Born from the high, cold springs of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and destined for the Gulf of Mexico, the clear waters of the Oconaluftee River have a long journey ahead. The river flows through the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ homeland in Cherokee and joins increasingly voluminous waterways as it travels toward the sea. The Cherokee know this southbound path as the Long Person, yvwi ganvhida — a living being with its head in the mountains and its feet in the sea.

The annual elk breeding season, known as the rut, is underway in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The rut can be exciting to witness, but it can also be dangerous, as elk are especially unpredictable during this time.  

Smokies Life, a nonprofit partner of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is now accepting applications for its sixth Steve Kemp Writer’s Residency. The annual program is designed to help writers of any medium connect in meaningful ways with the national park while focusing on their craft in an inspiring, retreat-like setting. 

Before they retired, Bob and Nancy Furlow owned and managed apartment buildings for a living. Now, they don’t even own a home — at least, not one without wheels. Since selling their house seven years ago, the couple, both in their late 60s, has resided in a 160-square-foot Boles Aero trailer, which Bob painstakingly rebuilt to feature cedar-paneled walls, a king-sized bed, and a full bathroom and kitchen. Four years into their new life as full-time RVers, they joined the ranks of the five dozen people who serve as campground hosts every year in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

“This is the way to go when you retire,” said Nancy. “It’s fantastic.”

I was at least an hour and a half into my conversation with June Goforth when I joked that she hadn’t given me a chance to ask any questions. She paused a moment before laughing and said, “Oh, I didn’t know you had questions.”
I had sat down with Goforth to talk about Camp Margaret Townsend, a Girl Scout camp that was a summer home away from home for hundreds of girls between 1925 and 1959.

Of all the chapters that I read and reviewed in my most recent review of the book “Letters From the Smokies” in Smoky Mountain Living (June-July 2025), the story of the Walker Sisters was the one story that got my attention probably more than any of the others.

Avid botanist, dedicated environmentalist, and lifelong educator Dr. J. Dan Pittillo passed away peacefully on Sunday, Aug. 10, surrounded by family and friends, at the age of 86. This story, originally published in June 2021, celebrates his decades of contributions to natural science and environmental education in the Great Smoky Mountains region.

The Colquitt Foundation has given $750,000 to the nonprofit Friends of the Smokies to save historic structures and help the national park’s Cataloochee Valley recover from damage caused by Hurricane Helene.

In 1927, a $5 million donation from the richest man in America — the equivalent of $92 million today — secured the Great Smoky Mountains’ then-tenuous future for protection as a national park. But when John D. Rockefeller Jr. agreed to write the check, he had never so much as glimpsed these ancient peaks. Smokies Life’s former publication director Steve Kemp spent years wondering: why?

The National Park Service urges visitors to not feed or approach black bears in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The park has seen an increase in incidents involving visitors feeding bears. Feeding wildlife is illegal and endangers you, other visitors and bears.