WNC Travel Guide | 2023

EDUCATIONAL FARM TOURS

BIRTHDAY PARTIES + CELEBRATIONS

FIELD TRIPS & GROUP TOURS

GRANNY’S HOUSE GIFT SHOP

ALPACA YOGA

VACATION RENTALS

2023 EVENTS SCHEDULE

Art After Dark • First Fridays May through December

MOUNTAIN STREET DANCES

June 30 • Whitewater Bluegrass and The Southern Appalachian Cloggers

July 14 • Haywood Ramblers and The Green Valley Cloggers

August 4 • Buncombe Turnpike and The J Creek Cloggers

July 4 • Stars & Stripes Kids Parade

Haywood Community Band concert

11am

3pm

October 14 • 40th Anniversary Church Street Art & Craft Show

October 21

October 31

December 1

December 4

December 9

Apple Harvest Festival

5 to 7pm

10am to 5pm

February 2024

April 20, 2024

Appalachian True Heritage Weekend

10am to 5pm

As folks proud of our region, we also take a lot of pride in making those who visit feel as welcomed and embraced as possible. Life is about trying new things and meeting new people, and what better place to do so than with Mother Nature’s masterpiece of the Great Smoky and Blue Ridge mountain ranges as the backdrop?

Take to the trail for a day hike or mountain bike ride, or to the river for some vigorous kayaking or tranquil fly fishing, or take to Main Street for an afternoon of shopping, perhaps a farm-to-table dinner or live bluegrass performance. The beauty of Western North Carolina resides in the mere notion that every day is a blank canvas by which we have all the colors of possibility at our disposal to paint with. Between our array of weekend festivals and seasonal events, the hardest part is simply figuring out what to do. It’s all here, and more.

I’ve always believed the litmus test of the strength of a place resides in how well its community aims at bringing one and all together. Give me a town where the people really care and are well vested in the community and its potential, and I’ll give you a location that is pulsating with activity, with love and passion, intellectuality and enthusiasm for the unknowns of tomorrow — bring it on, y’all.

Scott McLeod info@smokymountainnews.com

Advertising Director: Greg Boothroyd greg@smokymountainnews.com Composition & Design: Micah McClure micah@smokymountainnews.com

Jessica Murray jessica.m@smokymountainnews.com

Jack Snyder ............. jack.s@smokymountainnews.com

Distribution: Scott Collier .......... classads@smokymountainnews.com

Writing/Photography: Garret K. Woodward garret@smokymountainnews.com

Holly Kays holly@smokymountainnews.com

Adam Bigelow bigelownc@gmail.com

Advertising: Amanda Bradley jc-ads@smokymountainnews.com

Sophia Burleigh sophia.b@smokymountainnews.com

Bookkeeping: Amanda Singletary .. smnbooks@smokymountainnews.com

— Garret K. Woodward, Arts &

Editor

If you’ve picked up this publication, then, by all accounts, you’re in search of outdoors adventure and countless memorable experiences in our backyard paradise that is Western North Carolina.

Eats+Drinks

Pint of passion

WNC brewery sparks camaraderie

Growing up in Detroit, Michigan, Greg Wasik saw firsthand that trademark sense of community at neighborhood taverns around the Motor City. And that genuine scene of friendship and fellowship is something still deeply cherished within him.

“Everybody knew each other, and everybody went to that corner tavern in the eve-

right along the bustling U.S. 441 on the outskirts of Cherokee, the Whittier business has become a beacon of people, place and pints since it opened its doors last November.

“This building is on a five-lane highway with 18,000 cars a day going by, and all [right near] the casino — we weren’t going to do another brewery unless it was a perfect storm kind of thing,” Wasik said.

A mechanical engineer in Michigan who eventually found his way down to Florida, Wasik and his wife, Sharon, have been in Western North Carolina for 17 years, ever since they bought a cabin high up on a mountain overlooking Bryson City. In 2014, the couple opened Valley River Brewing in Murphy, a venture that came to fruition when Harrah’s opened its Valley River Casino.

can restaurant for several years.

“We’ve been trying to get this building for three years,” Greg said, sitting in the depths of Angry Elk. “And I always felt if the right opportunity came along that we’d do another [brewery].”

In his time between opening breweries, the Wasiks would head up to Alaska every summer, with Greg working as a fishing boat captain. With a Coast Guard tender license in-hand, Greg would take groups deep sea fishing on his 34-foot boat from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

“I was combining my retirement with the boating experience I had from owning big boats all my life,” Greg said. “We were trolling for salmon, bottom fishing for halibut, catching yelloweye rockfish.”

ning to talk — everyone is welcome,” Wasik reminisced. “And this was the home of the automotive industry. Mostly blue collar. Everyone saw each other all day on their shi s. But, you go to the local tavern and enjoy a couple beers before going home.”

Those Midwestern memories are at the core ethos of Angry Elk Brewing. Located

“I’ve been a homebrewer for a while and I always liked how I could be creative with the taste of a beer, how I could manipulate the flavors,” Greg said. “And, from an engineering standpoint, I enjoy the building of the brewery — putting the equipment all together, remodeling the interior from start to finish.”

Two years later, the Wasiks sold the brewery. And it wasn’t long a er that where they had their sights on the current Angry Elk building. Constructed in 1958, the structure was originally a longtime diner, then a Mexi-

On the walls of Angry Elk are numerous photos of Greg on his wild adventures along the Alaskan coast. To that, there’s also many nods to the United States military, including an actual Army parachute on the ceiling. With many veterans in his own family, Greg aims to honor those who served, something felt with the brewery’s massive “Thank A Vet” chalkboard wall covered with names and odes to vets.

Surrounding Angry Elk is a 6-acre property that’s currently being developed into an RV park, with that built-in clientele adding to the “neighborhood” vibe of the brewery. In regards to culinary endeavors, there’s a rotating schedule of local food trucks in the parking lot.

Looking at the logistics of the brewery itself, it’s a 3.5-barrel system, with Greg & Co. constantly brewing to keep up with over a dozen styles of ales on tap.

“Most every brewery has the basics —

Greg and Sharon Wasik

blonde, IPA, pale ale, dark beers. Sure, the beer is great at these places, but the brewery itself is the attraction,” Greg said. “And each brewery gets into its own creativity to make funky beers. But, for me, it’s also about just having a nice, comfortable place to sit down and enjoy the company of others — family, friends and strangers.”

So, what about the name, Angry Elk? Well, one summer, the Wasik’s were driving to Gatlinburg and passing by the Oconalu ee Visitor Center at the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A wellknown spot to view and admire herds of elk, the Wasiks had to stop and wait for the elk to get out of the road. It was the midst of rutting season and two male elk were butting heads in front of the Wasik’s vehicle.

“And their antlers were kind of all tangled up, doing this dance that was getting closer to our car,” Greg said. “I said to Sharon, ‘Do you think our insurance guy’s going to believe me when I tell him two elk destroyed the front of our car?’ She laughed and said, ‘Those elk look angry’ — that’s it, that’s what we’re going to name ourselves.”

Eats+Drinks

Coming full circle BearWaters Brewing opens Waynesville location

On a recent mid-May morning, Kevin Sandefur spent five hours spreading gravel in the parking lot of the brand new BearWaters Brewing location on South Main Street in Waynesville.

“The truck driver dropping off the gravel asked if I was one of the owners and I said yes. He goes, ‘And you’re out here doing the parking lot?’ Yep,” Sandefur chuckled.

Founder/co-owner of BearWaters, it’s been a long, arduous road for Sandefur — blood, sweat, tears and cra beer. Known as “The Warehouse,” this latest endeavor in West Waynesville will not only be the brewery’s third brick-n-mortar spot — with Riverside in Canton and Creekside in Maggie Valley — but also a truly full circle moment for Sandefur & Co.

“[The Warehouse] is a testament to never giving up, just persevering and working hard,” Sandefur said. “If you keep grinding and grinding, you’re eventually going to get to where you want to be as long as you don’t give up. Obviously, there’s been a lot of challenges, but we’ve never stopped trying to move forward.”

The last remaining structure from the

former Dayco factory — once a powerful economic driver within Haywood County for decades — BearWaters purchased the enormous 20,000-square-foot building in June 2021. Dubbed “The Warehouse,” BearWaters aims to pay homage to the proud blue-collar roots of the property and its surrounding West Waynesville/Hazelwood community.

“This is another piece of history in Haywood County that we were able to kind of revitalize and making into something functional again,” Sandefur said. “And we though the timing was right with everything happening on this side of town — rebranding of the Waynesville Inn & Golf Club, new [Hampton by Hilton hotel] being built, Plott Creek apartment complex.”

On its 10,000-square-foot main floor taproom, there’s a full arcade/game room, pickleball/cornhole courts and several axe-throwing cages. The space will host community gatherings, sports leagues and art classes hosted by WNC Paint Events. Plans are already in the works for a basement whiskey/bourbon tasting room and roo op lounge component. Food trucks will also be onsite.

“This project is a long plan that we’ve just

been taking one step at a time,” Sandefur said. “We wanted to create a place that families could come and have an opportunity to do some fun activities — it’s set up for everything for all ages.”

And with the rapidly changing cultural, social and economic landscape of Haywood County and greater Western North Carolina, many folks might not remember or be aware of the origin story of BearWaters Brewing.

A 30-year resident of Haywood County, Sandefur was awarded a $7,500 startup seed grant from the Haywood County Chamber of Commerce in 2010. Those funds were at the heart of what became the first BearWaters taproom — two modest sideby-side storage units just off Russ Avenue in Waynesville, which were eventually torn down when the Publix grocery store was built.

“We were fortunate in the little storage unit and we had some really cool moments in there in the beginning,” Sandefur reminisced. “And to look at where we are now, and to see what we have become? There’s a lot to be proud of — it’s exciting, and it feels good.”

By 2016, Sandefur teamed up with food/

beverage professional Art O’Neil, and the duo soon launched the popular BearWaters Riverside brewery/restaurant along the Pigeon River in downtown Canton. Not long a er came the BearWaters Creekside on Soco Road in the west side of Maggie Valley.

In August 2021, BearWaters faced its biggest hardship to date when a massive flood due to Tropical Storm Fred bulldozed through Haywood County. A wall of water overtook the banks of the Pigeon and burst into BearWaters Riverside. But, the brewery was steadfast and resurrected itself, reopening mere weeks later.

“We’re been through a lot and we’re still here. And now being back in Waynesville, it feels like it was the missing piece that we were lacking,” Sandefur said. “Waynesville is the completion of a two-year project of day-

WNCBREWERIES

Andrews

• Hoppy Trout Brewing Company 828.835.2111.• www.hoppytroutbrewing.com

• Snowbird Mountains Brewery 678.419.3035

www.snowbirdmountainsbrewery.com

Bryson City

• Mountain Layers Brewing

www.mtnlayersbkeer.com

• Nantahala Brewing

828.488.2337 • www.nantahalabrewing.com

Canton

• BearWaters Brewing

828.246.0602 • www.bwbrewing.com

Cashiers

• Whiteside Brewing

828.743.6000 • www.whitesidebrewing.com

Cherokee

• Native Brews Tap & Grill 828.497.2739 • www.native-brews.com

in-and-day-out things that need to get done. But, then you stop and actually see people coming in and interacting with the space, their eyes lighting up — it makes all that hard work worthwhile.”

Standing outside of The Warehouse, Sandefur gazed through the big bay doors on the main floor. Numerous family, friends and visitors are milling about inside, each taking in every detail of the building. Their faces light up just as Sandefur had hoped.

“When we first started, we didn’t want to be just ‘Waynesville’s brewery,’ ‘Canton’s brewery’ or ‘Maggie Valley’s brewery’ — we wanted to be ‘Haywood County’s brewery,’” Sandefur said. “And now that we have a presence in all three major townships? A er all these years, we feel like we’ve finally completed that mission.”

Dillsboro

• Innovation Brewing 828.586.9678

www.innovation-brewing.com

Franklin

• Currahee Brewing

828.634.0078 • www.curraheebrew.com

• Lazy Hiker Brewing 828.342.5133 • www.lazyhikerbrewing.com

Hayesville

• Hayesville Brewing 828.835.6010

• Nocturnal Brewing

828.305.7337 • www.nocturnalbrewing.com

• Valley River Brewery

828.389.1472 • www.valleyriverbreweries.com

Highlands

• Satulah Mountain Brewing 828.482.9794

www.satulahmountainbrewing.com

Maggie Valley

• BearWaters Brewing (Outpost) 828.944.0009 • bearwatersbrewing.com

Murphy

• Valley River Brewery 828.837.2337 • www.valleyriverbreweries.com

Sapphire

• Sapphire Valley Brewing 828.743.0220

www.sapphirebrewingcompany.com

Sylva

• Balsam Falls Brewing 828.631.1987

www.facebook.com/balsamfallsbrewing

• Innovation Brewing 828.586.9678

www.innovation-brewing.com

• Lazy Hiker Brewing 828.349.2337 • www.lazyhikerbrewing.com

• Nantahala Brewing (Outpost) 828.641.9797 • www.nantahalabrewing.com

Waynesville

• 7 Clans Brewing 828.454.5664 • www.7clansbrewing.com

• Boojum Brewing

828.944.0888 • www.boojumbrewing.com

• Frog Level Brewing

828.454.5664 • www.froglevelbrewing.com

Kevin Sandefur.

