reach happiness, to expect the unexpected, to risk all that we hold dear on uncertain hopes for the future.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

When Benton’s

characters pray or seek some sort of divine assistance, their grasping for direction seems a natural outgrowth of their period and education.

23RD ANNUAL

July 17-20

Fine Art & Master Craft Festival

JULY 18-20; AUG. 15-17

85 JURIED ARTISANS REPRESENTING THEIR HANDCRAFTED MEDIUMS • D OWNTOWN B ANNER E LK

Over 200 Juried Artists Craft Demonstrations Live Regional Music

Taste of Avery JUNE 5 High Country Trolley Wine Tour JUNE 26, JULY 31, AUG. 21, SEPT. 25, OCT. 16

59th Annual Grandfather Mountain Highland Games JULY 10-13

Becky and Steve Lloyd

U.S. Cellular Center Downtown Asheville, NC Thu.-Sat.: 10am-6pm Sun.: 10am-5pm

www.craftguild.org 828-298-7928

WWW.SMLIV.COM

High Country Pet Fest JULY 25-27 Spirit of Avery AUGUST 7

800-972-2183 averycounty.com

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MOUNTAIN CUISINE

Toasts and tastes of Asheville’s finest

W

ith underground supper clubs, James Beardnominated chefs, nationally recognized distilleries, and more breweries per capita than any U.S. city, Asheville, N.C., has become a top culinary destination. This August, diners can sample all the city has to offer at the Asheville Food and Wine Festival, held Aug. 21-23.

Events will highlight the area’s top chefs, artisan food producers, craft brewers, distilleries, as well as regional and international wines. To highlight Asheville’s burgeoning craft cocktail scene, a highspirited bartenders’ brawl pits the city’s best mixologists against each other in a competition using regionally produced spirits. The following evening will be dedicated to sweets from local chocolatiers, bakers, and pâtissiers, as well as sparkling and dessert wines, beer, and specialty cocktails. The Asheville Culinary Competition finale challenges 4 of top regional chefs in an Iron Chef-style “food fight.”

For tickets and more information, visit ashevillewineandfood.com.

ASAP guide takes the guesswork out of buying local Across the Southern Appalachians tailgate farmers markets are open, restaurants are featuring local food, and roadside stands are have come to life.

To help local food lovers find and support these certified local farms and businesses—this spring and beyond—the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project has released their 2014 Local Food Guide. The guide is a core component of ASAP’s 14-year old Local Food Campaign; more than one million copies of the Local Food Guide have been distributed since 2002.

“It wasn’t that long ago that our region was home to only a handful of farmers markets or CSA farms and less than a handful of restaurants and grocers that bought and sold products from local farms,” said Charlie Jackson, ASAP’s Executive Director. “Today, things have changed dramatically.”

This year’s Local Food Guide includes more Appalachian Grown tailgate farmers market and CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) listings than ever before. The guide also includes newly opened area restaurants committed to sourcing local food, along with listings of grocers, artisan food producers, B&Bs and farm lodging, wineries, and more.

Guide listings can be found online, and print copies are available at more than 400 locations, listed on the guide page of asapconnections.org.

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MOUNTAIN CUISINE

Summer tastes fresh and spicy at DOUGH

Tortilla Soup Serves 4-6

DOUGH is a market, bakery, eatery and cooking school in Asheville, N.C. While one absolutely can get something tasty for breakfast, lunch or dinner, DOUGH’s cooking classes offer a special opportunity to get a serving of learning as well. Rather than simply watch a chef show off his or her knife skills and nibble just enough to be left truly hungry, class participants at DOUGH get hands-on experience and enough food to take home to the family, which makes the cost of $55 to $60 quite reasonable. Classes, a perfect night out for friends or family members, are relaxed and appropriate for beginner to intermediate level cooks or those who want to learn more about a specific cuisine. During a Classic Mexican Cuisine course, cooks tried their hands at making chicken tamales, tortilla soup, and salsa Mexicana with chef Matt Wyatt.

Courses in June will include grilling basics, a kid’s summer cooking camp, parent and child pizza workshop, handmade pasta, and French macaroons. A kid’s summer cooking camp also will be held in July, and a teen’s cooking bootcamp will be held in August.

DOUGH is located at 372 Merrimon Avenue, Asheville, N.C., 28801. Learn more at doughasheville.com or call 828.575.3831.

5 large ripe tomatoes or one 28 oz can of whole tomatoes, drained 1 large white onion, chopped 2 cloves of garlic, chopped ½ tsp cumin seeds, ground ¼ cup canola oil 1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced and quartered 2 cups frozen yellow corn 6 cups chicken stock juice of one lime salt and pepper to taste ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves ¼ cup crumbled queso fresco fried tortilla strips as garnish, if desired sliced avocado as garnish, if desired Broil the tomatoes in the oven until there are some burned patches, turning them a couple of times (about 5 minutes). Place the cumin, onion, tomatoes and garlic in a blender. Blend to mix but leave some texture. Heat the canola oil in a pot; when it begins to pop, add the tomato mixture from the blender to the

heated oil in one swift pour.

It will sizzle. Do not stir, but first allow the tomato mixture to darken slightly and reduce some. Add the chicken stock and corn and stir. Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the zucchini slices and cook for another two minutes. Add lime juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot and garnish with cilantro, avocado, cheese, and tortilla strips.

Salsa Mexicana 2 large tomatoes, chopped 3 tbsp green chilies, diced 2 tbsp onion, finely chopped 2 tbsp fresh cilantro leaves, chopped juice of ½ lemon or lime salt and pepper to taste Combine the tomatoes, green chilies, onion, and cilantro in a bowl. Add lemon or lime juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let stand 15 minutes before serving. Can be served chilled. Eat with corn chips.

ABINGDON, VA., CELEBRATES THE BREWER’S SPIRIT

MAGGIE VALLEY, N.C., HOSTS KCBS-SANCTIONED BBQ EVENT

The 1st Annual Hops and Howlers Craft Brew Fest will showcase more than 20 regional micro-breweries on June 14 in Abingdon, Va. Hops are a key component to the beer making process, and the howlers are a tribute to Abingdon’s former name of Wolf Hills, as well as the live music groups The Mountain and Annabelle’s Curse. Featured breweries will include Highland Brewing Company, Starr Hill, Sierra Nevada, New Belgium, Wolf Hills Brewing, and The Damascus Brewery.

Admission is limited to those age 21 and over, and each person will receive 32 tasting pours. Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 at the door, and $55 for a VIP experience that includes a commemorative glass and early entry.

For more information, visit hopsandhowlers.com.

With up to 40 cookers, the Western NC BBQ Festival “Smokin’ in the Valley” is a Kansas City BBQ Society Sanctioned event and WNC’s official barbecue competition, held July 25-26 in Maggie Valley, N.C. The festival features tastings with a local restaurant competition, pro teams, live music, arts and crafts, and activities for kids. The pro team contest consists of four KCBS categories that are required in order to qualify for the Grand Championship: poultry (chicken only), pork ribs, pork shoulder/Boston Butt, and beef brisket. The grand champion will be awarded a $2,000 prize. Optional categories include “Anything Butt Dessert” and “Anything Butt Meat.” Last year’s “Anything Butt” category winners were a pecan pie cheesecake and stuffed shrimp.

For more information, visit wncbbqfestival.org.

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PREFERRED PROPERTIES ——————————————

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George Escaravage BROKER/REALTOR

828.400.0901 gke333@gmail.com

Michael Monson BROKER/REALTOR

828.246.8900

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3 michaeljohnmonson@gmail.com

62 Church Street Waynesville, North Carolina

MARGARET HESTER PHOTO

d e p a r t m e n t :

MOUNTAIN ARTS

Piecing together a Southern quilt show

T

he American Quilter’s Society, North America’s premier presenter of international quilt shows, has chosen Chattanooga, Tenn., to be the newest host city of the AQS QuiltWeek show to be held Sept. 10-13. The AQS will meet in Chattanooga for three consecutive years.

The AQS is the largest quilting membership organization in the world. For almost 30 years, AQS has been the leading voice in quilting inspiration and advice, through a broad suite of products—magazines, books, live events, contests, workshops, online networks, patterns, fabric, and catalogs. Known for recognizing the artistry of today’s quiltmakers with the largest cash prizes in quilting, the AQS showcases today’s textile artists’ masterpieces in its celebration of the art of quilt making.

Chattanooga has earned a reputation as a year-round destination, which helped draw the AQS to town.

“We were impressed with their thriving and vibrant arts scene, museums, galleries, and all the other activities scattered throughout the city,” Executive Show Director, Bonnie Browning said.

Online registration for tickets, classes and special events at this year’s show opened in early June. For more information, visit americanquilter.com or chattanoogafun.com.

Glass art by Jan Ritter Williams. DONATED PHOTO

CREEKSIDE ARTISTS CONVERGE FOR SPRUCE PINE SHOW “Down the Creek: 13 Artists Working along Cane Creek Road” runs from June 21 to July 26 at the Toe River Arts Council’s gallery in Spruce Pine, N.C. As different as their personalities and studios is the diversity of the feature artists’ chosen mediums—from clay to glass, fiber to photography, painting to “painted” paper.

The Cane Creek area near the town of Bakersville was first settled in the late 1700’s. Since that time, the town has suffered massive flooding twice and

burned to the ground another. It’s a community that has had to rely on creativity to reinvent itself. The 13 artists featured in the “Down the Creek” illustrate just that. Featured are ceramists Gay Smith, Lisa Clague, Robbie Bell, Jann Welch, and Shaunna Lyons; glass artists Greg Fidler, Jan Ritter Williams, and Richard Ritter; painters Pauline Dials and Diane Sutherland; paper artist Ed Mundy; fiber artist Gloria Hoeppner; and photographer Mary Vogel.

For more information, visit toeriverarts.org.

ART IN THE PARK SHOWCASE RETURNS TO BLOWING ROCK Blowing Rock’s Art in the Park, a monthly May through October Saturday event, showcases handcrafted jewelry, pottery, fiber, glass, photography, painting and more from across the Southeast.

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This year’s specially featured artists by month will be clay artist Jim Spires of Wooster, Ohio, in June; fiber artist Joanna White of Mocksville, N.C., in July; jeweler Obayana Ajanaku, of Decatur, Ga., in August; basketry maker Jean Yao of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., in September, and glass artist Judson Guerard of Bakersville, N.C., in October.

Prices for objects, from a handmade postcard to a large piece of furniture, range from $5 to $5,000.

Art in the Park will be held on June 14, July 19, Aug. 16, Sept. 6 and Oct. 4. Blowing Rock also hosts free Sunday afternoon Concerts in the Park through September.

For more information, visit blowingrock.com.

Work by fiber artist Joanna White will be featured at Art in the Park in July. DONATED PHOTO

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d i re cto r y :

MOUNTAIN GALLERIES SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS FOXFIRE Foxfire’s Appalachian Museum, a 22-log-cabin village with exhibits & artifacts & a gift shop featuring The Foxfire Book series & traditional crafts & gifts, provides heritage programs for learners of all ages, sponsors The Foxfire Magazine class at RCHS, and provides scholarships to local students.

98 Foxfire Ln. • Mountain City, Ga. 706.746.5828 • www.foxfire.org

GUIDE The Southern Appalachians have a rich artistic history. As long as folks have lived in these majestic landscapes, they’ve been molding, shaping and putting together items that serve not only practical purposes but also aesthetic ones, too. From weavers to potters, painters to metalsmiths, glassblowers to woodcrafters, these artisans reflect generations of heritage and innovation.

Promoting and perpetuating this beauty are the galleries that are as unique and varied as the artists themselves.

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AROUND BACK AT ROCKY’S PLACE The Ultimate Folk Art Gallery in the South!

