Have you noticed how stunning the fall colors are this year? A plethora of factors affect the autumn hues, making some years rather drab and others, like this one, pop with kaleidoscope vibrancy. Every day I’ve stood in awe at the splendor. 

When you’re a columnist for a newspaper, you don’t take the space for granted. It is a gift and an honor to be given a page every other week to offer my thoughts and opinions on matters of the world or matters of the soul.

Once Labor Day has come and gone, I lean fully into fall. I know that technically autumn does not officially begin until Sept. 22, but for my own personal joy, I’ve decided to initiate the season sooner.

The Appalachian Women’s Museum “Airing of the Quilts” will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 4, at the museum in Dillsboro. 

Western North Carolina is a hiker’s paradise.

With so much land protected by national and state forests and parks, those who live in the Western North Carolina area have endless hiking opportunities.

In a November 2022 interview with The Smoky Mountain News, storied writer Fred Chappell, a Haywood County native who was 86 at the time, was asked what the culmination of his life meant to him looking back. 

As I think ahead to 2024, I can’t help but feel so lucky to live here, in these mountains. 

Western Carolina University’s resident fall color expert is predicting that the start of leaf season will come earlier than usual but that peak will lack the intensity it had last year, primarily because leaves won’t be changing color at the same time.

Parking the truck at the intersection of the Appalachian Trail and the Nolichucky River on the outskirts of the small town of Erwin, Tennessee, early Monday afternoon, a hot sun kissed my forehead emerging from the vehicle all while lacing up the ole trail running shoes.