Eats+Drinks

Slice of the dream

Sylva pizzeria comes full circle

As a kid, Pace remembers spending her summers and holidays bouncing around Meatballs, downtown Sylva and greater Western North Carolina. Skip ahead to adulthood, with Pace working in fine dining in New York City where she meets Guzzetti, an executive chef from Argentina with an extensive background in Italian cuisine.

“My first job as a chef was to run a pizza place — I know my way around pizza,” Guzzetti chuckled. “And, when you’re a chef in New York, you sometimes can’t afford to eat in the places that you work. So, you stop somewhere and get a good slice — grab some pizza and keep moving.”

Sliding into a booth at Meatballs

Pizzeria in downtown Sylva, Crystal Pace and Santiago Guzzetti gaze out onto a bustling Main Street rushing by the front windows. It’s been a longtime dream of Pace’s to do just this — to simply sit down and eat pizza in Meatballs.

“I just remember being a little kid and helping out at Meatballs,” Pace said. “And that was my first experience [in the culinary industry]. From there, I went on to do catering and all kinds of things.”

“All kinds of things” seems to be an understatement for Pace and her husband, Guzzetti, nowadays. Aside from launching Meatballs last month, the young couple runs Ilda, an Italian fine dining spot just a stone’s throw away, and Santé, a cozy wine bar next door to Ilda. They also run a catering business with a full calendar of upcoming weddings.

But, for Pace, Meatballs was the true full circle moment. Originally located where Ilda currently stands, Meatballs was a beloved culinary fixture in the small mountain community from 1983 to 2000.

Meatballs was owned and operated by Karen Martar, who was Pace’s stepmother. Hailing from New York, Martar found herself in Sylva with her family’s sacred meatball recipe in hand. In 2007, Martar passed away from pancreatic cancer.

“Karen had such a big character and was so loving,” Pace said. “She really touched me and everyone in this town — not everybody you talk about 40 years later.”

WANT TO GO?

Meatballs Pizzeria is located at 414B West Main St. in Sylva. Hours of operation are noon to 9 p.m. Friday through Monday and 4-9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.

For more information, call 828.354.0248 or visit  www.meatballspizzeria.com

When Pace returned to Jackson County to raise a family with Guzzetti, the duo opened Ilda in April 2021. Although she now owned the former Meatballs building, there was always a thought to someday resurrect the pizzeria. And that’s when the opportunity arose to take over the space next door to Innovation Brewing.

What used to be Pie Times pizzeria, the room already had a wood fire oven and was turn-key ready for its next chapter. With the building owned by Nicole Dexter and Chip Owen of Innovation, the two couples partnered up to open Meatballs.

“I think it’s serendipitous — everything just seemed to work out,” Guzzetti said.

Antoine Maurice Hodge, (from le ) Crystal Pace and Santiago Guzzetti.

With its artisan approach, Guzzetti noted Meatballs offers the choice between Neapolitan and Roman styles of pizza. Martar’s signature meatballs are also on the menu. And with the help of Ilda bar director and acclaimed mixologist Antoine Maurice Hodge, Meatballs now has cra cocktails on tap.

“Neapolitan is sourdough. It requires more fermentation and a longer period of time [to make], where it’s cooked from start to finish in the wood fire,” Guzzetti said. “Our Roman is thicker and super crispy, where the crust is more of a holder for all of the ingredients on top.”

Grabbing herself a fresh slice from the warm pizza pan, Pace consumes the meal with gusto. There’s a surreal sense of gratitude running through her thoughts while sitting in the booth at Meatballs, with the memory of Martar and her ethos always intact in Pace’s daily actions.

“[From Karen], I know that nothing is that serious, and to always have a good time — enjoy the moment, the people, the company,” Pace said. “[Karen] was always lighthearted and never seemed stressed — that’s not easy to do in this environment.”

Eats+Drinks

Like many recent businesses opening in downtown Canton, it’s usually a story of someone deciding to take a chance on a quiet town — a community full of potential that many have either disregarded or overlooked.

“We had people wondering why we’d open something here,” Russ Grimmett recalled. “But, then other business owners in town, the mayor and aldermen all said, ‘This is what Canton needs.’ So, we went on that.”

Opened in June 2019, Papertown Coffee has become a beloved spot of sorts on Main Street in the longtime blue-collar mountain town. It’s a social hub — more so a beehive — of people, conversations and interactions, all of which bring a strong sense of connectivity to a place that, like the rest of the world, has felt a little disconnected over the past two years.

“And we really feel that connection to the community,” Grimmett said. “Even during the shutdown, when we were just doing mobile to-go orders, all of these people were buying gi certificates or buying whatever they could to support us — it was pretty amazing.”

Alongside his partner, Liz Rhine, the couple bounced around the United States for several years before ultimately landing in Haywood County. Rhine grew up in Lincolnton, with Grimmett hailing from Charlotte. From there, they put roots down in “The Triangle” (Raleigh/Chapel Hill/Durham), Seattle, Washington, and Morganton.

The couple met at a coffee shop in “The Triangle.” At the time, Grimmett was a drink trainer, with Rhine one of his employees. Grimmett also competed in several barista competitions, where he perfected the cra of the latte among other coffee specialties.

Eventually, Grimmett shi ed his focus into the more technical side of the coffee industry, doing equipment service in Seattle, then around the Southeast. As this was all going on, Rhine was on the road constantly as the tour manager for juggernaut Americana/roots act Mandolin Orange (now known as Watchhouse).

“She was away a lot and we both decided

we wanted to start a business together,” Grimmett said. “We thought about all sorts of ideas for a company, but coffee made the most sense since I’d been in this industry for 15 years and she’d been in it on and off for about the same amount of time.”

Initially, Grimmett and Rhine were looking to launch a coffee shop somewhere in the Asheville area. But, a friend of the family, Kristina Smith Proctor, who is now on the Canton Board of Aldermen, suggested they look into the town.

“There were a lot of empty buildings in downtown and the place we found seemed perfect for what we were trying to do,” Grimmett said. “So, we just started to roll the ball downhill — you either catch up or you fall over.”

Grimmett remembers those first days on Main Street, whether it was renovating and retrofitting the building or simply being a new presence in the downtown business corridor.

“The most encouraging thing was just really talking to people in the community,” Grimmett said. “I’d be out in front of the building painting and somebody would walk by and ask what was happening. It was those people who really gave us the confidence that this was going to work out — that we would go all in on this.”

Reminiscing about opening day back in 2019, Grimmett can’t help but chuckle thinking about all the last-minute details the couple was scrambling to get done before the coffee was ready to brew, the front door soon to be unlocked

“I was still writing the menu on the chalkboard an hour before we were supposed to open,” Grimmett said. “And being someone who used to work on the service side of coffee, there are so many parts of the whole operation that most people don’t even realize. It’s all of those little things that you might not think about, but it all adds up. But, we opened and

were slammed with business — community support from day one.”

So, what is it about coffee the couple finds so alluring?

“Coming from the technical side, I have more of an analytical mind, where I’m fascinated by the process and science behind coffee, where you’re aiming to create the pinnacle of the product,” Grimmett said. “Liz comes from more of the artistic and social side of coffee, where

it’s about blending together the business and the community. But, now that we’re back open, just seeing everybody every day I think has been the best part for her.”

With Papertown Coffee now entering its fourth year of operation, plans are already in the works to expand next door, which would include an onsite roastery and more food options in terms of small plates and grab-ngo items.

“We love seeing people come in and try something new or unexpected with coffee, where they’ll say, ‘I didn’t know coffee could taste like this,’” Grimmett said. “We’re always changing up what we’re serving and what we want to present to our customers — it’s exciting for us.”

Pouring a cup of community Coffee shop becomes Canton staple

Russ Grimmett and Liz Rhine.

RETAIL AND DRAFT

For Hours, Events & Online Shopping: BLUERIDGEBEERHUB.COM 21 East St · Waynesville · 828−246−9320

Arts+Culture

Cherokee exhibit focuses on mask makers, legacy

The exhibition took a historical approach to focus on early 20th century mask makers, with particular emphasis on Will West Long and three other Big Cove mask makers: Long’s friend and fellow student, Deliskie Climbingbear; Long’s older brother Lawyer Calhoun; and Allen Long, Will West Long’s son.

“Much of what we know about traditional culture, including what we know about masks, we know from Long,” said Curator Anna Fariello, in reference to Will West Long as one of the most significant figures in Cherokee history.

An authority on language, ceremony, and medicine, Will West Long dedicated his life to preserving and sharing his culture. Ethnologist William Fenton, writing about Long said, “His name is associated with the work of every field ethnologist who ventured into Big Cove from 1887 until 1947, when he passed away.”

“I was particularly drawn to Will West Long, who was o en cited as both an inspiration and an authority on traditional culture,” Fariello said. “Little did I realize that there would be few written or photographic records describing Cherokee culture in the earliest decades of the 20th century — finding those resources proved to be difficult.”

The exhibition was made up of 13 text panels with photographs of Big Cove mask makers and their masks. One panel identifies the oldest known existing Cherokee masks and a lost mask by Charley Lossie, Long’s older cousin who taught him mask making. Three audio recordings, songs sung by Long and Climbingbear, run on a loop throughout the exhibit.

Also part of the exhibit was a short film made in 1927, no doubt the earliest film of Cherokee dance ever produced. The silent film includes demonstrations of dances that took place in front of Will West Long’s

Showcased at the Chief Joyce Dugan Cultural Arts Center in Cherokee, a recent exhibition, “Behind the Mask: Cherokee Mask Makers and their Legacy,” aimed to reinforce the significance of Cherokee masks — their history and use, as well as their meaning and significance.

home in Big Cove. Four masked dancers arrive draped in blankets and sheets and are joined by women wearing terrapin shell rattles and holding feather wands. Long is seen with the dancers.

Funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, one goal of the project is to identify masks in public collections so that they may be shared with the Cherokee community.

Masks were located at the Denver Museum, Gilcrease Museum, National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of the American Indian and Pennsylvania Museum. Many of these masks are reproduced on the exhibit panels.

In addition to local sources, photographs, documents and recordings were found at the American Folklife Center, American Philosophical Society, Great Smoky Mountains National Park Archives, and National Anthropological Archives.

All in all, the project acquired 20 photographs of masks by Will West Long and almost 50 of other Cherokee masks located in various parts of the country, as well as 25 previously unknown photographs of Big Cove artisans.

At the close of this project, the items were added to the archives of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. Central Schools Community Affairs Division and EBCI Destination Marketing were primary partners in the project.

The project funded a number of in-school projects at Cherokee Central, including a two-week workshop in which carving teacher and mask maker Josh Adams taught mask making in the style of Will West Long to students and former students. These masks were included in the exhibition.

Students in Lori Reed’s Cultural Arts class participated in a clay mask workshop led by Laura Walkingstick. The workshops aimed to inspire future generations to pursue the traditional arts of their past.

Later in the semester, students had an opportunity to participate in two “Days of Culture,” where they learned about a variety of traditional cra s from eight EBCI cra makers.

Allen Long. Donated photo

At Station 451 we combine an authentic caboose, bath house and relaxing outdoor space into a unique tiny house experience you’ll never forget!

The bright red storybook caboose was part of the famed Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. The caboose itself is located in a private rural area. It is located minutes to I-40, about 30 minutes to Asheville, 20 miles to Tennessee and a mere 1.5 hours to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, TN. Station 451 is approximately 10 miles from the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

Close to hiking, waterfalls, the Blue Ridge Parkway, fly fishing, tubing, kayaking, shopping, fine dining, Harrah’s Casino in Cherokee, art galleries, and theater. You name it and it’s a short drive away!

www.vrbo.com/919819 OR airbnb.com/h/cabooseatstation451

Station 451 is the vacation!

Unlike a place where you just lay your head at night, this was an adventure like no other. The caboose is so sweet, and the "depot" (bathroom) is luxury. The connecting deck is the best place to be. We loved being out there! It was a great experience and we hope to return.