Representing a plethora of self-taught artists.

Best selection by artist “Cornbread” in the Universe! Established 2002.

3631 Hwy. 53 East at Etowah River Rd. Dawsonville, Ga. • 706.265.6030 aroundbackatrockysplace.com Hours: Saturday 11 to 5 & Sunday 1 to 5 DOGWOOD CRAFTERS Arts and crafts co-op featuring local artisans.

Stained glass, gourd art, handmade soaps, photography, painting, canned goods, metal work and more. Established 1976.

90 Webster St. • Dillsboro, N.C. 828.586.2248 • dogwoodcrafters.com EARTHWORKS ENVIRONMENTAL GALLERY Open for business since July of 1992! We have always focused on artists who are stewards of our beautiful planet earth, in some way or other. Hand craft artisans in so many mediums grace our collections. Artists, both regional and from around the world seem to fit together here at Earthworks.

21 North Main St. • Waynesville, N.C. 828.452.9500 • earthworksgalleries.com

GOLDEN CARP, THE Specializing in local and American watercolorists, exhibits of local and global artisans in basketry, pottery and fiber arts, and unique home accessories and fine gifts.

107 Webster St. • Dillsboro, N.C. 828 586-5477 • thegoldencarp.com HEARTWOOD GALLERY Heartwood Gallery, located in the heart of historic downtown Saluda, is a beautiful and unique collection of American Craft, featuring one of the area’s finest pottery collections, and an array of jewelry, glass, wood, fiber, metal, and garden art. Offering 100% American Craft since 1985, Heartwood displays work designed for function as well as beauty, reflecting the quality craftsmanship of our mountain region and beyond.

21 East Main St. • Saluda, N.C. heartwoodsaluda.com MAHOGANY HOUSE ART GALLERY AND STUDIOS, THE The Mahogany House Art Gallery is located in the historic area of Frog Level in downtown Waynesville, NC. Its fall away brick plaster walls, dark plank wood flooring and embossed tin ceiling tiles lend a timeless appeal and complement the treasures of art displayed within. At present, the artist studios feature an encaustic artist, acylic and oil artist, a cold wax and assemblage artist and 2 woodturners.

240 Depot St. • Waynesville, NC themahoganyhouse.com

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3 EXPLORE Southern Appalachian Galleries

Continues on Page 37

Foxfire

Museum

& Heritage Center

Folk Art Gallery in the South!

Home of the Foxfire books– our newest:

45th Anniv.

THE BEST SELECTION by artist “Cornbread� in the Universe!

Experience Southern Appalachia as recorded and documented by the students of Rabun County, GA—and shared with the world through The Foxfire Magazine and The Foxfire Book volumes. Visit the legacy they created in honor of their families and neighbors over 45+ years.

THE

Ultimate

1SR ÂŻ7EX EQÂŻ TQ

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Museum gift shop offers regional folk pottery, home-made soaps, knitted & woven textile crafts, Foxfire books and related titles on history, plant lore, skills & trades, more!

3631 HWY. 53 E.

AT ETOWAH RIVER RD.

;HRL <: [V 4V\U[HPU *P[` .( ;\YU VU[V )SHJR 9VJR 4[U 7HYR^H` 6UL TPSL \W MVSSV^ [OL IYV^U ZPNUZ [[[ JS\½VI SVK Â&#x2C6; -

DAWSONVILLE, GA 706-265-6030 aroundbackatrockysplace.com HOURS: SATURDAY 11 TO 5 & SUNDAY 1 TO 5

Hands display our personal history.

And on occasion,

they also make it.

The hands of a Cherokee artisan create history daily, from intricate beadwork and basketry to traditional masks and sculpted soapstone bowls. But how can you get your hands on it? Easy. Shop the largest home for authentic Cherokee arts and crafts anywhere.

QuallaArtsAndCrafts.com | 828.497.3103

EXPLORE

Southern Appalachian Galleries

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More than 2,000 sq. ft. of fine American crafts.

Jester Vases by Glass Artist Jane Zug

100% AMERICAN CRAFT FOR 29 YEARS 21 EAST MAIN STREET â&#x20AC;˘ SALUDA, NC

A destination in Black Mountain for over 33 years.

117 CHERRY ST BLACK MOUNTAIN, NC

828.669.5107 s e v e n s i s t e r s g a l l e r y. c o m

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EXPLORE

Southern Appalachian Galleries

HeartwoodSaluda.com

MUD DABBERS POTTERY Handmade stoneware pottery from a family of potters producing functional and contemporary designs including bowls, mugs, pitchers, dinnerware cassorole dishes, sculptures, masks, raku and Brandon Mountain Gnomes.

20767 Great Smoky Mountain Expressway (U.S. 23-74 in Balsam) 828.456.1916 • www.muddabbers.com

Open All Year

Dogwood Crafters

QUALLA ARTS & CRAFTS MUTUAL Qualla Arts & Crafts Mutual, Inc. is the nation’s oldest and foremost Native American cooperative. Since 1946, visionary Cherokee craftspeople and leaders have been preserving and promoting Cherokee crafts while strengthening tribal values and providing livelihoods by offering unique beauty to the wider world at Qualla. You can see it throughout Qualla’s beautifully redesigned artists’ gallery store, as you feel the warmth and brillliance of the basketry, pottery, weaving, carving, sculpture and other works of art that surround you.

645 Tsali Blvd. • Cherokee, N.C. 828.497.3103 • quallaartsandcrafts.com

90 Webster St. • Dillsboro, NC

(828) 586-2248 Dogwood Crafters Cooperative has been a showcase of handmade traditional mountain crafts, as well as a treasure of memorable gifts since 1976! dogwoodcrafters.com

10% OFF ENTIRE PURCHASE WITH THIS AD 82-05

SEVEN SISTERS GALLERY Discover something different at Seven Sisters Gallery, a staple in charming, historic Black Mountain since 1981. We have one of the best and broadest ceramics collections available, furniture, original artwork, jewelry, and more!

Everything is made in the USA, and much of it is local.

117 Cherry St. • Black Mtn, NC 28711 828-669-5107 • 7sistersgallery.com Mon-Sat 10-6, Sun: 12-5.

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STECOAH VALLEY CULTURAL ARTS CENTER Traditional and contemporary works: paintings, pottery, weaving, wood-turned items, glass works, photography, note cards, jewelry, soaps, quilts, books and more.

121 Schoolhouse Rd. • Robbinsville, N.C. 828.479.3364 • stecoahvalleycenter.com SUSAN MARIE DESIGNS With visionary talent and skills acquired in thirty-three years as an award-winning goldsmith, Susan Marie transforms nature’s most exceptional gemstones, diamonds and pearls into wearable contemporary elegance. As a G.I.A. Graduate Gemologist she selects the most vibrant and highest quality cut stones to create her fine jewelry.

Four Biltmore Ave. • Asheville, N.C. 828.277.1272

Continues on Page 39

“Chicken Dance” by Sarah Sneeden

“WHERE ART DANCES WITH NATURE” 98 NORTH MAI N STR EET • WAYN ESVI LLE, NC • 828.456.1940

OPEN MON.-SAT.10-5:30 • SUN.1-4 W W W.T WIGSAN DLEAVES.COM

EXPLORE

|

Southern Appalachian Galleries

F I N D US ON FACEBOOK

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Original Art Local Artists FROM

Presentations Monthly Shows in Highlands, NC & much more

VISIT US: 30 E. Main St. Franklin, NC or call 828.349.4607

82-47

15 N. Main St. • Waynesville, NC ARTIST OF THE

BLUE RIDGE

(828) 452-9284 tpennington.com 82-61

UptownGalleryOfFranklin.com

82-63

artisans gallery

The Stecoah Artisans Gallery showcases the work of more than 150 area artisans. There is a wide variety of traditional and contemporary works: paintings, pottery, weaving, wood-turned items, glass works, photography, note cards, jewelry, soaps, quilts, books and much more. You can also shop online at StecoahGallery.com Open Weekdays 10 am – 5 pm Monday thru Friday March – December

And Saturdays 10 am – 5 pm April thru October

First Friday of each Month Second Friday in July 6-9 p.m.

Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center 121 Schoolhouse Road Stecoah (Robbinsville), NC 28771

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May through December

828-479-3098

WAYNESVILLEGALLERYASSOCIATION.COM

StecoahValleyCenter.com/gallery

Funded in part by Haywood County Tourism Development Authority • 1.800.334.9036 • visitNCsmokies.com

EXPLORE

Southern Appalachian Galleries

TWIGS AND LEAVES GALLERY Stroll down Main Street in Waynesville and you will find a unique gallery where art dances with nature. Browse through an unforgettable collection of nature-inspired works by 140 primarily regional artists and crafts persons.

Take home a piece of art that echoes the wonder of nature.

98 N Main St. • Waynesville, NC 828.456-1940 • twigsandleaves.com

A Local Pottery Studio & Gallery

UPTOWN GALLERY (MACON COUNTY ART ASSOCIATION) Local artists. Village Square Arts and Crafts shows in Highlands. Open studio, monthly presentations. Workshops and classes for adults. Children’s activities with the Bascom.

30 E Main St. • Franklin, N.C. 828.349.4607 • uptowngalleryoffranklin.com WAYNESVILLE GALLERY ASSOCIATION The Waynesville Gallery Association is represented by 11 unique galleries: Art on Depot, Burr Studio, Cedar Hill Studio, Earthworks Gallery, Gallery 86, Grace Cathey Sculpture, The Jeweler’s Workbench, the mahogany house art gallery and studios, TPennington Art Gallery, Twigs and Leaves Gallery, and Village Framer.

The group promotes and participates in Art After Dark which happens the first Friday evening May through December. waynesvillegalleryassociation.com

Open 7 Days a Week!

20767 Great Smoky Mtn. Expy.

(Hwy. 23/74) • Waynesville Between the Rest Area and the Blue Ridge Parkway entrance at Balsam Gap

828.456.1916 Mud Dabbers Pottery & Crafts II

We see the Earth through Our

Artists’ Eyes!

Featuring Local & Regional Handcrafts & Art Custom Museum Quality Framing 828.452.9500 | 21 North Main Street, Waynesville | earthworksgalleries.com EXPLORE

Southern Appalachian Galleries

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UP, UP &AWAY IN THEIR Captain Danny Smith flies Tom Mackie’s balloon. PAUL CLARK PHOTO

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BEAUTIFUL BALLOONS B Y PA U L C L A R K

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

he August morning dawned clear and beautiful, as Ashley Jones and Justin Rolfe left the chalet they’d rented near Asheville, N.C., and headed for a coffee shop west of the city. Jones didn’t know what to expect. Rolfe had said little more about the day’s events other than that the couple would be getting up early and going somewhere special.

Meanwhile, Tom Mackie, a gregarious hot air balloon pilot and flying enthusiast, was waiting.

Jones’ surprise was a flight over the mountains. She was delighted.

At the launch site in Hominy Valley, Jones and Rolfe climbed into a big basket beneath a bright balloon of iridescent colors. Another brilliantly colored hot air balloon was taking off nearby. “One second we were watching the other balloon take off, and then Tom’s hitting the burner and we started to rise really quickly,” Jones said. “I just remember the view and we’re lifting, lifting, lifting. There was mist on the mountains. It was gorgeous.”

It had been a special getaway for the Charlottearea couple. Not only had Rolfe been crewing with Hendrick Motorsports at Bristol Motor Speedway, but, as of that weekend, he and Jones had been together for five years.

Once the balloon reached cruising height above the valley, Jones gave Mackie her camera and asked him to take a few shots of her and her beau.

“Tom gave me the camera back, and I was starting to put it away when Justin said, wait a minute, why don’t you have him take a couple more of us?” Jones said. “I thought that was so adorable, that it must have been a romantic moment for our five-year anniversary. Tom started taking pictures, and then Justin all of a sudden got down on one knee and pulled a ring out of his pocket.”

