Waynesville, North Carolina’s Cataloochee Valley has become a prime spot for elk viewing since 2011, after an experimental program reintroduced elk to this part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The program was led by the National Park Service, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and a few other partners. Twenty-five radio collared elk were brought in…
Hoosier Pass is a high-elevation mountain pass along Colorado’s Highway 9 that connects Breckenridge to Alma, in the Mosquito Mountain range of the Rockies. It has the highest altitude of the TransAmerica bike trail that runs from Virginia to Oregon, coming in at 11,539 feet. Some sources list 11,542 feet but I am going by…
Alma is a small town of less than 300 residents in Park County, Colorado between Breckenridge and Fairplay. It was incorporated in December of 1873 and named after a local merchant’s daughter. Alma was originally formed as a camp settlement for miners and the workers of two smelting companies in the 1870s. Gold was found…
Blowing Rock is a small town in northwestern North Carolina near the Tennessee border known as the “Crown of Blue Ridge” with around 1300 residents in its three square miles. The land that became the town of Blowing Rock first belonged to Cherokee and Catawba tribes, and when white settlers moved in, they used it…
Fernweh 