— Alexandra T.

Super unique, extremely comfy, wonderful location! This place is so fun!!! The location was beautiful and removed enough to feel private but close enough to easily get around town and to the local restaurants and shops. The bath house was beautiful and the amenities were fabulous!

— Sarah G.

Arts+Culture

Making a mark: Potter bridges nature, art, memories

studying English

University

“And I really fell in love with clay — the feel of it, the community around it,” Bendo said. “It was just the act of making things, she was making ends meet working other gigs, pottery remained at the core of her long-term vision of a life well-lived, person-

“I’ve always appreciated the utilitarian aspect of the cra . These things you use every day, and being able to interact with the objects and having these really intimate connections with those handmade pieces — drinking a cup of coffee or using a plate to present a meal,” Bendo said. “And the history of it, too. Humans have been making pottery for thousands of years, where the process is pretty much the same. You can make pots the same way our ancestors

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

The learn about the pottery and artwork of Christina Bendo, click on www.christinabendo.com. The site also serves as an online store for her handmade pieces. As well, if you’d like to make an appointment to visit the Waynesville studio, you can contact Bendo through the site.

did — the same materials and same firing process.”

These days, Bendo owns and operates a pottery studio just off Main Street in downtown Waynesville. Although she’d been slowly chipping away at her aspirations of having a place to create and sell her homemade wares, it was during the early days of the pandemic that finally led to Bendo turning her dream into a reality.

“During the shutdown, I got laid-off from my job and found myself trying to figure what I was going to do,” Bendo said. “And while I was doing that, I would go out every week and hike the same section of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in the Balsams — March [2020] through the summer, the same thing over and over again.”

But, even though Bendo would traverse the same trail, she began to notice how each trek was as different and unique as the next, whether it be temperature, vegetation growth, or simply her mindset while disappearing into the depths of Mother Nature.

“It was those experiences out on the trail that started to come out in my work, where

While

at the

of Mary Washington, Christina Bendo decided to, by chance, take an elective one semester — pottery.

I’ve been doing seasonal collections based on those observations that I had,” Bendo said. “And being on the East Coast, you can observe the changing of the seasons, where you go back to the same spot and see the gradual changes over the course of time.”

For Bendo, her work with ceramics not only embraces her deep love of nature and art, it also touches upon a passion for the past, one which also reflects upon the moments created with her pieces now part of someone else’s life.

“All I could hope happens with my pieces is that they end up being something that creates memories, maybe even get passed down as family heirlooms,” Bendo said. “People come into the studio who are nature or pottery lovers or maybe just passing through and visiting, where they take a pot or mug home with them — what starts out as my idea has now become part of their story.”

Walking into her studio each day, the journey to the here and now of what has come to fruition isn’t lost on Bendo. If anything, the gratitude to do what she loves for a living is something at the heart of her pottery — fingerprints of talent and purpose all over each piece that gets picked up off the shelves and brought out into the world.

“It feels really good to be in this space, you

know? It’s this sense of accomplishment for making something, building something from the ground up. It’s taken many years to get to this point where I can walk in and everything is just so dialed in with my creative process,” Bendo said. “And I like being able to interact with people from the community, to welcome people into my space, where you just never know who will walk through the door — it’s great to see all of it come full circle.”

Arts+Culture

Obstacles are opportunities: Yonder Community Market

With

Facing Stinson were a few dozen concertgoers sitting in lawn chairs and at small wooden tables, each there to witness a rare, intimate solo gig by a founding member of alt-rock icons The Replacements. Stinson also had a 16-year run as part of Guns N’ Roses.

Those kinds of shows are exactly what this market and its owners want to provide for this region.

“We want to create a place of good vibes, and to be good hosts to whoever plays here, to whoever finds themselves here to listen to the music,” said Hannah Edwards, co-owner of Yonder. “We’re always looking at different ways to expand our vision and to find new ways to bring the community together.”

Alongside her husband, Alan, the couple is at the helm of Yonder, a multifaceted property of local food, live music, cozy lodging and genuine connectivity just outside of downtown Franklin on the corner of Georgia Road and Hillcrest Avenue.

“Whether we realized it or not at the time, everything that’s happened has been a true blessing,” Hannah said. “Opportunities are still presenting themselves, and we’re trying to stay positive, all with success in our minds — this is where we want to be and what we want to be doing.”

Originally from Cartersville, Georgia, Alan crossed paths with Hannah when he relocated to her native Charlotte several years ago. He was a longtime musician and owned a small business, while she was headlong into

the hospitality and restaurant industry. Not long a er they married, the duo started realizing the city life wasn’t for them, where the noise and distraction was too much — solitude and a slower pace was the remedy.

Soon, they’d find themselves meandering around the mountains of Western North Carolina, ultimately taking the scenic route through Macon County to visit family in Cartersville. In 2017, almost serendipitously, they found a cabin tucked into the woods in the area known as Otto.

“And we made this giant move to leave Charlotte and move to Macon full-time,” Hannah said. “When we came here, I knew my true passion was in the hospitality world. I love cook and entertaining, and both of us are really passionate about eating well — being able to offer people food that’s local and not processed.”

That keen philosophy of local provisions parlayed itself into the launch of the Yonder restaurant in March 2018. Located on Georgia Road, the establishment was a labor of love, with Hannah making everything from scratch — handmade with local ingredients, no compromises.

“Our motto is ‘real folks, real food,’” Hannah said. “It’s not just a tagline, it’s a way of life that we want people to embrace and be educated about — to eat real food and not the corporate-run food that’s everywhere.”

Though Yonder held steady and began to flourish in those early days, the pandemic and ensuing shutdown of 2020 decimated restaurants worldwide, with the business (as it was initially presented) eventually falling victim to the closure of public spaces.

Not to be deterred, the Edwards transitioned all of their local meat, produce, cheese and beverage connections into an online community market where folks could pre-order items each week. And what was seen as a temporary financial solution for the Edwards — and also the local providers still in limbo during the shutdown — kicked off the next chapter of Yonder.

“Everything was so uncertain. We were in survival mode, but we were able to keep the community fed,” Hannah said. “And we were able to keep our small farmers paid, our bread makers paid, our local dairy farms paid — it was incredible.”

With the success of the online service, the

a hot sun falling behind the mountains, rock legend Tommy Stinson strapped on his Gibson acoustic guitar and stood behind a microphone on the side lawn of Yonder Community Market in Franklin.

couple bought an abandoned property on Hillcrest Avenue and began renovating the old garage into a curbside pickup for local provisions, the building itself taking shape into a walk-in community grocery store once COVID mandates were li ed.

“All of the money spent here is not going to outside corporate interest; our money is staying inside our local economy,” Alan said. “We believe strongly that small communities need micro-economies — the more a community supports itself and supports each other, imagine how transformative that is for all of us.”

And as society has begun to reopen and reconvene, Yonder as it stands today is a testament to the never-give-up attitude and community-minded ethos of the Edwards. The property is a beehive of humanity, hosting live music and yoga sessions regularly. There’s also an onsite AirBnB, with plans currently in the works to expand the store, build an outdoor stage, and offer more activities.

“I still can’t believe that we’ve gotten to this point — it’s been a long journey,” Alan chuckled. “In my life, and in our lives, you say you’re grateful or thankful for what has come to be. But, I’ve never really understood what it meant completely until these past couple of years — we’re grateful and appreciative.”

WANT TO GO?

Yonder Community Market is located at 151 Hillcrest Ave. in Franklin. Offering local provisions, hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week.

Embracing their motto of “Always family friendly. Always a good time,” Yonder will be showcasing an array of local, regional and national touring acts this summer and fall. Concerts are free and open to the public (unless otherwise noted). Donations encouraged. Bring your own lawn chair. Wine, cra beer and cider are also available for purchase onsite, alongside a wide selection of organic snacks.

To learn about live music events and other upcoming happenings, call 828.200.2169 or click on www.eatrealfoodinc.com.

Alan and Hannah Edwards.

Arts+Culture

and Mountain Heart bandmate Barry Abernathy. He called me several months ago with the idea of forming an ‘all-star’ band for this show,” Taylor said. “Some of my favorite musicians are involved. And there are no plans for further dates or recordings, which made the show feel even more special — one night only.”

The talented pickers have worked with musical icons Dolly Parton, Tom Petty, Martina McBride, Alan Jackson, J.D. Crowe, Dailey & Vincent, Joe Diffie, Rhonda Vincent, Lonesome River Band, Ricky Skaggs, Lee Ann Womack and Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, among numerous others.

Force of nature: WNC bluegrass star shines bright in Music City

This past spring, guitarist Seth Taylor and his band, longtime bluegrass staple Mountain Heart, once again took the stage under the bright lights at the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.

“I love getting to play other instruments onstage as well, but the guitar [and I] feel the most connected,” the 29-year-old said. “The guitar found me at such an early age, and we clicked — I feel like I never really made this decision [to pick it up and learn].”

Hailing from Bryson City, Taylor, a multi-instrumentalist, is well-known and regarded around “Music City” as a six-string virtuoso on the acoustic guitar, one where his name gets whispered in the same breath as Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle and Bryan Sutton, with Sutton also a Western North Carolina native.

“I got into music super early in life. I don’t remember it, but apparently, I asked for a guitar when I was two [years old],” Taylor said. “My parents and siblings don’t play music, but they’re all big music fans, so there was always music playing in my house. I always just wanted to play. And, by the time I was 15, I had my first touring gig.”

Aside from his relentless work on the road and in the studio with Mountain Heart, Taylor is constantly involved in a bevy of

musical projects and ever-evolving session work. One new project, Woodbox Heroes, just released a highly-anticipated EP.

Amid a slew of heavyweight musicians, Woodbox Heroes includes legendary bassist Barry Bales of Alison Krauss & Union Station and fiddle wizard Jenee Fleenor, the first woman ever to be nominated and win the Country Music Association (CMA) award for “Musician of the Year,” which she’s now won four times (2019-2022).

“Being involved in so many different types of music as a session musician, I’m so thankful to have a bluegrass background to fall back on,” Taylor said. “While it can be super difficult to play, I love the simplicity of the music — I think we can all just relate to bluegrass music.”

But, most recently, Taylor was excited about the public unveiling of his bluegrass supergroup, Grass Of ’23. When the group played at the Stecoah Valley Center in Robbinsville in April of this year, the ensemble featured Barry Abernathy (banjo), Mark Fain (bass), Darrell Webb (mandolin) and Ron Stewart (fiddle).

“Grass of ‘23 is the brainchild of my old boss

“The uncertainty [of the music industry] is really what keeps most people in my position inspired to keep working. Because we never know what is going to work, and what people will relate to musically,” Taylor said. “That’s why I keep pushing to just create. I think seeing how excited people are to see shows post-shutdown makes me feel like we’re definitely supposed to be doing this.”

Looking at the current state of music — especially with Nashville at the center of the whirlwind of genres, artists and collaborations — Taylor views the unknown horizon and unfolding sonic landscape as bountiful as any previous era. To that, Taylor was part of Zach Bryan’s juggernaut 2022 album “American Heartbreak.”

“I [saw] how people embraced that [Zach Bryan] project, not only in Nashville, but the whole country,” Taylor said. “And being involved in the alt-country scene has opened my eyes to how excited young people are about music, as well — genre lines have blurred so much and I think that’s great.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

The Stecoah Vallety Center is housed in a renovated schoolhouse in the village of Stecoah, which is is about a half-hour west of Bryson City via US-74 West and NC-28 North — roughly midway between Bryson City and Fontana Dam.

The center is also about 15 minutes north of Robbinsville via NC-143 and NC-28 South.

For more information about the center or upcoming shows and exhibits visit www.stecoahvalleycenter.com, call 828.479.3364, or email info@stecoahvalleycenter.com.

Seth Taylor (center).