Jones, who will become Ashley Rolfe this summer on July 19, marveled at how the ring glittered in the early morning sunlight. While the guys looked for wildlife over the side, she started snapping pictures like crazy to send photos of her ring to her female friends. Being hundreds of feet in the air made the experience all the more heady. “I don’t think Justin could have planned it any better,” she said. “And Tom helped him pull it off.”

Nearly everyone Steve Lambert, director of Balloons Over Anderson, takes up into the air is on his or her first flight.

“It’s one of those things that some people have got to do, and they’ve been saving for years, because it’s expensive,” Lambert said. “It’s one time in their life, and they will never do it again.”

Ballooning is for those passionate about flight, those drawn to the ethereal beauty of long-range views and the serenity of wind power.

“When you take off, you can’t tell you’ve left the ground, because you’re floating,” said Phylliss Barnard of Asheville Hot Air Balloons. “You don’t have a sense of motion, because

you’re moving with the wind. If you’re flying over a quarry, you see huge trucks for hauling rock, and they look like toys.

Houses and cars on the road, when you’re flying high, get very small. Cows look like little toy cows.”

Pilots usually meet passengers early in the morning, because the first couple of hours of daylight are usually the calmest, wind-wise. Depending on the size of the balloon, the envelope can weigh several hundred pounds, so passengers often help the crew stretch it out on the ground.

THE BALLOONIST’S PRAYER

May the winds welcome you with softness.

May the sun bless you with its warm hands.

May you fly so high and so well that God joins you in laughter and sets you gently back into the loving arms of Mother Earth.

“Almost always, the passengers want to be involved because they want to learn. They want to be able to touch the balloon and figure out how it works,” Lambert said. “They’re always asking you questions—what’s this, what’s that, how do you steer the balloon? They want to get involved.”

Crewmembers inflate the balloon with gas-powered fans and tie on the basket. Once there’s sufficient air in the envelope, they start heating the air with propane gas.

Gradually, the balloon starts to stand, a glorious sight that is among passengers’ favorite memories of the day.

Mackie takes passengers as high as 7,000 feet, but he’s found that most people like to stay right above the treetops because it gives them the sense that they’re floating. Higher up, it’s harder to get a sense of movement, though the view can be much more grand.

There is a majesty to the mountains, both beneath the balloon and in the distance. The air is crisp, the skies are clear and the views go on forever. Mackie has ballooned all over the world, and he considers Asheville the prettiest place he flies.

Barnard loves them as well. “The views here in Asheville are absolutely gorgeous,” she said. “The higher you go, the more mountain ranges you see. I like to describe it that it’s like being in the ocean—you look out and you see wave after wave, only here it’s wave after wave of the Blue Ridge Mountains. And there’s no motion, so you’ve got that whole peaceful thing.”

Though balloon flights are not exactly cheap, they are relatively easy to find via independent contractors and at hot air balloon festivals. Most festivals in the Southeast have inexpensive tethered rides that rise to about 100 feet and last a few minutes.

“A lot of people have the attitude that it’s going to be this thrilling thing, but it’s not exactly like going to the fair and

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Mark Turner of Asheville Hot Air Balloons looks up at the darkening skies over Hominy Valley on April 6, 2014. There's a saying that it's better to be on the ground wishing you'd flown than be in the air and wishing you hadn't. PAUL CLARK PHOTO

“The passengers want to be involved because they want to learn.

They want to be able to touch the balloon and figure out how it works.”

— Steve Lambert

getting on a ride,” Barnard said. “That’s why we don’t like to use the word ‘ride.’ These are flights with commercial certified pilots. It’s a very gentle experience.”

Mackie pilots for Asheville Hot Air Balloons, but he has his own company too, Fly A Balloon. He has been a pilot of some sort for 33 years. He flies 747s for a living (mostly Asian routes) and has flown helicopters, gliders and hang gliders. “You name it, I’ve flown it, except the space shuttle,” he said. It’s not hard to learn to fly a

hot air balloon, “but I always tell people that it is more an art form than a skill,” he said. “You have to develop a feel for the air. You learn how to fly the winds on a microscopic level.

It’s almost like sky sailing. It’s completely different from other forms of aviation.”

The Federal Aviation Administration issues licenses to hot air balloon operators. The training can cost several thousand dollars and take many months. One first must have an airman’s certificate or a license to fly other aircraft. One has to be at least 16, and though one doesn’t need a medical certificate, one can’t have a condition that would prevent from operating the craft safely. At least 10 hours of flight training that includes six flights with an instructor, two flights lasting an hour, one controlled ascent to 2,000 feet and one solo flight are required. There’s the written FAA test, as well as a practical knowledge test by a FAA flight examiner or inspector. A private pilots’ license entitles one to carry passengers but not for money.

And money is a consideration. Good used systems can be had for $10,000-$15,000, but new ones cost several times that. There’s propane to buy, crew to hire, and the truck and trailer needed for hauling. Mackie has two balloons—one that cost $10,000 and one that cost $60,000. The latter is big—160,000 cubic feet—and strong enough to carry him and seven passengers. “Basically, it can lift my Suburban,” he said.

Hot air balloons can be built to just about any size, so there’s no “average” balloon. But a typical balloon about 70 feet tall packs approximately 90,000 cubic feet of air into the balloon, called the “envelope.” Baskets are

Justin Rolfe proposes to Ashley Jones over the Hominy Valley near Asheville, N.C. TOM MACKIE PHOTO

Asheville Hot Air Balloons pilot Rick Bowers explains in-air precautions to passengers before flight at Hominy Valley on April 6, 2014. PAUL CLARK PHOTO

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Hot Air Balloon Glow 2012. ART ANDERSON PHOTO

Harmony Jubilee

Balloon festivals in the Southeast Aloft aloft.org Formerly known as Freedom Weekend Aloft, Aloft launches some 70 balloons over the Greenville, S.C., area during Memorial Day weekend, making it the largest balloon festival in South Carolina.

May 23-26 • Heritage Park, Simpsonville, SC Admission: $16 advance/$20 before 4 p.m./$25 after 4 p.m.

Children under 36 inches free.

To ride: $200 per person. Tethered rides are $12

Balloons Over Anderson balloonsoveranderson.org Some two dozen balloons rise over Anderson, S.C.’s skies in this festival started and run by hot air ballooning enthusiasts.

Especially popular is the Balloon Glow, held at night so that the balloons light up like softly glowing lanterns.

Oct. 10-12 • Anderson Civic Center, Anderson, S.C. Admission: Free To ride: $200 per person. Tethered rides are $10, $5 for 12 years old and younger.

harmonyjubilee.com Fitzgerald, Ga., celebrates the harmony between the town’s postCivil War Union and Confederate soldiers.

Nov. 7-9 • Paulk Park, Fitzgerald, Ga. Admission: Free Nov. 7 and 9; $5 adults, $2 children, free 3 and under Nov. 8 To ride: $200 per person. Tethered rides are $10 adult, $5 child

Helen to the Atlantic Balloon Race & Festival helenballoon.com The South’s oldest balloon event and the country’s only longdistance balloon race happens in this Alpine-like village that has tons to do and see between balloon launches.

June 5-7 • Downtown Helen, Ga. Admission: Free To ride: $300-$350 per person. Tethered rides are $10.

Owl-O-Ween Hot Air Balloon Festival owl-o-ween.com This Atlanta-area festival attracted so many people last year that organizers have doubled the footprint this year.

Oct. 25-26 Kennesaw State University Sports & Rec Park, Kennesaw, GA Admission: $15 adults, $10 children under 12, free children under 3 To ride: Tethered rides are $10 adult, $5 child

Carolina BalloonFest carolinaballoonfest.com Begun 41 years ago, Carolina BalloonFest is the nation’s secondoldest hot air balloon festival and the largest of its kind in North Carolina. More than 50 balloons take off over Statesville Regional Airport.

Oct. 17-19 • Statesville Regional Airport, Statesville, NC Admission: Check website for ticket prices To ride: $225 per person. Tethered rides are $10, $5 for 12 years old and younger.

Tunes & Balloons Fireworks Finale cherryblossom.com Celebrating the blooming of more than 350,000 cherry trees in Macon, Ga., the International Cherry Blossom Festival concludes every year with its Tunes & Balloons Fireworks Finale.

Event date not yet set. Festival is March 20-29, 2015 Middle Georgia State College, Macon, Ga. Admission: $5, children under 6 free To ride: Tethered rides are $10 adults, $5 children

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Balloons take off over Helen, Ga., as part of the Helen to the Atlantic Balloon Race and Festival. DONATED PHOTO

usually made of wicker and rattan, natural fibers that have some bounce when the balloon touches down. On board there’s an altimeter to tell a pilot how high the balloon is climbing, as well as a vertical speed indicator that shows how quickly the balloon is moving up or down. A GPS device indicates how fast it is going laterally and in what direction. An envelope temperature sensor measures the heat inside the balloon, giving the pilot a baseline by which to gauge changes needed to sustain and change buoyancy.

The night before flights, pilots check wind data. The morning of the launch, they release a helium balloon called a pibal to get a read on conditions—and cancel if the winds aren’t right. “But you just don’t know until you’re up there,” Mackie said. “When you’re flying a balloon, it’s not static. It’s very dynamic. We are seeking a different course all the time. You can get pretty busy in a balloon.”

Pilots constantly are scanning the skies for indications of which way the winds are blowing, but clues can come from below as well. Smoke from chimneys and moving treetops are good indicators, as are ripples on a lake. Pilots can’t control which way the wind 44

“You have to develop a feel for the air. You learn how to fly the winds on a microscopic level. It’s almost like sky sailing.”

— Tom Mackie

is blowing, but they can seek different altitudes for currents that will push them in the directions they want. They can slow an ascent or begin a descent by pulling on a parachute vent on top of the balloon to let some of its hot air out.

“I always describe the feeling (of being in the air) like that ride at Disney World, Peter Pan’s Flight, where you’re flying over the town. It kind of feels like that,” said Debby Porter, cofounder of the hot air balloon festival Balloons Over Anderson. “You just see all the treetops, the houses, the lay of the land. You can see deer running, and dirty swimming pools. People come out and wave and holler at you. Dogs will bark at you. When people see you landing, they help. You get to meet a lot of nice people.”

Landing a hot air balloon is an imperfect science. Mackie tells his passengers their SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

general direction and can predict within a few miles where they’ll touch down, but there’s no landing pad with a big X on it. That’s why balloons have support teams. Chase crews follow the balloon on country roads, staying in communication with the pilot over radios. If they can, they’ll contact a property owner when a balloon is ready to land to get permission. If not, they’ll leave a card behind saying they were there.

“All the pilots like flying here,” Porter said.

“It’s not real congested, and there are a lot of good landing spots. You fly in bigger areas, and it’s harder to find places to land.”

When Lambert operated his commercial hot air balloon business in Orlando and flew tourists around the Disney World area, “I’d have to put 100 miles on my van to drive out to the countryside,” he said. “It would take

four hours-plus to do a one-hour balloon ride. Up here (in the Upstate), because we have such a good network of roads, we can do the entire thing in two and a half to three hours and never put more than 35 miles on my vehicle. It makes it good to chase balloons here.”

Hot air balloon festivals offer people a chance to see balloons up close, as well as an opportunity to meet the pilots and learn more about the sport of competitive ballooning. The Balloon Federation of America lists 250 pilots in its competition division database. Sam Parks is president of the federation, which sanctions events by which pilots can gain points to become their state’s hot air balloon champion. State champs go on to the national finals, held this year in Longview, Texas from July 28-Aug. 3.

The national champion will compete in the World Hot Air Balloon Championship in Rio Claro, Brazil.

