Hiking the Highlands
So Cool – Winter hiking offers peace and solitude
Appalachia may be famous for its colorful fall foliage, But autumn gives way to an equally enchanting wonderland of snow covered hills, frozen waterfalls and the promise of evergreens speckled throughout hillsides. Hiking in the wintertime gives you a new perspective about otherwise familiar trails and local parks. In the winter, the lack of foliage…
Read MoreAppalachia’s Ten Best Bike Trails
Not so long ago, when the region’s first “rails to trails” projects began, state park rangers were often confronted by angry landowners who feared their property would become worthless. Today, bike trails have become a hallmark of progressive communities like Knoxville, TN, Asheville and Boone NC, and the New River Valley of Virginia. They greatly…
Read MoreRetreat, Regroup and Retie: An Angler’s Winter Refrain
While the fish may still be biting in the winter, many anglers choose to spend the cold months preparing their tackle box for fairer weather. The White Bass (shown above) was caught with the author’s signature fly, the “Paynekiller,” shown below. Photos by Dave Payne Sr. Although fish have to eat year-round and can be…
Read MoreHighland Trials Put Sheep Dogs Through Paces
SHARP-EYED AND WAGGY-TAILED – Border Collies are renowned for their skill and agility – not to mention their enthusiasm – when it comes to herding. A LOVE TRIANGLE FOR THE AGES – The historic relationship between people, dogs and livestock goes back for millenia. In an age of big industrial livestock production, sheep dog enthusiasts…
Read MoreDeer Hunting
Photo of a white-tailed deer courtesy of Scott Bauer, USDA Agricultural Research Service, www.forestryimages.org https://appvoices.org/images/AppalachianVoice/AVOct05/Photos/circles/Circle_Deer.gif As deer hunting seasons throughout the Appalachians get underway, hundreds of thousands will take to the woods and enjoy some of the world’s most beautiful terrain. Unfortunately, declining numbers of hunters are leading to burgeoning deer populations across the Appalachians.…
Read MoreExploring and Preserving Wild Caves
They are a netherworld beneath our feet, time capsules and windows into history and geology, vast areas of both darkness and color, home to few and fascinating to many. They are the wild caves of the Blue Ridge, and they are increasingly vulnerable to misuse and vandalism by thieves looking for artifacts and careless humans…
Read MoreTrail Running in the Mountains
images/voice_uploads/Circle_TrailRunning.gif Have you ever been strolling along a mountain trail enjoying the peaceful serenity of nature, only to have someone in running shoes blast by you and speed ahead into the forest? If you aren’t a runner, you may very well have been irritated, or at least puzzled, by this outdoor over-achiever. After all, isn’t…
Read MoreLooking Out for Our Feathered Friends
images/voice_uploads/BirdCircle.gif They come here with names as rich as the velvety colors of their wings—scarlet tanager, rose-breasted grosbeak, belted kingfisher, golden-winged warbler, and yellow-bellied sapsucker. The year-round residents, the seasonal migrants, the sparsely spotted interlopers that have been driven here by odd weather and confusion make up a diverse and beautiful range of color and…
Read MoreBest Birding Spots in the Southern Appalachians
Brasstown Bald, Georgia: Species sighted here include Canada warbler, black-throated blue warbler, rose-breasted grosbeak, blackburnian warbler, scarlet tanager, and blue-headed vireo, ravens, and winter wrens. Mount Mitchell, North Carolina: There has been massive and visible die-off of Fraser Fir here, making the mountaintop home to birds that prefer shrubs and thickets like the hermit thrush,…
Read MoreThe New River
“Hey Jeffrey, take a look at that water – is it fishable?” asked Judson, not taking his eyes off the narrow, winding and fog-covered road ahead. “Looks a little dingy, but it’s not a mud ball,” answered Jeffrey. “I’m not happy with it yet.” At 7:00 am, somewhere along the New River near the Virginia-North…
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