Andrews

•Blue Stage

828.361.2534

• Hoppy Trout Brewing

828.835.2111 •www.hoppytroutbrewing.com

• Jimmy’s Pick-N-Grin www.jimmyspickngrin.com

Brasstown

• John C. Campbell Folk School

800.365.5724 or 828.837.2775 www.folkschool.org

Bryson City

• Mountain Layers Brewing

828.538.0115 •www.mtnlayersbeer.com

• Nantahala Brewing

828.488.2337 •www.nantahalabrewing.com

• Nantahala Outdoor Center

888.905.7238 •www.noc.com

• Unplugged Pub

828.538.2488

Canton

• BearWaters Brewing

828.246.0602 • www.bwbrewing.com

• Colonial Theatre 828.235.2760 •www.cantonnc.com

• Southern Porch

828.492.8009 •www.southern-porch.com

Cashiers

• The Ugly Dog Pub

828.743.3000 •www.theuglydogpub.com

• Whiteside Brewing

828.743.6000 •www.whitesidebrewing.com

Cherokee

• Harrah’s Cherokee 828.497.7777 •www.harrahscherokee.com

Dillsboro

• Innovation Station 828.226.0262 •www.innovation-brewing.com

•Quirky Birds Treehouse & Bistro 828.586.1717 www.facebook.com/quirkybirdstreehouse

Franklin

• Cowee School Arts & Heritage Center

828.369.4080 •www.coweeschool.org

• Currahee Brewing 828.634.0078 •www.curraheebrew.com

•Frog Quarters 828.369.8488 • www.littletennessee.org

• Lazy Hiker Brewing 828.342.5133 •www.lazyhikerbrewing.com

• Rathskeller Coffee Haus & Pub 828.369.6796

www.facebook.com/rathskellerfranklin

• Smoky Mountain Center for the Performing Arts 828.524.1598 •www.greatmountainmusic.com

•Yonder Community Market 828.200.2169 • www.eatrealfoodinc.com

Glenville

•Happ's Place 828.742.5700 • www.happsplace.com

Hayesville

• Hayesville Brewing 828.835.6010 www.hayesvillebrewingcompany.com

• Peacock Performing Arts Center 828.389.2787 •www.peacockplayhouse.org

Highlands

•Farm at Old Edwards www.oldedwardshospitality.com/orchardsessions

• Lost Hiker 828.526.8232 •www.thelosthikerbar.com

•Highlander Mountain House 828.526.2590

www.highlandermountainhouse.com

• Highlands Performing Arts Center 828.526.9047 •www.highlandspac.info

• Satulah Mountain Brewing 828.482.9794 •www.satulahmountainbrewing.com

• The Ugly Dog Pub 828.526.8364 •www.theuglydogpub.com

Maggie Valley

• BearWaters Brewing (Creekside)

828.944.0009 •www.bearwatersbrewing.com

•Maggie Valley Festival Grounds 828.926.0866

www.maggievalleyfestivalgrounds.org

•Meadowlark Motel

828.926.1717 • www.meadowlarkmotel.com

• Salty Dog’s Seafood and Grill

828.926.9105

• Stompin’ Ground

828.926.1288

•Valley Cigar & Wine Co.

828.944.0686 • www.valleycigarandwineco.com

• Valley Tavern 828.944.0703 • www.facebook.com/valleytavern

Murphy

•Chevelle’s 828.389.6069 •www.chevellerestaurants.com

Robbinsville

• Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center 828.479.3364 •www.stecoahvalleycenter.com

Sapphire

•SlopeSide Tavern 828.743.8655 • www.slopesidetavern.com

Sylva

• Balsam Falls Brewing 828.631.1987 •www.balsamfallsbrewing.com

• City Lights Café 828.587.2233 •www.citylightscafe.com

• Innovation Brewing 828.586.9678 •www.innovation-brewing.com

• Lazy Hiker 828.349.2337 •www.lazyhikerbrewing.com

• O’Malley’s Pub & Grill 828.631.0554

• Nantahala Brewing (Outpost) 828.641.9797

www.nantahalabrewingsylvaoutpost.com

Waynesville

• Blue Ridge Beer Hub 828.246.9320 •www.blueridgebeerhub.com

• The Gem at Boojum Brewing 828.944.0888 •www.boojumbrewing.com

•Folkmoot Friendship Center www.folkmoot.org

• Frog Level Brewing 828.454.5664 •www.froglevelbrewing.com

• The Scotsman 828.246.6292 •www.scotsmanpublic.com

• Water’n Hole Bar & Grill 828.456.4750

www.facebook.com/waternhole.bar

Whittier

•Angry Elk Brewing 828.497.1015

www.facebook.com/angryelkbrewingco

Play me that mountain music

Live music is an important part of the heritage of Western NC. Here’s a listing of venues that regularly have bands in the region:

Arts+Culture

Bringing history, culture and lore to life: Smoky Mountain Heritage Center

In an effort to preserve and perpetuate the heritage arts and lore of the Great Smoky Mountains and greater Southern Appalachia, the Smoky Mountain Heritage Center has now come to fruition at the Meadowlark Motel in Maggie Valley.

“This place is about a passion for the heritage of this region — art, music, storytelling, the outdoors,” said Bob Plott, general manager of the SMHC and a well-known Appalachian historian/author. “The hope is to start with these initial programs and then move towards building a permanent building to house our events.”

Kicking off last summer with a PlottFest reunion, upcoming indoor/outdoor events include bluegrass concerts with local/regional musical legends, fly fishing workshops, and storyteller sessions. All events will take place in the “Back Porch Pavillon” on the property, an elaborate structure that will serve at the temporary headquarters of the center.

“We’re walking distance from pretty much everything in Maggie Valley, and we hope to serve as a home base for visitors who stay at the motel. Explore our beautiful backyard that is the Smokies, only to then take in a program at the center,” Plott said.

The idea for the center came about when

What lies beneath: WNC Museums

Although the rich history and culture of Western North Carolina is alive and thriving through the hands of our local artisans and performers, there are also numerous museums here preserving and perpetuating the heritage of Southern Appalachia. These buildings each pay homage to the crafts, sounds, and deeply held traditions of these ancient mountains and its people.

• American Museum of The House Cat

Over 5,000 items dedicated to entire history of the house cat, here and abroad.

5063 U.S. 441, Sylva 828.421.0275 or 828.506.1236

www.facebook.com/americanmuseumofthehousecat

Plott was a guest on the “Gateway to the Smokies” podcast earlier this year, which is hosted by the longtime owner of the motel, Joseph Franklyn McElroy. Kindred spirits and aficionados on all things Southern Appalachia, the duo put into motion the initial plans for the center.

“We also want to use this place to pro-

• Andrews Art Museum

Exhibits and galleries featuring local and regional artists.

Corner of Chestnut and Third streets, Andrews 828.360.5071

www.andrewsvalleyarts.com

• Appalachian Rivers Aquarium

Exhibits regional species of fish, amphibians, reptiles and hellbenders.

117 Island Street 828-488-7857

flyfishingmuseum.org/aquarium

• Canton Area Historical Museum

Displays focusing on the cultural history of Canton and Haywood County.

36 Park Street, Canton 828.646.3412

www.cantonnc.com

mote other things, too. We want this to be a collaborative effort, not just for Maggie Valley, but for the surrounding communities, as well,” Plott said. “Whenever there is an event, concert or festival in our area, we want to work with everyone who’s also passionate about the history and art of this region.”

• Cherokee County Historical Museum

Artifacts and exhibits showcasing the Cherokee Indians, local history and artisans.

87 Peachtree Street, Murphy 828.837.6792

www.cherokeecounty-nc.gov

• Clay County Historical & Arts Council Museum

Displays exhibiting the history, art and people of the area.

21 Davis Loop, Hayesville 828.389.6814

www.clayhistoryarts.org

• Fly Fishing Museum of the Southern Appalachians

Showcasing the history of fly fishing in the Southeast. 210 Main Street, Bryson City 828.488.3681

www.flyfishingmuseum.org

• Franklin Gem & Mineral Museum

Extensive exhibits on the region’s gems and minerals.

25 Phillips Street, Franklin 828.369.7831

www.fgmm.org

• Glenville Historical Museum

Showcasing the history and culture of Glenville and greater Western North Carolina with exhibits and displays.

4735 N.C. 107 North, Glenville 828.743.1658

• Graham County Museum of Prehistoric Relics

A collection of prehistoric artifacts from North, South and Central America.

3204 Fontana Road, Fontana Dam 828.479.3677

www.thehikeinn.com

• Highlands Museum & Historical Village

A village composed of several restored buildings, with historical exhibits in the museum. 524 North 4th Street, Highlands 828.787.1050

www.highlandshistory.com

• John W. Bardo Fine & Performing Arts Center

Local and regional art, with historical exhibits. 199 Centennial Drive, Cullowhee 828.227.2787

www.wcu.edu/bardo-arts-center

• Junaluska Memorial & Museum

Displays dedicated to preserving Cherokee Indian history and culture.

1 Junaluska Drive, Robbinsville 828.479.4727

• Macon County Historical Society & Museum

Antiques and artifacts showcasing the history of Macon and Western North Carolina. 36 West Main Street, Franklin 828.524.9758

www.maconnchistorical.org

• Mountain Farm Museum

Collection of historical log buildings and artifacts. 150 U.S. 441 North, Oconaluftee Visitor Center 423.436.1200

www.nps.gov/grsm

• Mountain Heritage Center

Extensive displays of Western North Carolina and Southern Appalachian history.

150 H.F. Robinson Building, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee 828.227.7129

www.wcu.edu

• Museum of American Cut & Engraved Glass

Exhibits presenting one of the finest collections of its kind in the world.

472 Chestnut Street, Highlands 828.526.3415

www.ashevilleguidebook.com

• Museum of the Cherokee Indian Large exhibits showcasing the extensive and intricate tribe history. 589 Tsali Boulevard, Cherokee 828.497.3481

www.cherokeemuseum.org

• Museum of North Carolina Handicrafts

Featuring unique works from some of the state’s most acclaimed artisans.

49 Shelton Street, Waynesville 828.452.1551

www.sheltonhouse.org

• Ruby City Gems Museum

Thousands of gem and mineral specimens on display.

131 East Main Street, Franklin 828.524.3967

www.rubycity.com

• Scottish Tartans Museum

Exhibit on Scottish history and culture abroad and in Western North Carolina. 86 East Main Street, Franklin 828.524.7472

www.scottishtartans.org

• Smoky Mountain Trains Museum

Collection of 7,000 Lionel engines, cars, accessories, plus large operating layout. 100 Greenlee Street, Bryson City 800.872.4681, x215 gsmr.com

• Wheels Through Time Museum

Rare and extensive collection of vintage motorcycles and classic automobiles.

62 Vintage Lane, Maggie Valley 828.926.6266

www.wheelsthroughtime.com

• World Methodist Museum

Artifacts and memorabilia celebrating founder John Wesley and the worldwide religion. 575 Lakeshore Drive, Lake Junaluska 828.456.9432

www.worldmethodistcouncil.org

Wheels Through Time Museum.

Outdoors+Recreation

For the love of bison

When Cheryl Hillis started managing vacation rentals in Haywood County 15 years ago, Airbnb didn’t exist, reservations were made with phone calls and mailed checks, and she lived nowhere near Western North Carolina. Hillis was the face of Buffalo Creek Vacations, but she took reservations and managed payments from whichever town her military husband and their four boys lived at the time.

“Sometimes my husband would be deployed, and I had the boys,” she recalled. “I remember one time it was just nuts. They would be banging on the door for food, and I’d be in the pantry making a reservation the old-fashioned way.”

“We built this with a lot of sweat and love

and hard work,” she added.

What Hillis — along with her parents, Harold and Harriet Clackett, husband Jeff and three brothers with their spouses — have built is Trinity Bison Ranch and Buffalo Creek Vacations, a 72-acre enclave in Crabtree that is part vacation destination, part working farm and part petting zoo.

‘We call him Noah’

While Hillis has long been the public face of the family business, the story started with her father Harold, who spent his working years as a UPS truck driver on Long Island, New York. When he retired, he wanted a change. In 1994, Harold and his wife Harriet moved down to Clyde.

“He loved bison,” said Hillis. “He wanted

to raise something American-made. So he built his house and got four bison.”

Ten years later, the 40 acres behind them came up for sale, and Harold quickly contacted his daughter and five sons, urging them to pool their money and help buy it. Of the six siblings, four opted in — setting the stage to expand the bison herd, build an ever-increasing number of cabins and acquire a growing roster of other farm animals. In 2005, Cheryl and Jeff invested five additional bison in the herd and in 2007 the first vacation rental opened.

“My dad, we call him Noah because he feels like he has to have every kind of animal,” Hillis said.

Currently, the farm is home not only to the bison herd, which now numbers 38 animals,

The bison herd run in for feeding time.

but also alpacas, llamas, mini donkeys, horses, mini horses, goats, rabbits, chickens and a tom turkey. It also holds 10 cabins — that number is set to increase to 14 by the end of 2024 — and two luxury caboose rentals, with renovations underway on four more. Like the model train exhibit on the top floor of the main building, the renovated cabooses are a nod to Harold’s love of trains.

But the 38 enormous animals at the center of the property are the reason for it all. On Sept. 17, the herd welcomed the annual conference of the Eastern Bison Association, an event typically held further north.