Before each sanctioned event, the “balloonmeister,” as the balloon organizer is called, selects one or more tasks for the pilots to do. One popular event is the “fly in,” in which pilots taking off from various places finesse the winds to get as close to a target as they can. Another is the “hare and hound,” in which pilots chase a lead balloon and land as close to it as they can. In another, they try to maneuver their balloons to a stand high above the festival grounds, pulling a ring off of it like a kid on a merry-go-round.

Good performance leads to points.

“You have to use the winds, since there’s no steering wheel,” said Parks, balloonmeister of Aloft, a hot air balloon festival in South Carolina, and Carolina BalloonFest in North Carolina. Pilots use their altimeters and GPS devices to track their direction, ascending and descending to find the winds that will push them toward their targets. Only by trial and error do they get to where they’re going, Parks said. The most skilled among them make the fewest errors.

Many competitive pilots don’t take paying passengers, but many do to help pay the freight for their love of being in the air. The experience is something they never get over. “You are literally floating through the sky,” Lambert said. “You can be flying at 500 feet and see someone walking out in the front yard and you can talk to them without yelling. People wave and talk to you as you’re flying by. It’s a calming, serene thing.”

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Students on backpacking trips with Base Camp Cullowhee learn to bring only what they need to survive out in the wilderness. PHOTO COURTESY OF WCU BASE CAMP CULLOWHEE

‘If I can do that, I can do anything’ Outdoor recreation programs take higher education at Appalachian State and Western Carolina to a new level

BY ANNA OAKES 48

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

“If ever youth loses the thirst for adventure, any civilization, however enlightened, and any state, however well ordered, must whither and dry up.”

— Kurt Hahn, founder of Outward Bound

Wes Overvold thought he could go sea kayaking with his eyes closed.

The Appalachian State upperclassman and Savannah, Ga., native had already led several of the university’s Outdoor Programs sea kayaking excursions. But one gorgeous fall 2013 day off of Georgia’s Tybee Island led to a harrowing experience Overvold had never encountered in six years of paddling.

The student group had trekked two and a half miles away from base camp to an uninhabited area, enjoying lunch and Frisbee in beautiful weather. Then, sunny skies were suddenly usurped by a vicious, unexpected wind and rainstorm.

“It just popped up on us out of nowhere,” Overvold said.

The group decided to sprint back to the island toward their camp and gear. “It was a very hurried crossing back over. The wind started picking up, and one of the participants capsized,” he said. Overvold waved the rest of the group onward as he aided the capsized paddler. Conditions worsened. “I looked behind me, and a swell was right on top of us. Visibility was down to twenty yards, with no sign of land.” Overvold urged the participants still with him to keep paddling through the choppy surf and into the wind. “We got this,” he reassured them. “I’m here; I’m not going to leave you.”

Finally, the storm began to lift, and the paddlers rushed to the tree line and safely onto shore. Outdoor Programs taught Overvold many valuable lessons, that day and throughout his college career.

“It was quite the experience, how those things happen, how you’ve got to manage it, the on-the-fly calls I had to make,” he said. “It keeps me as a more humble paddler instead of thinking that I’m in control of the elements.”

FROM INNOVATION TO EXPECTATION Though a common offering at universities today, the integration of adventure and academia was a novel consideration in the early 1970s, when introduced at ASU, but the program’s roots reach back even farther to the late nineteenth century, when Kurt Hahn was born to a Jewish family in Germany. ASU student Kim Sherrill began with Hahn’s story in a 1986 paper tracing the origins of Outdoor Programs and experiential outdoor education at the university.

As headmaster of Germany’s The Salem School and founder of The Gordonstoun School in England, Hahn developed an international reputation as an educational pioneer, Sherrill wrote, and he was troubled by what he perceived as a moral decline and lack of physical fitness among youth.

“The youth today are surrounded by tempting declines— declines which affect the adult world—the decline of fitness, due to modern methods of moving about; decline of memory and imagination, due to the confused restlessness of modern life; decline of skill and care, due to the weakened condition of modern life; decline of self discipline due to stimulants and tranquilizers. Worst of all, the decline in compassion due to the unseemly haste with which modern life is conducted,” Hahn was cited as saying.

Hahn believed that in addition to improved physical health, immersion in the outdoor environs would instill in young people a moral independence, compassion for others, and a desire for service to the community. He designed a program to help train young sailors based on these principles—it was the very first Outward Bound program, founded in Wales in 1941.

Two decades later, the first Outward Bound school opened in the U.S., in Colorado, and on July 2, 1967, the North Carolina Outward Bound School became the fifth to be established stateside. The Outward Bound Board of Directors selected Table Rock as the N.C. headquarters, and in April 1968 Murray Durst was hired to direct the program.

It was about that time Dr. James Jackson came on at Appalachian State as the new dean of educational innovation, and his role, as he described it, was to “excite and encourage people involved in every aspect of the university to try new things and do new things and not be intimidated by wanting to do something new.” And it just so happened that Mr. Jackson and Mr. Durst were on board the same Piedmont Airlines flight on one foggy night back in 1969, and the rest is history. ASU became the first university in the nation to award academic credit for Outward Bound courses. Its Office of Outdoor Programs opened in 1973, serving 190 individuals on 19 outdoor expeditions in its first year.

ASU quickly garnered national recognition for its innovations in outdoor and experiential education, with coverage in publications such as Woman’s Day and College and University Business, and Newsweek, which noted that student interest in ASU led to overflow enrollment in the midst of a national enrollment slump. ASU’s experiment generated numerous inquiries from other universities, which led to the North American Conference in Outdoor Pursuits in Higher Education, then to several follow up conferences, and then to the establishment of the Association for Experiential Education in 1977. Today, AEE is a network of more than 1,500 members in 33 countries educating more than 2.8 million people each year.

The Office of Outdoor Programs at ASU was among only a few dozen similar programs in the country when it began in the early ‘70s.

“There are well over 1,000 programs in the U.S. now,” said Rich Campbell, associate director of ASU Outdoor Programs.

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Participants in Appalachian State’s Outdoor Programs learn to survive in extreme weather and terrain and are rewarded with spectacular scenery in the Canadian Rockies. PHOTO COURTESY OF ASU OUTDOOR PROGRAMS

“Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand.”

— Chinese proverb

“It’s been a big growth area in higher education.” Campbell, who holds a bachelor’s degree in outdoor recreation and a master’s in student development, has been a full-time staff member since 1996. Today, there are multiple ways for students of all disciplines to plug into Outdoor Programs’ offerings. Any student, faculty or staff member can rent outdoor gear such as a camping tent, backpack, climbing shoes, or even a sea kayak. They can take a turn on the university’s indoor climbing wall or complete a challenge course as a teambuilding exercise. And they can sign up for outdoor excursions ranging from day trips to multi-week expeditions.

“You can be any major and participate on an outdoor program,” Campbell said. “You can be a physics major and come and do a rafting trip…or come and work for us.”

In the southwestern mountains of North Carolina, Appalachian’s public university peer, Western Carolina University, was not far behind in establishing its own outdoor activity center: Base Camp Cullowhee. It began in the mid 1980s, founded by a few professional staff members who shared an interest in promoting outdoor programs to students on campus. Early outdoor trips included skiing in the Adirondacks, canoeing 50

in Canada, and biking in Utah. Operating for years as an arm of the student entertainment programming organization, Base Camp Cullowhee eventually split off as an independent program in 2000. Josh Whitmore, who spent seven or eight years as an expedition guide leading trips all around the world, now leads the program as an associate director. The Brevard, N.C. native said his current position is the perfect job for those in his field seeking a transition to a more year-round, secure livelihood.

“Expedition guiding is awesome, but it has a lifespan,” he said. “Eventually those of us who do that want to move on from spending 270 nights a year in a sleeping bag.”

Western’s program continues to grow. It now has three full-time employees and 20 student staff members. In 2008, Base Camp Cullowhee opened a 2,100-square-foot indoor rock climbing facility, and last year, the college completed a seven-mile multi-use trail system.

Like Campbell, Whitmore has observed the proliferation of outdoor programs at colleges and universities—once an anomaly in higher education, now they’re a trend.

“Over the last ten years, it’s becoming expected at a lot of universities; it’s part of that amenities package,” Whitmore said.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

FROM CULLOWHEE TO COSTA RICA Backpacking, rafting, hiking, climbing— Claire Lippy is only a sophomore at Western Carolina, but she’s done it all and more through Base Camp Cullowhee. Oh, and “I really love the caving trips,” she said. “I enjoy being underground, finding my way through tight spaces.” Involved with Base Camp even before setting foot into a college classroom for the first time, Lippy has served as a student staff member since the second semester of her freshman year, and there’s not a lot that rattles her. Her most daunting personal challenge on a Base Camp trip? “Every now and then you’ll forget to pack butter or oil, and it’s ten times harder to cook things,” she said.

But as a trip leader, she’s at times a bit concerned for others. “A couple of times we’ll have someone get in a cave and get freaked out, and we have to talk them down, let them know nothing’s going to happen to them,” Lippy said.

“Or rock climbing, we can have people get halfway up, and then they don’t want to move.

One time on a backpacking trip we did have a girl not bring a rain jacket, and it rained four or five days that trip. That was the most worried I can [remember being]. But she was fine.”

Sustaining a tourism economy In addition to their benefits to student development and to university recruitment and retention, outdoor programs at Appalachian State University and Western Carolina University play vital roles in sustaining a growing outdoor recreation and tourism economy in Western North Carolina.

“The rise of outdoor recreation tourism in Western North Carolina in general is pretty big,” said Josh Whitmore, director of WCU’s Base Camp Cullowhee.

And outdoor programs not only provide well-trained staff to support the area’s recreation businesses—they’re providing the clientele, too.

“Students that go through our programs, both as staff or participants, are learning general life skills that they would use to continue to recreate in that way,” Whitmore said. Added Rich Campbell, director of ASU Outdoor Programs, “Outdoor recreation has really turned into a very big business in the United States, and programs like ours definitely help drive that.”

In 2011, the Watauga County Tourism Development Authority finalized an Outdoor Recreation Plan, establishing a vision to become a top ten outdoor recreation destination in America and the No. 1 destination in the East. Included are plans to develop public access areas for mountain biking, paddling, fishing, climbing, and hiking, and many projects have already been completed.

Michelle Ligon, director of public relations and visitor services for Watauga TDA, said ASU’s programs produce lifelong outdoor enthusiasts who return to the area again and again. “We have a lot of alumni from ASU come back.

There’s a lot of word of mouth about the places that people go,” she says.

Outdoor programs staff also share their expertise with industry leaders. For example, Base Camp Cullowhee staff serve on a committee that advises Duke Energy on such matters as river and lake access points and dam release schedules, Whitmore said.

Base Camp Cullowhee takes advantage of its geographic location in the Southern Appalachian Mountains to provide a variety of challenging outdoor activities within a close distance of campus. PHOTO COURTESY OF WCU BASE CAMP CULLOWHEE

For her, Base Camp is about “leadership, becoming more outspoken and stepping up,” Lipp said. “For rafting, you’ve got to step up and be loud and make sure everybody’s listening to you.”

And that’s the point. Base Camp Cullowhee, according to its mission statement, “provides experiences that foster student engagement, synthesis of knowledge and skills, community building, healthy recreation habits, and student retention.” In addition to the aforementioned activities, Base Camp offers lessons in whitewater kayaking, canoeing, skiing, and skydiving, and more. “If it’s done outside, chances are you can sign up to do it with us,” the website claims. Ideally nestled in the Southern Appalachians, Base Camp doesn’t have to venture far to provide all of these experiences. The program occasionally offers trips to other states or countries, such as Costa Rica, Whitmore says, but “that’s not a huge part of our program. We’re concentrated on what we’re doing nearby.” There’s an emphasis on skill development, too, with on-campus clinics in rock climbing belaying, kayak rolling, bike tuning, wilderness first aid, and more.

