Horace Kephart: The Father Of The Great Smoky Mountain

Henry Thoreau loved the simplicity of living in the wilderness, just as much as McCandless did, however he loved just to stay put. Thoreau wanted to uncage himself from the outside world and the interferences it had with him living a “full” life. Thoreau thought

Both Henry David Thoreau and Christopher McCandless ventured out into the woods to get away from the dreariness of everyday society and to find themselves. Only one lived to tell the tale. What was the fatal flaw of the man who didn’t continue on? The only way to find this is to analyze the differences and similarities between the two. McCandless, while embracing some of the same values as Thoreau, was ultimately a different man. While they led very contrasting lives in very distant times, both McCandless and Thoreau sought a type of freedom that can only be achieved when immersed in nature. Thoreau’s entitlement and cozy cabin in the woods is a far cry from McCandless’s constant struggle during his expedition, however, certain parallels

--These words gives a clear and rational explanation of McCandless’s decision to venture into the wilderness. It shows that he was allured to the wild journey because of the pleasure it would provide him, tempted by a primal desire that could not be fulfilled by a mere human.

efforts to make American wilderness a better place, he has been tributed. Some including Mount

In Wallace Stegner’s “Wilderness Letter,” he is arguing that the countries wilderness and forests need to be saved. For a person to become whole, Stegner argues that the mere idea of the wild and the forests are to thank. The wilderness needs to be saved for the sake of the idea. He insinuates that anyone in America can just think of Old faithful, Mt. Rainier, or any other spectacular landform, even if they have not visited there, and brought to a calm. These thoughts he argues are what makes us as people whole.

Appalachia is often portrayed as an arrested frontier, a geographically isolated subculture, and reservoir of culturally homogenous. Appalachians are pictured as proud, fiercely independent, and god-fearing southerners. But in all reality they are portrayed as fighting and feuding, barefooted and backward, ignorant degenerates, downtrodden by centuries of isolation, inbreeding, and poverty. So how was Appalachia discovered? Well Appalachia was prompted in the mid 1870s by local color writers such as Mary Murfee and John Fox Jr. who explored in fiction and travel sketches such mountain themes as conflicting Civil War loyalties, moon shining, and feuding. (Billings)

Has anyone here ever, heard the words, Smoky Mountains. If so, then they are either referring to my National Park, or Global Warming. The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the only National Park that has Geysers that spit up smoke. It also is the only Park with an excessively long name. Now you may be wondering why the Great Smoky Mountains are great. You can look around, to find a Park that has a nice place to Camp, Fish, have a Picnic, but almost all of them are either uncomfortable, have no maps, really, really close to the edge of a cliff, or, you may just want to find a different place. But you won't find another place as warm, embracing, and fun. Well, so far you could classify it as The Grand Canyon. Another reason the Great Smoky

Waking up to discover the immense, pristine wilderness of Alaska, listening to the birds chirping their sounds while feeling the tremble of your heart beating through your veins. Trees as far as one can see with rolling hills and distant peaks covered with unblemished snow. The sounds of streams growing larger until they rush over a fall, and into an untainted lake. Pondering the true meaning of life while observing Mother Nature’s true grace. Very few people can relate to this scene of the wild. One of them being Christopher Johnson McCandless, a young pioneer and traveler, who was determined to seek the truth no matter what the cost.

The collection consists of 15,000 pages of original historical material documenting the land, peoples, exploration, and transformation of the trans-Appalachian West from the mid-eighteenth to the early nineteenth century. The collection is drawn from the holdings of the University of Chicago Library and the Filson Historical Society of Louisville, Kentucky.

Captured from the top of the Daniel Boone National Forest, located in northeastern Kentucky near the city of Morehead, this featured image originates in one of the most beautiful and well kept secrets on earth. Although this location is breathtaking, efforts to capture images from the summit will certainly involve a bit hiking and climbing, but it’s definitely worth the journey. Whether it’s photography or purely for the love of a great hike, I can’t see anyone regretting making this trip. Regardless of the agenda, a striking and tranquil retreat awaits the willing adventurer.

In James Lane Allen’s Through Cumberland Gap on Horseback, the mention is made to the beauty of the land and that the climate was just the same but that traveling to the mountain region was not only difficult as they had to take a train then a wagon ride, followed by a trek on horseback, but a lengthy process. Among the experiences recorded Allen describes the meeting of several locals and this is where his responsibility for Appalachian

Thomas Jefferson, one of the greatest men in American history, described his vision for the United States of America as a land of agrarian people. However, now, over two centuries later, the US faces a very different reality dominated by the growth of the urban metropolis, by industry, by the stoic bankers of Wall Street. Despite this, the poetry of Ted Kooser immortalizes a quickly vanishing lifestyle of rustic America on the vast expanses of the Great Plains. Kooser was born in a small Iowa town in April 1939 and received a degree from Iowa State University. After working at Lincoln Benefit Life, an insurance corporation, for over three decades, he made history by becoming the first poet from the Great Plains to be named the U.S. Poet

There are times in our lives in which certain events change a part of us, either emotionally, physically or mentally. In our own meaningful way, we have a storm like O’Conner, in which we go through an impactful change.

estled between the Blue Ridge Mountains and Allegheny Mountains, Rockingham County is located within the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Originally founded in 1778, Rockingham County has become a historical community committed to implementing an economic strategy of attracting new business and industry that are compatible with the way of life in the Shenandoah Valley and assisting in the retention and expansion of existing companies (Rockingham County). Most commonly known for its beauty, Rockingham County is comprised of six metropolitan cities, of which Harrisonburg holds the county seat (Rockingham County).

After being sued by settlers in Kentucky Daniel Boone moved to Point Pleasant in what is now West Virginia. He served as a lieutenant colonel and legislative of his county. After serving in those two positions he moved to Missouri where he settled in Femme Osage valley where he continue to roam and hunt until he died on September 26, 1820. About two decades after his death Daniel Boone's body was exhumed and reburied in