“He (Harold) always just loved bison, and bison are our national mammal,” said Hillis. “He just wanted to preserve and protect them.”

America’s national mammal

The American bison, the largest terrestrial animal in North America, once covered grasslands and prairies across the continent. With males weighing a ton or more, bison provided abundant and healthy meat to the Native American societies in their range, and their various body parts supplied materials for clothing, shelter and tools. Their populations reached into the tens of millions, but European Americans settling the western half of the continent in the 1800s saw the bison as an enemy supply line to be cut off. The U.S. Army launched a campaign to remove Native American tribes by exterminating bison, their main food source. By the late 1880s, the giant herds were nearly gone.

Today, about 30,000 bison live in public and private herds across the continent that are managed for conservation goals, according to the National Park Service — including the 2,300 to 5,500 that are part of the iconic Yellowstone National Park population. However, approximately 400,000 bison are raised as livestock, as is the case at Trinity Bison Ranch.

While the farm in Haywood County is thousands of miles away from the famed bison herds of Yellowstone and the Black Hills, hundreds of years ago the spot may well have housed native wild bison. The animals’ historical range was not relegated to the American West.

“The buffalo was certainly here long before the Cherokees emerged as a distinctive culture about a thousand years ago. They knew the great beast as ‘yansa,’ and

utilized it for clothing and food,” naturalist George Ellison wrote in a 2010 column for The Smoky Mountain News. “According to Arlene Fradkin’s Cherokee Folk Zoology (N.Y.: Garland, 1990), the horns were made into surgical instruments for curing swellings

from boils and toothaches as well as for war trumpets. Buffalo hoofs were sometimes worn on warriors’ feet during war expeditions so as to deceive the enemy. To this day the buffalo dance is still a favorite among the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.”

Most experts believe the bison had been extirpated — or made locally extinct — from the mountains of Western North Carolina by around 1865, Ellison wrote, adding that the last reference he could locate came from a 1752-53 diary kept by Bishop Augustus Gottlieb Spangenberg during an exploration of the Blue Ridge. Bison in the Smokies region were usually described as smaller and better adapted to woodland living than the western plains bison, but Ellison believes that the animals were more an ecological variant of the plains bison than a genetic one.

Genetically, the

A mini donkey brays on an autumn a ernoon.

A mother alpaca sniffs her newborn baby.

bison inhabiting farms like Trinity aren’t distant relatives of their wild cousins like horses and cows are from their wild predecessors, Hillis said. The bison live a domestic lifestyle, but they don’t have a domestic temperament.

“We don’t even pet them. We want to but we don’t,” said Hillis. “They are not aggressive, but they are wild animals.”

On roundup day, which typically takes place on Black Friday, the Clackett family gets about 10 people together to run the bison through the chute, tagging the calves, deworming the whole herd and identifying bulls for next year’s processing. It’s stressful, Hillis said, being that close to such enormous animals. You have to keep your wits about you.

“They don’t really paw the ground like cows or bulls, but when that tail goes straight up, that’s when they’re irritated, and they’re gonna charge you,” said Hillis. “We rarely see that here. Unless you make them mad, they’re just out in the pasture enjoying life.”

Jumping in

Harold Clackett didn’t start the bison herd with the goal of producing meat, but as the herd grew processing became a necessity. The property can’t sustain uncontrolled growth. In 2015, the family started processing a few bison each year — currently, the annual number is four, typically bulls.

“If you don’t cull them out, they will,” Hillis said. “The bulls will kill each other off.”

Each year, they get six or seven calves from the females in the herd. A er the bulls are sent off to the processor, they’ll buy some new animals to maintain the herd’s genetic diversity. The meat gets sold and served to the property’s guests, as well as at the Haywood’s Historic Farmers Market and in the Trinity Burger served at Furman’s Burger Bar in Waynesville. The farm also offers farmfresh eggs and fiber products from the alpacas and llamas.

“We’re just a very small, family-run business,” Hillis said, “so we all jump in and have a part.”

Now, Hillis can play her part in person, rather than using phones and email to maintain her connection from some distant military base. A er 27 years of service, Hillis’ husband Jeff retired to civilian life last year. The couple is building a house on the property, nestled amid the fields holding horses and alpacas.

As a 20-something Long Islander helping her dad get the vacation rental business off the ground, Hillis was skeptical of the whole endeavor. Who would come out to Clyde, North Carolina, to sleep in a cabin hidden up a gravel mountain road?

Lots of people, it turns out. The cabins and cabooses are frequently full, especially during leaf season. And while Hillis’ days are busy with answering phones, helping guests and managing the business, just outside the door is the menagerie of animals and the natural beauty that draws millions of people to the mountains each year. Ultimately, it drew Hillis too.

“I love the country,” she said. “I love living here.”

Members of the Clackett family pose on one of the property’s caboose rentals.

CREATIVITY IGNITES.

Bardo Arts Center at Western Carolina University is your cultural catalyst for the creative arts. Blaze artistic trails with our world-class performances and innovative contemporary art exhibitions.

Plan your visit today at bardo.wcu.edu

SMOKY MOUNTAIN FOLK FESTIVAL

Stuart Auditorium, Lake Junaluska

August 25 & 26

Free Open Tent Show 5:00-6:30pm Fri. & Sat. Auditorium Stage 6:30-10:30pm Fri. & Sat. $12 Advance Tickets • $15 At the Door Festival Director Joe Sam Queen 828.452.1688

Paid for in part by the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority.

SMOKYMOUNTAINFOLKFESTIVAL.COM

TOP: Pilobolus: The Big Five-OH!, 2022.

BOTTOM: Courtney M. Leonard - BREACH: Logbook23 | CORIOLIS, 2023

Outdoors+Recreation

Notes from a plant nerd

Trilliums, Trilliums, Trilliums

Trilliums are some of the most beautiful and iconic wildflowers in the world, and the Southern Appalachian mountains are filled with many different trillium species.

Wake-robins, toadshades, bashful trilliums, large white trilliums, painted trilliums, and so many more. There are trilliums with white flowers, red flowers, maroon, yellow and pink flowers. Even some trilliums with variegated patterns on their petals, or variegation or mottling on their leaves.

There are at least 13 species of trillium in North Carolina, 14 in South Carolina, 16 in Alabama, 18 in Tennessee and 20 in Georgia. Most of those species grow in the mountainous areas of those states, so were we to consider the entire bioregion of Southern Appalachia, we would be the trillium capital of the world (which we are).

Most everything about trilliums comes in threes. Three leaves, three petals and three sepals. Sepals are modified leaves that form the outer covering of flower buds that then open and hold the flowers from below. Trilliums even have three stigmas, which of course are one of the parts of the flower. You remember the names for all the flower parts,

I’m sure. Especially as you were taught them in elementary school.

Flower structures are divided into two parts, the female and male parts of the flower. The female flower parts, where seeds are developed, are called the pistil, which are comprised of the stigma, style and ovary. The male parts are called stamens, and are comprised of the anther, which produces pollen, on a stalk called a filament.

There are three general types of trilliums, continuing the triplet theme of this plant. There are trilliums whose flowers arise right on top of the leaves and have no flower stalk. These are called sessile, which means without a stalk. The term can be applied to flowers or leaves in describing parts of plants.

The sessile trilliums that grow around us include little sweet betsy (Trillium cuneatum) with maroon flowers that smell sweet, and the yellow trillium (Trillium luteum) which have yellow flowers and smell like lemon custard. Both trilliums have mottled leaves and are closely related enough that they can hybridize when growing in the same area. These hybrids produce a brown flower with a sweet scent.

The other categories of trilliums are those whose flowers are born on a stalk, or pedicel. These stalked trilliums can hold the flower above the leaves, like the wake-robin (Trillium erectum) and large white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum). And then there are the nodding trilliums, whose stalked flowers hang below the leaves, o en seeming to hide from view.

Examples of nodding trilliums in our area include Vasey’s trillium (Trillium vaseyi), southern nodding trillium (Trillium rugelii) and Catesby’s trillium (Trillium catesbei). These trilliums are named for historic botanists George Vasey, Ferdinand Rugel and Mark Catesby, respectively.

However, I prefer to call Trillium catesbei by one of its other common names, the bashful trillium, since the flower is hiding below the leaves and blushes pink when you flip up the leaves to look at it.

Trillium seeds have developed an interesting way to spread themselves around. The seeds of trilliums have a fleshy, protein-rich attachment on their seeds called an elaiosome that is a delicacy to ants.

Ants take the seeds back to their homes, where they eat the elaiosome. But native ants do not eat the the trillium seeds. Rather, once the elaiosome is off, the seed is taken to the waste pile in each ant mound, effectively planted by the ants. This method of seed dispersal by ants is known as myrmecochory.

So, if you see a cluster of trilliums growing in the woods close together, o en with their flowers facing different directions, they were probably planted by ants, or even by yellowjacket wasps, which have also been found to enjoy elaiosomes and plant the seeds. Who knew ants and wasps were such prolific gardeners?

(Adam Bigelow lives in Cullowhee in Jackson County and leads weekly wildflower walks most Fridays and offers consultations and private group tours through Bigelow’s BotanicalExcursions. bigelownc@gmail.com.)

A red trillium (Trillium erectum) blooms alongside the Appalachian Trail.

Outdoors+Recreation

Ricardo Fernandez Battini and his wife Suzanne Fernandez spent a stormy night in September 2004 holed up in their home along the Pigeon River in Crabtree, listening. Hurricane Ivan was dumping buckets on soil already saturated from Hurricane Frances’ arrival the week before, and the river was angry.

“[It was] horrible. Scary,” Ricardo said. “Especially at night when you hear the noise, hear the cracking.”

In the morning, their 30-acre farm was unrecognizable. Only three trees growing along the river survived. The water ripped away 200 gallons of in-ground propane tanks. Replacing the torn ground would require 40 truckloads of soil. And, most heartbreakingly, the flood carried away  the 300-square-foot greenhouse where Ricardo had tended his prize-winning orchids for the past 15 years.

But a few of the peonies planted on the property survived. The Fernandezes couldn’t stand the thought of rebuilding 15 years of orchid cultivation, so they took their cue from the land’s most resilient flowers —

they decided to become peony farmers.

‘The most spectacular flower’

A er the flood, the Fernandezes made it a point to add new peony plants every year, making them comfortable in raised beds within a stone’s throw of the river that almost ruined them in 2004. In 2015, they had a big enough display to start sharing it with the world, hosting the first annual Festival of Peonies in Bloom.

Today, the peony patch at the Fernandez’ Wildcat Ridge Farm contains 95 varieties of the showy blooms, and more than 1,000 individual plants — the largest collection of planted peonies in the state. During the festival each May, the peony beds are open for visitors throughout the month, anytime between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. People come to wander among the raised beds, breathe in the perfumed air, enjoy a bag lunch at one of the riverside picnic tables and peruse the stable of potted peonies for sale.

“We try to keep this as a place for people to appreciate what God created, the most spectacular flower, the most desirable flower in the world,” Ricardo said. “It’s nice to see

people coming. It’s not just the point of you need to come and buy. Just walk around and enjoy it. Smell the beauty.”

The beauty lasts all month long. The variety of peonies at the farm includes early bloomers that flower in the first week of May, mid-bloomers and late bloomers. Ricardo expects the garden to hit its peak over the next week.

In addition to traditional herbaceous peonies, the Fernandezes also tend intersectional peonies, which are a hybrid between the herbaceous variety and the shrub-like tree peony. These plants have bigger flowers and more varied colors than their herbaceous cousins. They’re also more difficult to divide — cutting an herbaceous peony root is like cutting a potato, but cutting an intersectional peony root is like cutting through locust wood, Ricardo said.

Suzanne has a particular love for peonies, savoring their enormous blooms and seemingly limitless variety of colors. She also loves their practicality.

“They’re really easy to grow,” she said. “They don’t have any insect problems. The

Crabtree couple invites the public to field of blooms

Suzanne Fernandez (le ) and Ricardo Fernandez Battini .

ants and the ladybugs on them in the early spring are all part of their ecosystem. They eat the sticky substance on the bud, and then it signals the plant to bloom. The deer don’t like them, which is a good thing. So as long as you have full sun and well-drained soil, you’re going to have a plant for hundreds of years.”

When well-tended, peonies can live for centuries. For the healthiest plants, Ricardo recommends giving them a fertilizer containing 10% each of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium when the shoots first come up and a blooming fertilizer later as they prepare to flower.

them in such a way that their root development is “incredible” by the time they go up for sale. He wants them to have long and healthy lives a er leaving Wildcat Ridge.

“You’re taking my live babies, so I want pictures,” he says, a half-serious joke.