“We’re certainly very beginner friendly; we introduce people to a lot of outdoor activities, WWW.SMLIV.COM

and then they start doing it on their own with their friends,” Whitmore said.

When school’s in session at Appalachian, hardly a date on the calendar is without a scheduled Outdoor Programs activity. As at Base Camp, App State’s Outdoor Programs offers on-campus workshops in climbing and kayaking skills, and the program takes full advantage of its mountain locale to provide a variety of outdoor excursions. “Because of our geographic location…we can get out to climbing, paddling, and caves without it being a really big ordeal—it doesn’t take a lot of travel time,” Campbell said. “But we’ve also tried to make sure that we don’t take that for granted, to do new things, to be creative.”

April’s itinerary, for example, featured weekend jaunts to go surfing in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, bike riding on the Virginia Creeper Trail near Abingdon, Va., climbing in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge, and sea kayaking off of Georgia’s Tybee Island.

The program has sponsored past trips across the country to Alaska and Wyoming and multiple international outings to New Zealand, Wales, Fiji, Italy, and the Canadian Rockies.

In general, programs at both universities are not open to the general public because student fees support the programs. But both find ways to involve and engage the local community.

Youth enrolled in GEAR UP and Upward Bound—initiatives that help prepare area middle and high school students for college— participate in Outdoor Programs-facilitated camping, kayaking, and backpacking outings.

Every summer, seventh- through ninthgraders spend a week at ASU’s Adventure Camp, exploring North Carolina’s High Country through activities such as canoeing, rock climbing, team building, rafting, and hiking, led by Outdoor Programs staff. The same goes for Base Camp Cullowhee, which hosts the Catamount Adventure Camp.

Base Camp annually leads the Tuck River Cleanup—which removes between two and four tons of trash from 23 miles of the Tuckaseegee River near the towns of Sylva, Dillsboro and Cherokee, N.C. and is the largest single-day river cleanup in the country.

“This was our 30th year,” Whitmore said about the event held in April. “We had close to 1,000 people volunteering for this thing.” Participants were rewarded for their service with a free cookout and festival featuring live music, door prizes, and bounce houses for kids.

In Boone, the annual screening of the Banff Mountain Film Festival and affiliated Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition have become symbols of 51

ASU’s Outdoor Programs leads a trip to Italy in May 2013. Below: Appalachian State’s Outdoor Programs expeditions include trips to Alaska. PHOTOS COURTESY OF ASU OUTDOOR PROGRAMS

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SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

community prestige, and for some, one of the top social events of the year. This year marked the 18th that Outdoor Programs has hosted a screening of the Alberta, Canada-based Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, which showcases short and extended features on climbing and mountaineering, outdoor adventure, mountain culture, and the environment to more than 390,000 people on all continents. For more than a decade the two-night screenings in a 2,000-seat auditorium have been sellouts in Boone.

“Our mission is really to serve the ASU student population, but…through the film festival, we also have a chance to really outreach to the local community,” said Campbell, who believes the film festival resonates so strongly because of the local industries dedicated to mountain sports.

“It’s so well received that it has really kind of elevated the status of Boone on a much larger scale.” The director of the Banff World Tour told Campbell, for instance, that if someone asks about one of the 800 screening locations that stands out, “he says, ‘Inevitably, I bring up Boone, North Carolina.’” Indeed, the atmosphere at the screening held in March of this year was more akin to a rock concert—with excited filmgoers of all ages whistling and cheering in anticipation.

FROM HAHN’S HYPOTHESIS TO REAL RESULTS Outdoor programs are more than just a trendy amenity at Appalachian and Western; they offer substantial, lasting benefits to students and to universities, and the programs have the numbers and the anecdotal evidence to prove it.

For starters, the programs aid in recruitment, as the availability of outdoor activities factors heavily into the college selection decisions of some students.

That was the case with Lippy: “I’m from Atlanta, and so I definitely wanted a school that had an outdoor program and offered a lot of outdoor trips.” Wes Overvold’s high school counselor in Savannah, Ga., knew that he enjoyed the outdoors, which is why she recommended App State. “I did some research and learned that it was one of the larger outdoor programs east of the Mississippi,” Overvold said. “It was really a huge deciding factor for my college decision.”

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Wes Overvold, a recent Appalachian State graduate, served as a guide on sea kayaking excursions for the university’s Outdoor Programs. “I can’t share with people enough that you’ve got to take advantage of these types of things,” he said. “Without it, my college experience would be nowhere near as valuable as it has been for me.” PHOTO COURTESY OF WES OVERVOLD

Several years ago, Western Carolina hired a consultant to help develop its marketing content. “Big surprise,” said Whitmore, a bit wryly—the firm’s conclusion was that Western should capitalize on what makes it unique, which is its rural mountain lifestyle. “That sort of shifted directions for us a bit; [Base Camp] had more respect and support after that.” ASU students have indicated on surveys that location is one of the top reasons for choosing the university, Campbell said. Accolades including being named the Association of Outdoor Recreation in Education’s Program of the Year in 2011 have bolstered the program.

“A lot of people look at ASU as one of the schools to really consider if you want to look at outdoor opportunities,” Campbell said. “So 54

yeah, I think we have contributed to part of the brand of ASU.” And once students come to Appalachian or Western, outdoor programs help keep them there. Both programs provide First Ascent wilderness orientation activities for incoming freshmen.

“We use the outdoors as a metaphor for starting a new life at the university,” Whitmore said. “A five- or six-day-long backpacking trip is a brand new environment for students, and that transfers directly over to their new life in the university world. They learn they have to work together, to know how to ask for help, to be personally responsible for their actions, to tow their weight, to pay attention to doing things correctly and to craftsmanship, and to SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

building community experience. All of those transfer to learning.” Since the First Ascent program began at Western, the freshman-tosophomore retention rate for participants is 87 percent, Whitmore said—almost 10 percentage points higher than the university average of 79 percent.

Many outdoor programs participants experience life-changing shifts in their perceptions of themselves and their own abilities.

“I’ve worked with a lot of different students, first time backpacking or first time climbing, and they say, ‘I signed up for this trip because I really wanted to see if I could do it,’” Campbell said. “And people are amazed that they have the ability to carry everything on their back and move from point A to point B, and they find strength in that. I’ve had students who really didn’t see themselves as being kind of physically active, or they’re not part of sports teams, they don’t do intramurals…but they would do a big backpacking trip, really long where we cross this big range, and the perspective that they brought back was ‘I kind of feel like if I can do that, I can do anything.’

“That’s the perspective that we’re trying to give to students.”

Zach Hunter, an App State sophomore, remembers his first backpacking trip: “You’re trying to carry as many things on your body that you’re going to need, [and you realize that] what you actually need isn’t that much,” he said. “The feeling was almost empowering.

You have this minimalist attitude knowing you can live comfortably without a whole bunch of stuff.”

Exposure to the outdoors through multiday, multi-week, or even daylong treks instills in the modern-day student a deep appreciation for the natural environment, Campbell said. “You can learn a lot about it through textbooks, and maybe through labs and things like that, but…there’s something about immersing yourself in the environment that gives you some pretty valuable perspectives about ecology and conservation.”

To that end, a couple of years ago Outdoor Programs led a 30-day “Source to Sea” trip.

Participants first hiked at the headwaters of nearby Wilson Creek, rafted the Wilson Creek gorge, then canoed down to the

“The whole purpose of experiential learning is not to ride down the highway totally blinded by billboards—what I want life to be is a trip down the highway with the opportunity to see the scenery, and to care about the terrain…to say let’s preserve it, because there are some people behind us.”

— Dr. James Jackson, former ASU dean

Catawba River, traded out their canoes for sea kayaks, and traveled all the way to the coast.

“Those students will forever have a different perception of river ways,” Campbell said. “The concept that rivers start somewhere, and they end somewhere, and they feed communities.”

Students on these trips forge friendships and relationships for a lifetime, the directors say, and the programs experiences can send career paths in different directions. Hunter, a recreation management major with a concentration in outdoor experiential education, said that at first he planned to study physical training. “[Outdoor Programs] definitely showed me what recreation management was,” he said. “In my mind, it was a park ranger, or that guy that mows the grass on the soccer field. I had no idea what it fully encompassed.” Overvold graduated this spring with a marketing degree and minor in media studies. He plans to work for a marketing and media production company that specializes in outdoor brands.

ASU alum Derek DiLuzio’s Outdoor Programs experiences actually steered him away from a career in recrecation management.

An active OP trip leader, DiLuzio began taking photos with a disposable camera on a trip to New Zealand. When he didn’t like the shots that developed, he kept shooting, and he picked up an award for a landscape shot in the early years of the OP’s Appalachian Mountain Photography Competition. “That competition really jump-started what I was doing,” DiLuzio said. “I ended up phasing out the trip leading stuff, mainly because I wasn’t watching participants—I was turning around taking pictures most of the time. I realized I couldn’t do both.” DiLuzio now owns his own Asheville-based photography business after spending several years in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and he specializes in outdoor action sports such as mountain biking and fly-fishing. As his website puts it, “photography found Derek.”

College classes alone would not have imparted in Hunter the strong sense of community he has learned through Outdoor Programs, he said. “There’s a lot of good people. Everybody who works at Outdoor Programs has a great heart. We’re definitely focused on caring about other people first.”

And for that, Kurt Hahn would be quite proud.

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A treasureseeking adventure

Scroungers make use of that which has been tossed aside

BY MARY CASEY-STURK

58

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 â&#x20AC;˘ ISSUE 3

Scrounger: informal, verb 1a. person who borrows from or lives off others.

1.1a cleverly resourceful person who finds and procures items for a specific purpose.

— The Oxford English Dictionary

M

y grandparents in Kentucky were scroungers. We had limited resources and were forced to get creative. A piece of driftwood from the Licking River could become firewood (granddad’s way), or, when covered with moss and tiny plastic animals from Woolworths, it became a portable forest (grandma’s way) ready for a child’s imagination. From discounted dented cans of peas at IGA to the occasional gathering of fresh road kill (rabbits), every penny saved was crucial.

My grandma was a Girl Scout leader in a low-income rural area, and she was not satisfied until every girl in the troop had a uniform. This resulted in many trips to Goodwill until the task was completed. Goodwill always was full of treasures and still is for me today. One of grandmother’s other great triumphs of repurposing was what I lovingly call the “bear lamp”— a stuffed animal drilled through its core with a lamp sticking out of its head. Part adorable, part harrowing, I often wondered at what point toddlers questioned their impaled roommate’s fate.

As for the road kill, I never was quite sure what they did with it, but any astute child in the household avoided any form of stew for several weeks.

I consider myself a scrounger, part from necessity, part from the love of “rescuing” something of value. When my mother needed household items after an extended period of illness, I traded pet-sitting duties for a kitchen table and some stools. I scanned charity thrift shops in search of a sofa, and a neighbor dropped off a recliner that someone had pitched. It was bug-free and comfortable, and is still today mom’s favorite perch. I found her a microwave (new in box) at an estate sale for a song.

But sometimes scrounging becomes both an adventure and a business. In Asheville, N.C., Scroungers Paradise is not a Caribbean resort for the frugal-minded, but instead the place to go for lots of stuff one needs or did not know one needed. From Patagonian Rosewood flooring to Shona art from Zimbabwe, Scroungers’ surplus items run the gamut from the unique to the sublime.

Pickers, decorators, tourists, home remodelers and, oh yes, scroungers be forewarned—if one needs a door for the sauna or a topographical map of North Carolina, Scroungers probably has it covered.