Practicing reinvention

A er the flood, Ricardo and Suzanne began adding new peony plants each year, slowly building up the display as they rebuilt their lives.

“We needed to start all over again from zero,” he said.

na and Chile. They later focused on importing from South American countries — first produce, and later wine. In the 1990s, it was time for another change, and they moved to Western North Carolina.

For a plant and food lover like Ricardo, it was a good move. WNC’s four-season climate supports a diversity of plants, and Ricardo took a Master Gardener course to learn how to best help his “babies” thrive. He continues fine-tuning that knowledge with each passing peony season.

Despite peonies being easy to grow, some people still manage to abuse them. Peonies love the weather in Western North Carolina, Ricardo said, but not the thick clay soil found in most parts of it. Raised beds and clay pots make the best homes for peonies, because underneath most garden beds lurks a slick of clay that acts like a pan, capturing water and holding it close to the peony’s moisture-sensitive roots. Ricardo runs a “peony rescue” operation on the side, doctoring neglected or unhappy peonies from brown thumb gardeners.

“I get all these neglected poor peonies, that they look really bad,” he said. “The roots are black and basically drowned in water because of the clay, and then I work on it, give them a fungicide bath and give it back to the owner.”

Looking toward the store of potted peonies awaiting purchase this May, Ricardo makes it clear that he hopes a gentler fate awaits these plants. He divides and harvests

While rehabilitating a farm that looked “like a bomb exploded,” they were busy keeping their restaurant in Waynesville afloat. The Fernandezes owned Lomo Grill from 1994 to 2010, when it became Frog’s Leap Public House. As one of the region’s first farm-to-table restaurants, the business depended on produce the couple grew on their farm, making the years following the flood especially challenging.

“But we survived,” Suzanne said. “It took us a couple years to get it all back growing again.”

It was hard, but the Fernandezes are used to reinvention. Born in Argentina, Ricardo was a gymnast and a swimmer, at 18 becoming his country’s national springboard diving champion. He arrived in the United States at age 20, coaching girls’ gymnastics and then becoming aquatic director for a YMCA in New Jersey. From there, he started coaching nationwide for the YMCA, later moving to Boca Raton, Florida, to become a judge for the International Swimming Hall of Fame Aquatic Center in Fort Lauderdale.

When an injury ended his coaching career, he and Suzanne pressed into their love of food, becoming buyers agents for clients looking to export products to Brazil, Argenti-

Today, Wildcat Ridge Farm is in its third incarnation, as farm-to-table produce gave way to orchids, which gave way to peonies. The Fernandezes also have other irons in the fire. Since 2015, they have led food and wine tours through Ricardo’s home country of Argentina a couple times a year, and in 2018 they built Haywood County’s first yurt, which visitors can rent on Airbnb.

But peony season is the highlight of the year. May is the “magic month,” when everything blooms, and the property is full of people. It’s a favorite stop for people who once grew peonies but no longer can a er moving into a condo or retirement home. Vans from area garden clubs o en sit in the parking lot. Parents bring their children, and artists their brushes. Picnic tables invite people to bring a bag lunch and hang out, listening to the river and smelling the flowers.

Tending 1,000 peonies is a lot of work, but gazing over that scene each year makes it all worthwhile. Even when the flowers aren’t blooming, the peony garden brings Ricardo joy, because babying plants is what he loves to do.

“I believe that you need to have the passion in what you’re doing, and if you have the passion, you will excel,” Ricardo said. “It doesn’t matter what you do. Everybody will say, ‘Wow.’”

See peonies in bloom

The Festival of Peonies in Bloom is in full swing at Wildcat Ridge Farm in Crabtree. A garden featuring 95 varieties of peonies is open to the public 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through May 31.

Herbaceous and intersectional peony plants, and peony flowers are available for sale — just bring a bucket.

The farm is located at 3553 Panther Creek Road in the Crabtree area of Haywood County. 828.246.7542 or www.wildcatridgefarm.com.

A peony flower opens in the morning light at Wildcat Ridge Farm.

Outdoors+Recreation

Under the stream

Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail

For most people, the word “snorkeling” conjures images of blue Caribbean waters, pink coral reefs and a rainbow of tropical fi sh. But witnessing a world of aquatic beauty doesn’t require a flight to the Florida Keys.

From the top of the Tuckasegee to the waters of the French Broad, Western North Carolina is home to an incredible diversity of fi sh, salamanders and other aquatic creatures. The new Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail will make it easier than ever to meet them.

“When you get under the water with your snorkel and stuff on, the fi sh think you belong there,” said Callie Moore, western regional director for MountainTrue.

“They’re not afraid of you at all. And as long as you don’t thrash around and make a bunch of noise, you can just sneak right up on them and they’ll just keep building their little nests in the rocks and crayfi sh come out, and it’s just really incredible.”

The snorkel trail, a joint venture of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, Mainspring Conservation Trust and MountainTrue, is the first of its kind in the region.

The Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail consists of 10 pilot sites, one in each of 10 western counties, but the partners hope to expand it to include all 24 western counties. The 10 sites are located on easily accessible land that’s already open to the public, and

in the coming months they’ll each have a kiosk highlighting the species that live there and giving pointers about how to identify them.

“I’m obviously biased as an aquatics person, but in my mind, [snorkeling] covers all the bases,” said Jason Meador, aquatic programs manager for Mainspring who has been taking groups out snorkeling since 2014.

Snorkeling gives an up-close view of creatures that normally live out their lives unnoticed in Western North Carolina’s cool mountain streams, but it’s also easy to try and low-impact, allowing people to experience aquatic creatures in their natural state without harassing or harming them.

Snorklers explore the underwater world of a Western North Carolina stream.

CHECK OUT THE TRAIL

The new Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail boasts 10 sites spanning 10 Western North Carolina counties:

n Bryson City Island Park in Bryson City, Little Tennessee River Basin.

Sponsored by Town of Bryson City.

n East LaPorte River Access Park near Cullowhee, Little Tennessee River Basin. Sponsored by Jackson County.

n Joyce Kilmer Bridge Fishing Access near Robbinsville, Little Tennessee River Basin. Sponsored by U.S. Forest Service.

n Queen Branch Nature Preserve near Cowee, Little Tennessee River Basin. Sponsored by Mainspring Conservation Trust.

n Valley River Heritage Park in Andrews, Hiawassee River Basin.

Sponsored by Town of Andrews.

n Canton Recreation Park Boat Ramp in Canton, French Broad River Basin.

Sponsored by Town of Canton and Haywood Waterways Association.

n Mills River Park in Mills River, French Broad River Basin. Sponsored by Town of Mills River and Mills River Partnership.

n Black Mountain Veterans Park in Black Mountain, French Broad River Basin. Sponsored by Town of Black Mountain.

n Stone Mountain State Park near Roaring Gap, Yadkin River Basin. Sponsored by N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation.

n Joseph McDowell Historical Catawba Greenway in Marion, Catawba River Basin. Sponsored by Town of Marion. The Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail website is still under development at blueridgesnorkeltrail. com and will be populated with information about site kickoff events with guided snorkeling, the trail and snorkel sites.

Luke Etchison, western region aquatic wildlife diversity coordinator for the Wildlife Commission, said he and Mountain Habitat Conservation Coordinator Andrea Leslie came up with the concept as a way to get people excited about aquatic wildlife and to show them the importance of clean water and healthy streams.

“This is just another way to reconnect people with their local [water resources]

and help them see why they should care,” Etchison said.

It’s hard to care about something that you’ve never seen, Etchison said, so the more experiences people have in their mountain streams, the more they’ll want to protect them. That’s a philosophy that’s become something of a rallying cry in the conservation field, birthing multitudes of endeavors aimed at connecting people to the beauty, complexity and necessity of the species and ecosystems around them — in the hope that sense of connection will lead

to a sense of urgency to protect them.

“It’s really just trying to get more folks out there and get more folks thinking about what what’s going on in the water,” Etchison said.

The 10 pilot sites cover five different watersheds, featuring a diversity of freshwater habitat, ecosystems and species.

The trail features four locations in the Little Tennessee River Basin, starting with the Tuckasegee River at East LaPorte River Access Park in Jackson County. The river eventually flows down to another site at

Island Park in Bryson City. The water is warmer there, resulting in an assemblage of fi sh distinct from that seen higher up at East LaPorte.

At Mainspring’s Queen Branch Nature Preserve property in Macon County, the river is broad and shallow, with a lot of bedrock. The water at the Joyce Kilmer Bridge Fishing Access on the Cheoah River below Lake Santeetlah is warmer and home to a community of fi sh that were reintroduced to the stream a er that stretch of river was dewatered in the past. In the Hiawassee River Basin is a site on the Valley River in Andrews, one of the lower-elevation locations at about 1,780 feet above sea level.

In the French Broad River Basin, there’s the Pigeon River at Canton Recreation Park, Mills River at Mills River Park and the Swannanoa River at Black Mountain Veterans Park. The trail also features a stop at Stone Mountain State Park in the Yadkin River Basin and at the Joseph McDowell Historical Catawba Greenway in Marion.

North Carolina is home to 234 freshwater fi sh species, each with distinct needs for food and shelter. Even slight variations in geology, elevation and water quality can have significant impacts on the types of aquatic creatures living in a given section of stream.

“They have all very different aquatic communities,” Etchison said, “So, they’ll be able to see the difference in even a 15, 20-minute drive.”

The trail’s supporters hope its launch coinciding with the 2023 North Carolina Year of the Trail, will help it gain more support and attention. The N.C. General Assembly passed a resolution in 2021 giving 2023 that title, and all year groups across the state will be holding events and focusing their marketing to draw even more people into the state’s growing community of trail enthusiasts.

“When people find out how much aquatic biodiversity there is, and that it’s not just trout or not just bass in the lakes that’s under the water, I think there’s a lot more incentive to be asking the questions like, okay, how do we protect that?” Moore said. “The more people love a resource, the more they’re willing to do to try to protect it.”

For more information and a full list of locations on the Blue Ridge Snorkel Trail, click on www.blueridgesnorkeltrail.com.

In WNC’s shallow streams, snorkeling is an all-ages activity.

Outdoors+Recreation

MOUNTAIN BIKING

This is one of the fastest growing recreational activities in the Smokies, one easily witnessed by all the vehicles with mountain bikes strapped to the back or top. Pretty straightforward as to why so many partake of this sport: the Smokies contain some of the best bike trails anywhere. Here are the popular spots:

Cherokee’s Fire Mountain Trails

Twelve-mile system with wide variety of terrain from beginners to relatively serious downhill sections. This is one of the best-maintained trail systems in the Smokies region. Trailhead is in downtown Cherokee at the Oconaluftee Indian Village.

Chestnut Mountain

Located just east of Canton, this mountain biking skills course includes Berm Park and a 0.6-mile hiking/biking trail that climbs 350 feet to connect the gateway and pedestrian bridge to the park’s main trailhead. While hikers and bikers will use the same path to ascend the mountain, a dedicated descent trail for bikers aims to prevent conflicts and accidents. Berm Park includes jumps, ramps and all kinds of terrain to test one’s skills.

Tsali Recreation Area

This is the granddaddy of Western North Carolina mountain biking, boasting 40 miles of trails on four loops. Rated as one of top 10 places to ride in the U.S. Fast, hard-packed singletrack, and you can’t go wrong with any of the loops. Off N.C. 28 past Bryson City, or if coming from Robbinsville N.C. 143 until you reach N.C. 28, go east. Entrance on north side of N.C. 28, well-marked.

Santeetlah Lake Trail

A 15-mile trail open to mountain bikes, horses, and hikers. The trail follows a number of open and gated Forest Service roads with a short portion of single-track. Large sections of the trail hug the shoreline of Lake Santeetlah offering beautiful mountain lake views. The primary trailhead is located at the intersection of N.C. 143 and Snowbird Road.

Jackrabbit Mountain

Located next to the huge Jackrabbit Campground at Lake Chatuge, this 14-mile trail system is gaining popularity fast. Mostly flat with rolling dips and berms and just a few technical areas. At Lake Chatuge get on N.C. 175, turn onto Jackrabbit Road, signed parking area on left.

Western Carolina University Trail

More than 7 miles of singletrack across the street from main WCU campus in Cullowhee. The trail system has two trailheads. One is located near the softball field and picnic area on WCU main campus, east of N.C. 107. Trail users then travel through the pedestrian tunnel under N.C. 107 and access the trail on NCCAT property. The second trailhead is located at the parking lot of the Health and Human Sciences building.