Owner Mark Olivari is an international type of guy. Born in Japan (the son of a diplomat), he lived in Buenos Aries, Argentina, before his family moved to the United States. This worldly vision translates well to his unique purchases. He imports from Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia and Afghanistan.

Buying up surplus lots from waterfront auctions, going out of business sales and estate liquidations, he’s amassed enough merchandise to fill his 40,000 square foot building and its accompanying five acres. “I look under a lot of rocks,” Olivari said. “You never know what you will find. People have an adventurous spirit and are full of hope.

Finding something here is a little victory.”

Olivari’s inventory this spring included bags and bags of lovely blue Lapis Lazuli rough rocks from Afghanistan. This semiprecious stone was popular as among artists such as Titian and Vermeer, as is was used as a fine blue pigment for painting, and is not uncommon in jewelry making.

Also on the market: 10,000 wigs.

The 1970s era beauties are waiting for the right head or, more reasonably, heads. The wigs been a conversation starter and many who have found them on Scroungers’ shelves have donned them for a picture or two. Olivio hopes to see the wigs tossed off a float at a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans—he attended Tulane University.

“Customers never know what they will find, WWW.SMLIV.COM

and here, everything has a story,” Olivio said.

Kathy Singletary grew up on a farm, where money was tight and hard work was a must for everyone. She learned the value of a dollar and how to be creative with what was available.

“I can’t stand to waste things,” she said.

She’s a genius at repurposing things that most people would not think twice about throwing away, or would walk on by, and the results are amazing and inspiring.

She seeks out items from various locations near her home in Waynesville, N.C—Habitat for Humanity ReStore, Goodwill, other thrift stores, estate auctions, storage lockers. But she’s also got an eye for good wood, whether that’s rescued tongue and groove from a restaurant renovation or pine cones.

Singletary enclosed her deck for less than a few tanks of gas using found bundles of cedar shingles, deeply discounted tiles, reclaimed sliding glass patio doors she made into windows. She carved the left-over cedar shingles into feathers.

Her artistic flair is apparent in many of her projects. She’s used scrap wood to create bear-shaped silhouettes onto which she painted mountain tableaus—a nod to her own mountain heritage. She’s designing a mosaic tabletop for a wrought-iron table picked up for $5 and using 25-cent tiles from the ReStore. She uses the stuffing from bed pillows that have seen better days to make new pillows, made tree garland using bargain fabric, used shutters to make great room dividers and a flea trap to make a bird feeder.

Grace Cathey, also of Waynesville, is a wellknown metal artist in her community and beyond. A graduate of Haywood Community College’s reknowned Professional Crafts Program, Cathey studied fiber arts, but came to love metal work after attending a welding class.

“Being a weaver with a fiber background, I see textures in all the metals and it excites me,” Cathey said.

Starting out, Cathey made regular trips to the Biltmore Iron and Metal Company in Asheville, N.C., and scrounged up whatever she could find. “When I first started, I used 59

everything,” she said. “I’d go ‘shopping’ with my big truck and gloves.”

Once she learned about different types of metals, she decided to work in steel only, as it is cheaper and easier.

“When I go to the recycling center still today, I walk around, and I think, oh, there’s a piece of stainless steel, and I look at it and think, ‘what can I do with that?,’” she said.

Cathey’s work features animals, birds and flowers, architectural pieces like gates and delicate looking tables made from woven metal, pipes and springs. Her gallery is located adjacent to her husband’s 80-year-old service station in downtown—oil changes and engine work on one side, wall hangings and sculptures on the other. Cars in need of repair wait in front of the garage bays, while those ready for pick up are parked next to giant metal flowers that often draw in tourists to pose for a picture with them. In recent years, HGTV, Rand McNally Atlas (Editor’s Pick) and others have come calling, and Cathey’s work can be seen on public display at locations such as a small park on Waynesville’s Main Street that celebrates the town’s historic status as the Gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains, at the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville, and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh.

Waynesville, N.C., artist Grace Cathey incorporates found metal into her art.

Below: the sky is the limit when it comes to what one might find at Scrounger’s Paradise in Asheville, N.C. DONATED PHOTOS

The Salvage Room in Knoxville, Tenn., provides an opportunity to repurpose with a purpose. The Salvage Room in an outreach program of Knox Heritage, which works to preserve structures and places with historic or cultural significance throughout the East Tennessee community.

“Knox Heritage’s mission is to keep historic buildings intact, so we do not tear down houses,” said Beth Meadows, architectural salvage coordinator. “We are a last resort for items before someone might throw them away. We are always accepting donations of salvage and supplies to help run the program.”

As a result, the Salvage Room is a restorer’s dream. From doors and windows to hardware and fittings, items have been saved from older buildings. Monies raised — Grace Cathey, metal sculptor go support the non-profit’s work.

“Our customers are historic home owners who want to return their home to its original style all the way to those with creative projects in mind,” Meadows said.

Taking repurposing a little further, Knox Heritage annually hosts an art exhibition featuring ordinary furniture and objects used in new ways.

“The exhibit not only gives people ideas for their own projects, but it is also a fundraiser for the non-profit Knox Heritage,” said Beth Meadows, architectural salvage coordinator.

“The Salvage Show features artwork and home decor made by local artists and designers using architectural salvage,” Meadows said. “The

“When I first started, I used

everything. I’d go ‘shopping’ with my big truck and gloves.”

“Customers never know what they will find, and here, everything has a story.”

— Mark Olivari, owner, Scrounger’s Paradise

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SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

You can scrounge, too Jason Akers, author of “The Scrounged Homestead,” also does podcasts and authors a web site on self-sufficient gardening. He offers these tips for the budding scrounger:

GENERAL TIPS FOR SCROUNGING: • Never endanger yourself or others. Many people get this one wrong. The goal is to make your life better, not end up in the hospital or an early grave.

• Never do anything illegal or anything that could be construed as illegal. Get permission always.

• Share whenever possible.

• Make good use of the materials.

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WHAT TO LOOK FOR: The problem many people have with scrounging is that they don’t see the value in the item or items. There is usually a good reason an item is placed in a position to scrounge to begin with. I find that items are put into scroungeable positions for the following reasons: • Broken — But is the item repairable?

• Old/Worn/Ugly/Out of Date — Maybe the owner found a better or newer item.

• Common — If you have unlimited access to an item then eventually the item loses value to you and those around you with the access. This happens at places of work where scroungeable items are commonly wasted.

• Inconvenience — The item is in the way. People who move often can’t find room for all of their “stuff.”

mission of the exhibition is to raise money for Knox Heritage and to give people ideas for their own DIY projects.”

The Salvage Room is open on Thursdays and Saturdays or by appointment, but much of their inventory also is available online at knoxheritage.org/the-salvage-room. Recent items for sale included art deco light covers, white Subway tile, porcelain and glass doorknobs, and a wooden door with a mail slot from Holston Bank on Gay Street, and carved slate fireplace surrounds.

Knox Heritage’s popular series of fundraising dinners, Summer Suppers, offers an opportunity to explore some of region’s most spectacular historic places. A Mad Men Client Appreciation Party will be held June 21at the offices of Barber McMurry Architects in the Arnstein Building, a sevenstory Neoclassical structure with Renaissance Revival detailing, said to be the first steel frame “skyscraper” built in Knoxville. In July the Sand Branch Homecoming pays homage to a tight-knit community of dairy farmers who gathered on Saturdays for a weekly potluck dinner. The dinner featuring tomato tarts, iron skillet

cornbread, buttermilk cole slaw is held at one of the community’s original homes built in 1945. From its opening in the 1930s as the Corner Grill, “The Corner” has been a beer joint; the setting for a scene from Cormac McCarthy’s novel “Suttree;” and the favorite venue of Knoxville singer and musician Con Hunley among others. A late August supper will feature the soul singer and updated supper club fare during a swank evening on Central Avenue in Old North Knoxville.

Of course, scrounging also results in some misadventures. My own efforts have resulted in bringing home an ottoman that, unlike my mother’s favorite recliner, was not blissfully bug-free. Some free plants from a local big box store barely survived the ride home, and crossed over soon after. And my first car, a 1979 Ford Pinto, given to me with good intentions, required a quart of oil on a near daily basis, a stick to hold up the hatchback, and for any passengers to wear a hat to protect themselves from the ever-leaking sunroof—I swear it leaked even if it wasn’t raining.

But of all the things I’ve brought home or given away, it’s my thrifty ways that I wouldn’t trade.

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Extraordinary times await

BY JAKE FLANNICK

Ready to fly, a zipliner on the course at Wahoo Ziplines in Sevierville, Tenn. gets a bird’s eye view of the Great Smoky Mountains. SARAH E. KUCHARSKI PHOTO

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SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

The Southern Appalachian region is one of the tops for outdoor adventure, its recreational opportunities drawing everyone from hikers passing through on the Appalachian Trail to tourists in search of a thrill, Olympic hopefuls who train on the whitewater rivers to life-long locals who know where to find secret swimming spots and abandoned caves.

DONATED PHOTO

Here spring and summer are replete with birdsongs, ephemeral floral scents, cool breezes, rushing streams, and sunlight streaming through the treetops—all of which help create an alluring world that proves just as stimulating as, though infinitely more verdant, the hustle and bustle of a concrete jungle.

Ken Stamps left the jungle for a life soaring above the trees at speeds up to 50 miles per hour. As the CEO of Navitat Canopy Adventures, Stamps partnered with family members to start the company after leaving his job amid the economic crisis in Detroit, Mich. The company has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to the forest in Barnardsville, N.C., about 20 miles north of Asheville, since it opened a few years ago. And it is one of many that have spread across a region that in many ways is a playground for outdoor recreation.

“We’ve got the topography,” said Stamps, a former landscape architect.

In general, ziplines vary greatly in length, height and speed.

In Banning Mills, Ga., an adventure course with ziplines is designed exclusively for children ages four and up, while in Sevierville, Tenn. Wahoo Ziplines’ course features only six lines, but totals more than two miles with each line designed to get the blood flowing at 900 to 1,600 feet in length and 40to 250-foot suspensions.

“A walk through the Smokies is inspiring. A high-speed zipline ride through them is life changing,” said Matt Payne, a visitor from Los Angeles, Ca., who experienced Wahoo’s

lines last summer.

This May, Navitat opened a new line that runs 3,600 feet and flies 350 feet in the air—evidence of the increasing market for commercially accessible extreme adventure.

Matt Moses, general manager of USA Raft, spent about a decade leading cave, hiking and whitewater-rafting tours in the Northeast after earning a bachelor’s degree in outdoor recreation. He eventually came to the Southern Appalachians, calling it an “obvious destination” for those who have built a livelihood on outdoor adventure. He now spends much of the year living with his family in the eastern part of North Carolina, where he grew up. He sold his home in Asheville, N.C., three years ago to help the company buy two subsidiaries that had been part of the largest rafting company in the world, with more than a dozen guide services and outfitters in the eastern part of the country.

Moses is in his element leading rafters into a tempest of rushing currents on the Nolichucky River in East Tennessee.

“Once you start going down that river, you’re committed to it,” he said.

The whitewater churns on the Nolichucky. Parts of the river, which snake through the deepest gorge east of the Mississippi River, are rated Class IV rapids. Despite turbulent conditions, Moses said the company has remained open to offering trips even for those who have never taken a trip—that is, “as long as they have a little sense of adventure,” he said.

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Mountain biking at Bays Mountain Park, which is located in Kingsport, Tenn. (right).

Navitat Canopy Adventures in Asheville, N.C., offers a zipline flight through the treetops (below). DONATED PHOTOS

“Everybody gets a paddle, everybody’s expected to paddle,” he said.

The Nolichucky is among two rivers in the region where the company runs tours for more than half a year, between March and November, that stretch as long as nine miles.

The other, the French Broad River, also includes sections of Class IV rapids, and is where the company runs its other guide service in Western North Carolina.

The company employs about 100 people each season, including 80 or so rafting guides.

It has grown over the years to offer other kinds of outdoor recreation, including cave and zip line tours, though whitewater rafting remains its biggest draw, leading as many as 15,000 people onto the rivers each year.

“When our engineer son was about 7, he learned he had to weigh 60 lbs. to go whitewater rafting on the Nantahala River,” said Fred Alexander, a resident of Franklin, N.C., and former Marine who recently retired from a management role with Duke Energy.

“He began weighing himself frequently and wondered if it would be OK to fill his pockets with rocks. The day finally came. He was 64

quiet and focused during the entire raft trip.

As we got out, he flashed a big smile to ask, ‘Dad, do we have time to do this again today?’

For major events in our daughter’s life, we’ve offered a variety of choices. But she always opts for a raft trip for family and friends.”

Whitewater rafting has proliferated across the region. Some waterways, like the Pigeon River—which runs through the Pisgah National forest in North Carolina—have about a dozen rafting companies along their banks.

The companies and rivers are regulated. Many waterways pass through U.S. Forest Service lands. In addition to routine inspections, rafting companies must abide by certain federal rules, including the number of visitors they are permitted to lead down a river per day.

For example, on the Nolichucky, USA Raft is allowed to send only 450 visitors a day.

While those regulations have helped prevent market saturation—opening any new rafting companies in certain parts of the region is cumbersome, if not forbidden, amid a rigid federal permitting process—Moses said competition abounds. Despite the crowded market, relations among rafting SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 2

companies mostly are friendly, even accommodating, with many companies routinely exchanging supplies and rafting guides, and making referrals.

“At the end of the day, we’re all river people,” Moses said. “Everybody, for the most part, works well together.”

Jeff Greiner helps run an outdoor recreation company his parents started decades ago that is considered the forerunner of whitewater rafting in the region. He shares Moses’ sentiment.

“It’s kind of hard not to love a situation where you get to go out and play on the river all day,” he said.

Wildwater was formed on the Chattooga River in East Tennessee in the early 1970s as the first commercial rafting company in the Southeast. Greiner’s parents, Jim and Jeanette, had first visited the river on a canoe trip while traveling to campgrounds across the eastern part of the country to gather information for a brochure. The two eventually started a guide service in a nearby abandoned schoolhouse that dated to the early 1900s.

The company’s reach has since spread across the region, employing a total of 400 workers

tracks the economic impact of the market across the state. Last year, at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in the far western part of North Carolina, an international kayaking championship drew competitors and spectators from all across the world to the Nantahala River.

Just south of the Chattahoochee National Forest, Dawson County, Ga. is home to more acres of protected land, about 25,000, than people.

Passing through it are two major rivers and a network of trails for biking, hiking and horseback riding.

— Matt Moses, general manager of USA Raft “We’re just abundantly blessed with natural features,” “People get into the rafting industry said Christie Haynes, president of the Dawson because they love it,” he said.

County Chamber of Commerce.

Outdoor recreation companies account for a The county’s slogan, “Create Your Own significant portion economic activity here. In Adventure,” is meant to appeal to a wide North Carolina, the outdoors market generates demographic, particularly outdoors some $19 million in annual spending, according enthusiasts. It replaced previous ones, to the Outdoor Industry Association, which including “Where the Mountains Meet the USA RAFT PHOTO

each season and drawing some 100,000 people each year. It has erected a handful of zip lines, including one overlooking Asheville, and offers rafting trips down four rivers—the Pigeon, Ocoee, Chattooga, and Nantahala. A couple years ago Wildwater created a treetop adventure course that includes dozens of obstacles involving a variety of maneuvers.

For as long as he can remember, Greiner has spent his summers on the river. While he has grown familiar with outdoor recreation’s business aspects, he acknowledged that such a lifestyle involves constant financial risk and closely is tied to the ever-changing weather.

Asked what advice he might give to those seeking to break into the scene, he said, “Think twice.”

Devotion marks those who have started successful rafting companies, perhaps like any other venture.

“Once you start going down that river, you’re committed to it.”

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Lake,” which Haynes suggested was vague, failing to fully convey the image of the county.

“There wasn’t a common message about who we were,” Haynes said. “If you want to be outside, we’re a great pace to be.”

Perhaps the most notable tourist attraction is a 720-foot waterfall in Amicalola Falls State Park, the tallest east of the Mississippi River.

The park also includes a backcountry lodge, meaning it is not automobile accessible, and the eight-mile terminus of the Appalachian Trail.

The park also has remained fertile ground for another activity, geocaching, which essentially is a game of hide and seek with a Global Positioning System tracking device.

In eastern Tennessee, Bays Mountain Park and Planetarium includes nearly 40 miles of biking and hiking trails. Sightings of wildlife—bears, bobcats, coyotes, whitetailed deer—are common.

Despite its close proximity to the city of Kingsport and major highways, the preserve has remained what Rob Cole, park operations coordinator, described as a convenient, yet “very peaceful escape.”

Near its mountaintop, at about 2,400 feet, is a man-made lake stretching about 45 acres across a basin. It is open year-round, drawing nearly 200,000 people each year, many of them passersby. Of those, about 30,000 are students from nearby schools, he said.

Kingsport, located in what is known as the Tri-Cities area, designed the area as a nature preserve in the 1960s, amid nearby residents’ call to protect the mountain’s natural splendor.

In addition to the nature center offering programs meant to encourage conservation and preservation particularly among youth, the park includes recreation activities such as an above ground ropes course and a 300-foot zip line.

It is considered a relatively small nature preserve, stretching about 3,500 acres, but Cole and others see it as a way to encourage more people to “discover the joy” of nature.

“The best way to that is to get outdoors,” he said. Developing a love for nature doesn't have to mean all extreme adventure all the time, however. Sometimes the best adventure can be had while taking it slow.

“For me, retired and 65 now, I especially enjoy a canoe on a slow river or lake where I can savor a view of just water, sky, mountains, and trees,” Alexander said. “Last month, I paddled past some wary but magnificent Canada geese. I’ve heard the slap of a beaver’s tail, caused a startled blue heron to do a vertical take-off, seen rare plants and a fiveminute airshow performed by 50 or more turkey buzzards. Every trip, even on the same 66

Educational programs are a cornerstone of Bays Mountain Park’s offerings. The park also offers summer camps for kids in June and July. ERIC MCCARTY PHOTO

stretch of river, reveals something new.”

Such enthusiasm roots its way underground, too.

Roger Hartley spends many days deep in a cave near Blountsville, about 20 miles east of the Kingsport nature preserve. There he leads thousands of people through its limestone caverns each year.

Appalachian Caverns’ tours stretch about one mile, winding along two waterways that flow, and sometimes cascade after heavy rains, into a pool in a spacious cavern. Each trip’s length and rigor varies, “based on the comfort level of the group,” Hartley said. The most physically demanding tour lasts about three hours and involves people dragging themselves through narrow passes and wading through waist-high water. “It wears people out,” he said.

As many as 10,000 to 11,000 people visit the cave each year, including students from nearby schools and geologists—and Hartley hazards there would be more if he could capitalize on outdoor advertising that the county prohibits.

Appalachian Caverns has been exploring the cave since the early 1990s. Its splendor struck Hartley on his initial visit—most notably its delicate ecosystem that is largely insulated from air pollution and stays around 65 degrees year-round.

“It was sort of spiritual,” he recalled.

The cave is ancient, with traces of humanity stretching as far back as 675 A.D. SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

Archaeological evidence released in the mid2000s suggested that Native Americans used the space for religious ceremonies then. White settlers rediscovered it in the mid-1700s.

The cave is home to only seven species— but among those seven are thousands of bats, including two kinds on the endangered species list that are known to breed in the cave’s depths.

While he acknowledged that caves are widespread across the country—particularly in Tennessee, home to more than 9,000, the majority of them east of Knoxville—the formation of this one is something of a geological rarity. While the carving of its upper portion is attributed to water, its lower portion appears more fractured as a result of seismic activity, which was how the majority region’s caves were formed, Hartley said, citing a fault line running beneath sections of Interstate 81.

The cave’s total size remains a mystery. A land surveyor from North Carolina is using a laser system to determine its depth, Hartley said, which geologists have estimated as three to four miles deep.

“I’ve got the biggest basement in Tennessee,” he said, noting that his house is directly above the cave.

Whether underground, on the water, or in the air, those luckily enough to call the Southern Appalachians home know how to have a good time outdoors—and how to share with others their thirst for adventure.

Across

c ro s swo rd :

ACROSS THE MOUNTAIN

1 One way to fly high in the sky (3 words) 9 Big coffee pot 10 Cleverly finding and procuring items for a specific purpose 12 More blowy 14 Quiet!

15 Old vinyl record 16 Places to stay overnight 17 Camp fire remains 19 ___ ski 20 Breakfast fave 21 Kayak 23 Ship members 25 Go ___ vacation....

27 Largest balloon festival in South Carolina 28 Mountain transport (2 words) 29 Doveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sound 30 A kite is one 31 Place for a plane

Down

MARK HASKETT PHOTO

1 It gives the greatest velocity in a car (2 words) 2 Wild boar features 3 Rainbow shape 4 Reduced to rubble (2 words) 5 Mt. Mitchell is the highest peak in this range (2 words) 6 Cutting down timber 7 Sty utterances 8 Rejection word 11 _____ rafting 13 Increases 18 Hardwood tree that smokes!

19 Tugging hard 20 It can be subdivided into eras 22 Small cut in a surface 24 Sail holder 26 Oscar winner Sorvino 28 Therefore

Answers can be found on page 71. By Myles Mellor â&#x20AC;˘ ilovecrosswords.com

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MOUNTAIN JOY COTTAGES Our Maggie Valley cabins offer all of the modern conveniences you would expect with year-round access and seclusion that very few can offer.

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SMOKETREE LODGE Smoketree’s cozy atmosphere and prime location allow its visitors the choice of enjoying the peace and solitude of the Blue Ridge Mountains or the opportunity of partaking in the many activities available in the High Country!

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UPCOMING

June Outdoor Theater in Cherokee To learn about the tragedy suffered by the Cherokee Indians more than 150 years ago, go to the Cherokee Mountain Theater this summer for the show “Unto These Hills.” Considered one of the oldest of its kind in U.S. history, the outdoor drama was first performed in 1950. It tells the story of the Cherokee tribe from around 1540 to the 1830s, as tribe members were forced to head west along what now is known as the Trail of Tears.

The show runs for about two hours, starting at 8 p.m., Monday-Saturday until Aug. 16.

Cherokee Mountain Theater, Cherokee, N.C. cherokeeadventure.com/tickets or 866.554.4557.

Farm to Table: American Silver This exhibit brings new meaning to the “art of eating,” treating audiences to an intimate experience of handmade American silver objects that have celebrated our food and farms and appeared on our tables through modern times. The exhibition features a variety of forms and objects representative of agricultural presentation silver and fine table settings, including silverware, hollowware and serving pieces. Programs held in conjunction with the exhibition include a cooking class series, film screenings, gallery talks and a silver and gold gilding demonstration and workshop.

On display through Oct. 5, Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, N.C. ashevilleart.org or 828.253.3227.

Blairsville Scottish Festival and Highland Games Enjoy bagpipes and drums, Highland music, dancing and food with a Scottish flair. Watch athletes compete in traditional games, including caber toss, putting the stone and tossing the sheaf. Watch border collies herd sheep and falcons swoop down on prey, Gordon setters hunt game birds, and Clann Nan Con recreate the feel of early Scottish settlers in Georgia with their period clothing and weapons.

June 14-15, Blairsville, Ga. blairsvillescottishfestival.org or 706.745.2161.