Bent Creek, Asheville

Located near where N.C. 191 intersects the Blue Ridge Parkway and I-26, this favorite among Asheville locals because of its proximity to this outdoors-loving city. Lots of hardpacked singletrack with very few technical sections, great place for beginner to intermediate riders and for children.

Dupont State Park

Located near Brevard, this has become one of the premier destinations in the region. 10,000 acres of trails, waterfalls, and rivers. Great spot with numerous trailheads.

Pisgah National Forest near Brevard

Hundreds of miles of trails for bikers, some of it among the most technical in the region.

Nantahala Outdoor Center, Bryson City

The Nantahala Outdoor Center in the Nantahala Gorge has its own trail, which allows riders to try their hand at some technical maneuvering. The 4.5-mile Flint Ridge Trail system was designed specifically for mountain bikers. It features technical riding as well as some rolling single-track. Directions: From Bryson City, go south on U.S. 74 for 12 miles and the NOC campus will be on the right. The highway will narrow to two lanes after about 8 miles.

Fontana Village, Robbinsville

Fontana Village’s trails are labeled and fairly well blazed. Mix and match from numerous options to make your own loop. You can get a good bit of climbing and long descents, plus technical rock gardens, stream crossings and log crossings on the 20-mile trail system that is among the best in the region.

Directions: From Bryson City, take U.S. 74 southbound 8 miles past Bryson City. Turn right on N.C. 28. Go about 25 miles.

Cherokee’s Fire Mountain Trails

Since opening in 1989, we have been frequented by locals and visitors alike. Known for our fresh, cooked-to-order seafood, hand-shucked Gulf and Blue Point oysters, poultry, pasta, and hand-cut steaks.

DAILY SPECIALS

SUNDAY Brunch 11 AM -3 PM • $7.25 Bloody Marys & Mimosas

MONDAY 1/2 priced most bottles of wine

$12.50 Peel-n-Shucked 1/4lb Cold U-Peel's & 6 Raw House Oysters (dine in only)

THURSDAY 1/2 priced Estancia and Rodney Strong wine bottles

$12.50 Peel-n-Shucked 1/4lb Cold U-Peel's & 6 Raw House Oysters (dine in only)

828.456.8945 | 1374 Sulphur Springs Road | Waynesville Open Thursday - Monday 11AM to 9PM

Closed Tuesday & Wednesday

5 NORTH MAIN STREET DOWNTOWN WAYNESVILLE | 828.452.7672

Outdoors+Recreation

HIKING

Hiking is one of the best ways to get out and commune with nature. With a quiet step you stand a great chance of seeing some of the multitude of wildlife Western North Carolina has to offer. There are hikes for all kinds — climbs along the rocks to a high mountain waterfalls, casual strolls to expansive mountain views, all-day treks out into the wilderness and brisk jaunts to perfect picnic places. Wherever you go, trying making part of your hike a “so walk.” Tread quietly and use your senses to experience the world around you without talking. If you see something worth pointing out, communicate without speech. The process will help you tune in to nature and how it communicates with us.

When hiking, you know best what you’re looking for and what you’re capable of — injuries happen when you take on too much or get too tired. Find a hike that suits your tastes and skills.

Easy Panthertown Valley

Panthertown Valley is a 6,700-acre area in the Nantahala National Forest. It’s been nicknamed “the Yosemite of the East” and is home to granite domes, waterfalls, valley floors and rare high altitude bogs, as well as the headwaters for Greenland and Panthertown Creeks and the East Fork of the Tuckasegee River. Trails abound and primitive overnight camping and catch-and-release fishing is allowed.

Horsepasture River Trail

This out and back 3-mile hike in Sapphire offers outstanding view of four large waterfalls and good camping along the way. The trail can be a little gnarly. Use extreme caution when viewing waterfalls, particularly Rainbow Falls, which can be viewed from the top. Falls are slippery and that closer look just isn’t worth the type of injuries that may occur. The trailhead is located approximately 10 miles east of Cashiers.

Boogerman Trail

This 3.8-mile loop hike in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park takes you past old growth hemlocks and Robert “Booger” Palmer’s home place (hence the name). There’s plenty of creek views and wildflowers. Nearly a mile in, you’ll see a

sign for Boogerman Trail. To avoid a relentless and steep climb, continue further up Caldwell Fork Trail and take the upper loop of Boogerman Trail. The hike begins near the Cataloochee campground.

Wayah Bald

Located near Franklin in Macon County, this paved trail suitable for the handicapped leads to the Wayah Bald lookout tower, which is a National Historic Landmark offering breathtaking, panoramic views of the area. The Appalachian Trail and Bartram Trail intersect at the tower.

Joyce Kilmer

Memorial Trail

Joyce Kilmer Forest, the last remnant of virgin forest in the Southern Appalachians, offers a spectacular 2-mile loop trail. Near Robbinsville.

Medium

Hemphill Bald

The Loop hike at Hemphill Bald is 13.7 miles in total, but just 4.7 miles in will get you to the Bald. The bald was named after a pioneer family.

Tsali Recreation Area

Located in Graham County the Tsali Recreation Area is known for its excellent trails. Hikers, bikers and horses all must share, but a bike/horse usage schedule keeps down the melee. Hikers may use any trail at any time. The Thompson Loop and Mouse Branch Loop are billed as easy to moderate and good for families.

Looking Glass Rock

This 6-mile hike through the Pisgah National Forest travels first through small cove, then steeply up the backside of Looking Glass Rock through many switchbacks, hardwood forests, Carolina hemlocks. At the top of the trail there are cliffs providing views of Pisgah Ridge from Mt. Pisgah toward the Shining Rock/Black Balsam Area and the valleys below.

Hard Shining Rock Wilderness Area

Shining Rock became one of the original components of the Wilderness System in September 1964. A series of high ridges extends east and west from the north-south oriented Shining Rock Ledge. There are three main access points for trails within this Wilderness. First and foremost is the Black Balsam area near the Blue Ridge

Wayah Bald

Parkway. Although this is not part of the Wilderness itself, The Art Loeb (moderate) and Ivestor Gap (easy) trails lead into the wilderness area from here.

Mount Sterling Gap Trail

This low ridge trail begins at Mt. Sterling Gap on Cataloochee-Big Creek Road. It’s only 2.8 miles to the firetower, but is rated extremely strenuous because of a 2,000-foot climb in 2.3 miles along an old jeep trail to the ridge just below the firetower. This firetower is one of three remaining in the Park. There are several excellent lookouts from the trail prior to reaching the main ridge, but the view from the tower is unequalled in the Park.

Fontana to Wesser

This 30-mile hike along the Appalachian Trails is full of ups and downs. There are shelters along the way, and in the end you’ll find yourself at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Or do the hike in reverse and end at Fontana Dam.

(Some hike recommendations courtesy of Danny Bernstein, author of Hiking the Carolina Mountains.)

Hemphill Bald

Outdoors+Recreation

Blue Ridge Parkway serves up the best of the mountains

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and AllAmerican Road that winds for 469 miles from the southern end of Shenandoah National Park’s Skyline Drive in Virginia to U.S. 441 at Oconalu ee in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Cherokee.

It’s hard to get lost on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It only goes in two directions — north or south. Short, wooden posts along the edge of the road mark off each mile — the entire 469mile length of the Parkway — making it easy to know exactly where you are. The mile-marker is listed for the recommended stops on the Parkway below, and should be easy to find by watching the mileposts. Hint: the numbers get bigger as you go south, so the end of the Parkway in Cherokee is mile 469.

The Parkway boasts more than 200 overlooks and more than 100 trails. The local section of the Parkway runs from the southern end in Oconalu ee to the Pisgah Inn on the Haywood, Transylvania County line. Along this stretch of scenic road you’ll find highlights such as the Parkway’s highest elevation overlook at Richland Balsam (6,053 feet), views of Cold Mountain made famous by author Charles Frazier, Waterrock Knob and Oconalu ee Visitors Centers, and Devil’s Courthouse Trail.

The Parkway is made for exploring. Here are few suggested highlights in our region, but feel free to ignore them. It’s all about the journey, not the destination.

SELECTED STOPS

Waterrock Knob Visitors Center, milemarker 451

A must for Parkway travelers. Stop here to get recommendations from park rangers on things to do and see, plus pick up a free Parkway map and browse the bookstore. Views are fabulous if you are looking for a picnic spot. Also, there is a one-mile hike to the summit of Waterrock Knob. Interesting fact: the visitor center is powered by solar panels.

Richland Balsam, milemarker 432

The views are great all along the Parkway, but there’s even a milestone achievement available for those don’t want to hike but prefer just getting out of their car to take a picture, enjoy the view, or have a picnic. Just about halfway between the Balsam Gap (U.S. 23-74) and N.C. 215 entrance to the Parkway, near milepost 432, is the Parkway’s highest point (6,053 feet), which is marked with a large sign and a great overlook. Just a mile away at milepost

431 is the Richland-Balsam Self-Guiding Trail, which is just one mile long and meanders through a spruce-fir forest. You’ll top out at an elevation of 6,410 feet, the 10th highest peak in the Eastern U.S.

Devil’s Courthouse, milemarker 422

This 1-mile round-trip trail leads to the top of stunning rock formation, a giant pedestal that seems to rise up magically from the mountains around it and makes you feel like you’re on top of the world looking out. Despite the sheer drop off all around you, rock walls provide a sense of safety — just don’t hop over them or let kids climb on the edge. Ecologically, visitors should stay off the cliff face, which is home to peregrine falcons and endangered rock-clinging lichens and plant life. The trail is steep but paved, making it accessible to anyone if you take it slow and steady.

Sam’s Knob, milemarker 420

Stellar hiking trails lead into the Shining Rock Wilderness, passing over grassy balds, rock outcrops, high elevation streams and fir forests. The area is

riddled with trails, some of which extend for miles into the Shining Rock Wilderness, so if you don’t have a map, watch the way you came carefully. To reach the parking area, turn down a gravel forest service road.

Upper Falls at Graveyard Fields, milemarker 419

A high-elevation bowl is home to two waterfalls, a swimming hole and crystal clear rocky stream. Unlike the dense forests that engulf most hiking trails in the Smokies, this area is defined by open meadows.

Mount Pisgah (5,749 feet)

Located near milepost 408, this mountain with the Biblical name used to be part of the George Vanderbilt Estate (he’s the man who built Biltmore Estate). A parking area is well marked, and the hike is only about a mile but it is relatively strenuous to the platform atop the mountain. Once there, however, the 360-degree views are fabulous. Nearby campground and one of the only restaurants on the Parkway at the Pisgah Inn.

Foothills

Clingmans

GSMNP photo

The Smokies

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has an amazing array of mini-ecosystems within its borders — from peaks over 6,000 feet to low valleys, from moist densely forested coves to dry meadows. A walk from mountain base to peak compares with traveling 1,250 miles north. Several resident plants and animals live only in the Smokies.

The park has more than 100 species of trees and 4,000 species of plants. Some people say if you throw a rock and then trace its path, you’re likely to walk by at least 30 different kinds of trees.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park encompasses more than 500,00 acres, making it the largest national park in the East.

PARK HIGHLIGHTS

Oconalu ee Visitor Center

Along with knowledgeable rangers who can help you plan your time in the park, fabulous exhibits will take you back in time among the early settlers and Cherokee who called these mountains home. The visitor center chronicles the culture and history of the Smokies, from exhibits on the Civil War in the Smokies to moonshine making. Located on U.S. 441 at the North Carolina entrance to the park, north of Cherokee and near the terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway. 828.497.1904.

Mountain Farm Museum

This stroll through an historic Appalachian farm offers a window on the ingenuity and self-reliance of early mountain people and Cherokee. A blacksmith shop to make everything from barn door hinges to horseshoes, a spring house to keep milk and butter cool, and sundry buildings for storing the food they raised, from corn cribs to apple houses to smoke houses. The outhouse is a guaranteed eye-opener for kids. Located at the entrance to the park on U.S. 441 just north of Cherokee.

Deep Creek

Enjoy a little of everything at Deep Creek. Hiking to waterfalls, picnicking, mountain biking, camping and what Deep Creek is famous for: tubing. Several outfitters rent inner tubes for just a few dollars to float all day in the creek. This is a fantastic place to visit for a few hours because you can do so many different activities without having to go to different places. If you are in the Bryson City area, treat yourself to a visit.

Mingus Mill

The rumble of mill stones, the whistle of corn meal sliding down the wooden shoot, the slap-slap-slap of water falling over the giant paddle wheel. Explore this historic site just one mile from the park entrance on U.S. 441 north of Cherokee.