Kuumba Festival The Kuumba Festival serves as the largest African American Cultural Arts Festival in East Tennessee.

Every year the festival is a four-day and four-night celebration with hundreds of entertainers performing throughout the festival. There will be live entertainment with a world class African marketplace that will host many crafts and food vendors.

June 19-22. Market Square, Knoxville, Tenn. kuumbafestival.com.

A Feast for the Eyes—and Palette—on the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad Winding through the grandeur of the Smokies by train is, of course, a visual feast. But the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad is seeking to fill the senses this summer, scheduling train rides offering barbecue dinners and tastings of beer from breweries in the region. The rides are scheduled are scheduled to depart at 7 p.m. from the station, in Bryson City, N.C. arriving at the Fontana Trestle around sunset.

Rides are scheduled at 7 p.m. on June 28, July 12 and Aug. 30, Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, Bryson City, N.C. gsmr.com or 800.872.4681.

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PATRICK PARTON PHOTO

FOLKMOOT INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL A celebration of culture, Folkmoot is a nearly two-week-long international festival of singing and dancing set against the backdrop of the Southern Appalachians. Beyond bluegrass and clogging groups, folk groups from Russia, Turkey, and Colombia among others don colorful costumes representing their heritage. Performers also will include the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The Folkmoot International Festival first was held in 1984 in Waynesville, about 30 miles west of Asheville. It has since drawn folk groups from more than 100 countries to the region.

July 18-27, various locations across Western North Carolina. folkmootusa.org or 877.365.5872.

Appalachian Wine, Jazz and Art Festival Art, jazz music and wine—they go well together, which is why you should go to the Appalachian Wine, Jazz and Art Festival, on Lake Chatuge, in northeast Georgia. Besides local art and soothing jazz, the festival is to include dozens of wines from across Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. It is scheduled for two days in Hiawassee, home to bed and breakfasts, cabins and campgrounds.

June 13-14, Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds, Hiawassee, Ga. mountainwinefest.com or 706.896.4191.

July Fourth of July Parade Bagpipers, floats and members of the U.S. military are to appear on the streets of downtown Gatlinburg, Tenn., for a Fourth of July parade, first organized nearly 40 years ago, that has long remained a big draw. In addition to live music, the festival will include a river regatta, which is scheduled to start at noon at the Christ in the Smokies Bridge. “Anything floatable” is permitted to enter the unmanned race. Registration is free and begins at 10 a.m. A fireworks show will be held downtown at 10 p.m.

July 4, downtown Gatlinburg, Tenn. gatlinburg.com or 800.568.4748.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

Butternut Creek Festival One of the finest juried arts and crafts shows in the Southeast. The two-day festival showcases the work of 65 artists and craftsmen in categories from basketry, fine art, fabric art and decorative painting, to glass, jewelry, metal working, photography, pottery and woodturning.

July 19-20, Blairsville, Ga. butternutcreekfestival.com or 706.439.6074.

Green Bean Festival Green bean eating contests, a recipe contest, canning workshops, a tractor show and parade, 5K race and 15-mile cycling tour, arts and crafts, and tours of a canning plant mark this festival. Enjoy a square dance on Friday night and children's activities, music, demonstrations, and free entertainment until 5 p.m. at the Union County Farmers Market.

July 20, Blairsville, Ga. greenbeanfestival.com or 706.944.4837.

August Dillard Bluegrass Festival & Georgia State Championship Barbecue Cookoff Each year, people come from across the nation to compete in this event to listen to real Bluegrass music played by numerous bands, and to savor the mouth-watering smells and sights of smoking

meats of all kinds. The cooking rigs are a sight to behold, and the vendors serving the many foods and delicacies are some of the best in the world.

Aug. 1-2, Dillard, Ga. dillardbbq.org or 706.746.5891

Virginia Highlands Festival Activities and entertainment for the whole family, anchored by an antiques market and an awardwinning juried arts and crafts show, live music, historical re-enactments, fine art and photography competitions, creative writing workshops, home and garden tours, guided nature hikes, and numerous activities for kids.

Aug. 1-10, Abingdon, Va. vahighlandsfestival.org or 276.623.5266.

Smoky Mountains Songwriters Festival For those seeking to explore the musical roots of the Southern Appalachians, this festival is to offers a window into the heart and soul of a region considered the birthplace of country and bluegrass music. The Smoky Mountains Songwriters Festival runs for four days, with shows on a number of stages around downtown Gatlinburg, Tenn. For the songwriters, it is not only seen as a platform to draw attention, but also to share the stories behind their songs, many of which have emerged as hits in the country and bluegrass scene. The festival, started three years ago, also includes a series of songwriting workshops and competitions for aspiring and emerging songwriters and bands.

Aug. 21-24, Gatlinburg, Tenn. smswf@yahoo.com or 865.604.9066.

Labor Day Party on the Lake Looking for an entertaining way to spend what is considered the unofficial end of summer outdoors?

Party on the lake at Fontana Village Resort, where cookouts, live music and games are scheduled for Labor Day weekend. The festival, called LakeAlooza, first was organized at the lakeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s marina five years ago. It is to end with fireworks at 10 p.m. on the village green.

Aug. 29 to Sept. 1, Fontana Village Resort, Fontana Dam, N.C. fontanavillage.com or 828.498.2211.

Smoky Mountain Folk Festival This 43rd annual event held on the shores of Lake Junaluska brings two days of mountain folk music and dancing with open jams beginning at 5 p.m. and shows in historic Stuart Auditorium. Bring an instrument or simply enjoy hearing others play.

Aug. 29-30, Lake Junaluska, N.C. 828.452.1688.

Boomsday The nation's largest Labor Day weekend fireworks show will light up the sky over Knoxville in a jawdropping spectacle choreographed to an original soundtrack. Fireworks begin at approximately 9 pm (even if it rains!) and will create a rumble to remember.

1 to 10 p.m. Aug. 31, Volunteer Landing, Knoxville, Tenn. visitknoxville.com or 865.342.9108.

The Cactus Blossoms perform during the 2013 Rhythm and Roots Reunion. FILE PHOTO

RHYTHM AND ROOTS REUNION The streets of Bristol, Va., fill with folk musicians from across the Southern Appalachians gather each September, as part of a festival celebrating the musical heritage of the region. The festival, the Rhythm and Roots Reunion, was started after Congress designated the city as the birthplace of country music. Besides the dozens of stages set up around downtown, there are food and craft vendors, and many downtown stores stay open late.

Sept. 19-21, Bristol, Va. bristolrhythm.com or 423.573.4898.

Crossword answers Puzzle is on page 59.

September

Submit your calendar listing

Carolina Craft Day For a glimpse into the craftsmanship of the Southern Appalachians, come to Carolina Craft Day at the North Carolina Arboretum. The fair is scheduled to run in the Education Center at the nearly 450-acre garden, in the Pisgah National Forest. There will be craft demonstrations and juried artworks and crafts, along with plant displays and live music.

Sept. 27, North Carolina Arboretum, Asheville, N.C. ncarboretum.org or 828.665.2492.

To submit a listing for possible inclusion, email calendar@smliv.com.

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d e p a r t m e n t :

MOUNTAIN VIEWS

Dog days, away days

BY CHRIS COX

F

riday afternoon on the deck—the kids are home from school, and the three of us are enjoying another warm, sunny day, watching the squirrels and chickadees compete for the bird seed strewn all over the deck, thanks to the regular suicide runs the squirrels make for the feeder in spite of the best efforts of our miniature dachshund, who patrols this area with alarming vigor, to deter them. We call him “The Sheriff.”

The kids have bowls of chocolate ice cream with M&Ms, and I am enjoying a rare glass of red wine. In the background, Ryan Adams is singing about trains derailing and love lost and how he wants to be somebody’s firecracker. My son Jack has a chocolate moustache.

“Do you want to guess where your mom is at this very moment?”

I ask. The kids are used to these kinds of games from me, and since I’ve bribed them with ice cream, they play along pleasantly enough.

“Where, daddy?”

“She’s 30,000 feet in the air,” I say, pausing just a second to let that sink in, “at this very moment.”

Jack walks over to the rail and looks up through the trees to see if he can catch a glimpse of her.

“Daddy, do you think she can see us?” he says.

“Come on, Jack,” says his sister, rolling her eyes. She is nearly 13 years old now, so the eye roll is her period for the end of just about every sentence these days. “She couldn’t see us from that far away. Plus, she’s not flying over the house, is she, daddy?”

“Well, I’m not sure,” I say, trying to protect Jack’s feelings. “If she is, it probably won’t be for a while longer. She’s not supposed to land in Asheville until about 9:30 or so.”

“Well, if I see a plane, I’m going to wave just to be sure,” Jack says.

We see planes crisscrossing the sky all the time waiting on the school bus every morning. We imagine where they’re going or where they’ve been. We imagine being on them and talk about where we would like to go.

My wife has been in Dallas, Texas, at a training session for her new job, which will require her to be gone a few days each week.

It is an exciting promotion for her, and the new job suits her personality and skill set just about perfectly. Still, we are all in for a transitional phase, which we have talked about at length over the past several weeks. There will be lots of phone calls, lots of

I’m wearing my

lucky Dodger cap and indulging in a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey. I’m like a boy playing hooky from school, having my own adventure.

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MANDY NEWHAM-COBB ILLUSTRATION

video chats, lots of photos of the places she visits posted on Facebook so that the kids and I can see her and feel her presence, even when she is away.

Before she went to Dallas, she took the time to write each of us little letters on bright pink paper and left them on our bedroom pillows, like mints in a hotel. I notice when I put the kids to bed later that the notes are still face up on their bed-stands, where they can read them anytime they want.

“Did mom write you a sweet note?” I ask my daughter as I tuck her in.

“Yeah,” she says, trying to retain her teenage air of studied nonchalance. “You know how she is.”

Yes, I do. I know she will bring home postcards from Texas and airplane pretzels and maybe a T-shirt or a hat. I know she will spend an hour tomorrow morning recounting the details of her Texas adventure—trips to the art museum and the park, a dinner at a wonderful little Mexican restaurant she found, and details about her flights to and from Texas. I know she will spend another hour listening to stories of THEIR adventures while she was gone: a little league baseball game on Thursday night, a difficult test at school, a secret crush who suddenly has a new girlfriend, though no one really cares, no, not at all.

Once I get the kids tucked in, I have time to watch a little bit of golf before switching over to a Dodgers game. I’ve always loved listening to Vin Scully call a Dodger game, and tonight the Dodger’s hotshot South Korean import Hyun-Jin Ryu is hurling a real doozy. I’m wearing my lucky Dodger cap and indulging in a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey. I’m like a boy playing hooky from school, having my own adventure, but Jack’s question from earlier in the day replays in my heart somewhat like hope, “Daddy, do you think she can see us?”

I pick up the note my wife left me and read it again, for about the tenth time, and just a few seconds later, I hear the familiar sound of car wheels on a gravel road and practically jump out of bed in a scramble for the front door, The Sheriff right behind me, yapping all the way.

Being together is the best adventure of all.

SMOKY MOUNTAIN LIVING VOLUME 14 • ISSUE 3

Ingles Distribution Center Black Mountain, NC

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[7] “You’ll never regret the times you spend together.”

_ Grandfather

From your deck, Grandfather Mountain speaks to you.

Inspiring you to slow down, cherish time with family and friends, and soak up all the beauty and adventure the mountains have to offer. Echota is the most successful community in the history of the High Country with owners from across the Southeast. They’ve each learned that whether we’re talking about a mountain as ancient as time itself, or wisdom born from experience and love: When Grandfather speaks, you should listen. To arrange a tour of Echota, call 1.800.333.7601 or stop in today.

133 Echota Parkway Boone, North Carolina 800.333.7601 EchotaNC.com