Clingmans Dome

A paved half-mile trail leads to a soaring lookout tower atop the highest peak in the Smokies. At 6,643 feet, the panoramic view offers spectacular scenery and is one of the best examples of the region’s famed blue mountain ridges marching endlessly across the horizon. The tower features a spiraling 375-foot ramp to the top.

Cataloochee Valley

History and nature intersect in this picturesque meadow, a long, narrow valley cradled by mountains on all sides. An elk herd has been re-introduced into the park and calls the valley home. Cataloochee Valley is also home to a former mountain settlement, with intact farm houses, churches, schoolhouse and cemeteries that can be toured by car and short walks. Pick up an interpretive brochure at the campground on the left after you get down to the valley floor that describes the historic buildings.

Big Creek

This relatively isolated area is a favorite of locals, with a campground, bathroom, picnic area and jumping off point for some great hikes into the Smokies, including the all-day hike up to Mount Cammerer look-out tower. One of the coldest, clearest swimming holes in the Smokies — aptly named Midnight Hole — is a short 1-mile-hike up the wide Big Creek Trail.

Foothills Parkway, GSMNP photo

Clingmans Dome, GSMNP photo

Waterfalls

WWhether one is an avid outdoorsman or an occasional hiker, there is something special about making a gorgeous waterfall the destination for a hike.

Among the Cherokee Indians, rivers were known as “The Long Man” and special ceremonies were o en held at waterfalls.

There are hundreds of waterfalls in Western North Carolina, and we’ve compiled a fairly extensive list and an interactive map on our newspaper website www.smokymountainnews.com (navigate to the Outdoors section and you’ll find it).

The following waterfalls are just a few of the more popular falls in the region.

Bridal Veil Falls

Bridal Veil Falls is fairly easy to get to and impossible to miss. If you are headed west from Highlands through the Cullasaja Gorge on U.S. 64, the falls will go over a small pull off road on the right. Cars use to be able to drive behind the falls, but now it is only accessible by foot and people are still able to walk behind the falls, a great experience for young and old alike. Bridal Veil Falls is 2.3 miles west of Highlands on U.S. 64. You’ll see a pull off road on the right side of U.S. 64 under the falls. From Franklin, it’s a 14.5-mile drive toward Highlands on U.S. 64.

Dry Falls

Dry Falls is one of the most popular waterfalls in Western North Carolina and an easy stop if you are seeing the other falls on U.S. 64 through the Cullasaja Gorge. Visitors can walk behind the falls and to the other side. The powerful waterfall is about 65 feet tall. Dry Falls is in between Quarry Falls and Bridal Veil Falls about 3 miles west of Highlands on U.S. 64. There’s a small parking area on the left if you are headed west. Signs mark the falls on both sides of the road. If you come on a Saturday during peak tourist season, a

parking space will be hard to come by. The trail to the falls is short with some steps.

Cullasaja Falls

Cullasaja Falls is the final waterfall on the Cullasaja River before leaving the Gorge. The falls, a 200-foot cascade, is powerful and beautiful. You can get a good view of it from the road. The downside to Cullasaja Falls is that the pull off is small and is a dangerous place for traffic to stop. Cullasaja Falls is about 2.5 miles west of Quarry Falls on U.S. 64.The pull off is small and at a sharp curve. The small pull off fills up quickly during peak tourism days. Heading west, the pull off is on the left side of the road. You might want to drive past it, turn around and approach it from the eastbound side of the highway.

Mingo Falls

On the Qualla Indian Reservation in Cherokee, you’ll find the popular Mingo Falls. A small creek falls about 150 feet over mossy rocks. Access to the falls is good – if you can handle lots of steps. A small bridge goes across the creek, giving hikers a face on view of the falls. People often climb around the bridge and on the rocks in front of the falls.

Waterfalls have long had an almost spiritual appeal among humans.

Dry Falls, Swain TDA photo

Some of the rocks are very slippery, so be very careful if you choose to stray from the bridge. Coming from Cherokee, head north on U.S. 441. You’ll turn right onto Acquoni Road. There will be signs telling you to turn there for Big Cove Road. In about 0.1 mile, turn left on to Big Cove Road. Again you’ll see signs pointing to Big Cove Road. Drive about 5 miles and turn right into Mingo Falls Campground. The parking area is straight ahead. The trail starts there, goes up a lot of stairs, levels out and comes to a bridge overlooking the falls. The trail is about 265 yards.

Soco Falls

Soco Falls is one of the closest large falls to Waynesville. Two creeks flow over steep rock cascades at a right angle from each other. There’s a wooden platform that faces the higher of the two falls. The other falls is nearly impossible to see face on without going down to the base of the falls. There's a really steep dirt incline that goes down there without a lot to hold on to. From Waynesville, drive north on U.S. 19. You’ll pass under the Blue Ridge Parkway. After passing the Blue Ridge Parkway, drive 1.4 miles to a pull off on the left. At the corner before the pull off you want, you’ll see a large gravel pull off. This is actually a private driveway and not the way to Soco Falls. A sign on the right side of the road will tell you to go another half mile. You want a pull off with a guardrail. A short, steep path goes down between the guardrails. Follow the trail, which leads to a wooden platform. The trail beyond the platform is steeper and more difficult but will take you to the top of one of the falls. A dirt incline leads to the bottom of the falls that you’d have to slide down. It looks like it would be a challenge to get back up.

Midnight Hole

There’s not much of a waterfall at Midnight Hole, but if you’re looking for a good place to jump in the water, this is it. Midnight Hole is very popular and crowded at times. The water is cold and crystal clear and feels wonderful after the hike on a hot, muggy afternoon. Take I-40 Exit 451 in Tennessee. It will be the first exit after you cross the state line. Stay left after crossing the Pigeon River and follow the road 2 miles. You’ll drive by a power plant and community park and come to a stop sign at an intersection. Go straight through the intersection and enter the Big Creek section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Follow the gravel road 0.8 miles to a picnic area and campground entrance. From the parking area, walk back up the road. You’ll see a sign on the left for the trailhead. The hike to Midnight Hole is about 1.5 miles. Stay on the main path and the hole is on the left. The hike is easy. Horses and their riders also frequent the trail.

Waterfall on West Fork Pigeon River

The waterfall on West Fork Pigeon River runs under an old stone bridge on N.C. 215. Although this waterfall isn’t one to plan a trip around, if you’re driving to the other falls on N.C. 215, it’s worth a stop. You can take shots from the road and the bridge but watch out for traffic. The waterfall is under a bridge on N.C. 215, 4.2 miles from where N.C. 215 crosses the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s 13.6 miles south of where N.C. 215 intersects with U.S. 276.

Hours: Mon-Sat•8am-3pm.

Join us for Sunday Brunch 9am-3pm

Locally roasted organic coffee, beer, wine, paninis, pastries, crepes and more!

Outdoor (dog friendly) patio. Environmentally friendly! Located Downtown Sylva, Spring Street. CityLightsCafe.com

Midnight Hole at Big Creek GRSM

Outdoors+Recreation

Higher calling: Viewpoints in WNC

High places represent safety and security. Elevated vantage points have been used throughout history for human survival. From the heights, an approaching enemy can be detected from a long distance, or an attack more easily fended off. A path through unknown territory might be scouted out as waterways and passes can all be seen better from a high perch. Hunters are better able spot herds of animals from an overlook. Migratory animals o en use mountain ridges to travel long distances. Surely the Cherokee utilized ridge tops in their network of trails connecting villages and hunting grounds.

There is something about the Appalachians that evokes a deep emotional response in most folks. When you are able to get an encompassing view of your surroundings, you automatically know more about your place in the world. For many, this serves to stimulate the curiosity to learn about nature or to seek wilderness. Others find the experience to be humbling, revealing the relative insignificance of the individual in the vastness of creation.

The religious and spiritual connection with natural heights is easily explained in the context of being closer to Heaven, the gods

and spirits. On Mount Sinai, God presented Moses with the Ten Commandments and on Mount Pisgah, Moses got a glimpse of the Promised Land. Native Americans attached sacred significance to high places. The Incas performed human sacrifice on sacred peaks in the Andes. Monks of various Eastern religions have built almost inaccessible monasteries on high precipices.

At times, mountain travel involves personal challenge and extraordinary risk. When asked why he wanted to climb Mount. Everest, George Mallory replied, “Because it is there.” Whether Mallory reached the sum-

Why do we seek the high places? The easiest explanation for going to the mountains is for the scenery. Even so, there must be something ingrained in the human experience that draws us to lo y summits and places where we can look out over the landscape. The reasons vary from the practical to the spiritual.

The view from Mt. LeConte. Courtesy Swain TDA

mit in 1924 is still in question, but the same adventurous spirit still drives many to climb the most difficult mountains. Even in Western North Carolina, the most remote peaks require no small amount of effort to reach.

“Peakbagging” is the sport of getting to the top of as many peaks as possible. Hiking up a mountain is great exercise. The air is less dense and flows easily in and out of your lungs, but the lower concentration of oxygen means greater oxygen debt during physical activity. Eventually, the body becomes more efficient and compensates. Unfortunately, summer hikers in the Smokies may have difficulty with respiration due to the low

SELECT PEAKS

Mount Pisgah (5,749 feet)

Located near milepost 408, this mountain with the Biblical name used to be part of the George Vanderbilt Estate (who created the Biltmore Estate). A parking area is well marked, and the hike is only about a mile but it is relatively strenuous to the platform atop the mountain. Once there, however, the 360-degree views are fabulous.

oxygen density combined with high ozone levels caused by pollution from autos and power plants.

Visiting the high places can even be a social event. In Japan, large numbers of hikers may crowd a summit trail. The camaraderie of sharing the journey and the view with good friends or a loved one is definitely a bonding experience and o en requires cooperation to get there. On the other hand, the sense of solitude one experiences when standing alone on a lo y wilderness summit is difficult to describe or explain.

(Ed Kelley is a photographer, musician and outdoorsman who lives in Waynesville.)

Tsali’s Fontana Lake overlooks (2,000 feet plus)

If you’re a mountain biker, too often you are in the trees or too dog tired after a climb to enjoy the views, but there are several in Tsali that are worth getting off your bike and using as a rest break, photo-op or both. All of these are just above 2,000 feet in elevation, but because of the lake’s backdrop they make for stunning views. Tsali Recreation Area is located 12 miles west of Bryson City in the Nantahala National Forest. Go west on U.S. 74 and turn

right on N.C. 28. Tsali is about five minutes down the road. Once there, the Mouse Branch, Right and Left loops all have great overlooks. According Timm Muth, author Mountain Biking North Carolina, the Mouse Branch overlook 4.5 miles into that loop is the most stunning. On the Right it’s Windy Gap Overlook and the overlook on the Left trail isn’t named. All are fabulous.

Mount LeConte (6,643 feet)

The vistas are endless in the Smokies, but getting to the top of this mountain has the added advantage of being to check out LeConte Lodge, the only commercial lodging facility in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. There are five trails to the lodge, the shortest and steepest being Alum Cave Trail at 5.5 miles, which a hiker in good condition can do in approximately four hours. None of these trails can be considered a stroll and you occasionally encounter ice and snow as late as May or as early as October. The other trails are Rainbow Falls and Trillium Gap, each 6.5 miles, a hike of about five hours; Bullhead at 7.2 miles and about five hours; and Boulevard, 8 miles and about 5.5 hours. Parking is available at the start of each trail. Once at the top signs lead to the best overlooks.

Wayah Bald (5,342 feet)

The Nantahala Mountains are not as tall as the Smokies, but the views are every bit as stunning. This is a land of 4,000- and 5,000-foot mountains in one of the region’s wildest areas. Follow State Route 1310 out of Franklin until you pass Wayah Crest, where there is a camping area. A forest service road, with signs, leads to the parking area at Wayah Bald, where there is an old Civilian Conservation Corps firetower made of stone. Views from the platform are wonderful, and the Appalachian Trail passes right by.

Max Patch (4,629 feet)

This may be the most scenic bald in the Smokies as well as one of the most accessible. From the top, the 360-degree views, the sheer vastness of the bald (which is mowed by the Forest Service) and the beauty is well worth the trip. Since the trail to the parking area is about 0.25 miles max, it’s a great place to picnic and watch the sunset. Take Exit 7, the Harmon Den Exit, off Interstate 40 and turn right off the exit onto Cold Springs Creek Road. The dirt road goes into Pisgah National Forest. Stay on the main road for several miles until you come to a sign for Max Patch. It is a left-hand turn. Stay on the road until you come to a parking area with an unobstructed view of the bald. Follow the trail to the top of the bald and it intersects with the Appalachian Trail.

Max Patch.

Cataloochee Ranch is entering a new season. The oldest ranch in the Smokies returns in 2023.