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You think you’ve got mad skills on a bike? Watch this video of five-year old Jackson Goldstone riding his bike to kindergarten. The little dude hucks boulders, rides singletrack, and hits the skate park with style.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has awarded a contract to conduct the study of Interstate 3 (I-3) planning, cost estimate and routing. If built, the interstate, which was proposed in 2005 by a Georgia Congressman, will travel from Savannah, Georgia to Knoxville, Tenn. through some of the most environmentally sensitive stretches of the Southern Appalachians. [...]

The Obama Administration is holding public listening sessions for their Great Outdoors Initiative where the public gets to tell top administration officials their ideas and priorities regarding conservation and recreation issues. A session is scheduled for Asheville, N.C. on July 15, from 1 to 4pm. Previous listening sessions have taken place in L.A., Grand Island, [...]

Here’s the problem: You play in the forest. You live in the city. So you have to drive to the forest, right? Maybe not. “The Union Express” is a new film by documentary filmmaker and surfer Josh Landan that follows surfers as they ride trains to travel to California’s best surf breaks. Even if you [...]

Will park development protect a classic climbing crag? Entrance fees and development are coming to Sand Rock, a massive collection of boulders and cliffs in a 200-acre public park in northeast Alabama.  So far, development plans are modest and will not impact the climbing inside the park. According to Scooter Howell, chair of the Cherokee [...]

Two proposed Appalachian highways target the Southeast’s wildest landscapes, and new rail alternatives are headed down the tracks. Is Appalachia on board? West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd—the longest  serving member of Congress—wants to build a highway as his final legacy. Referred to as Corridor H, the four-lane highway would be an extension of I-66, connecting [...]

Exploring the South’s Next Wilderness The farthest you can get from a road in the continental U.S. is 22 miles, in a deep corner of Yellowstone National Park. In the Southeast, the farthest is around five miles—in places like Tennessee’s Upper River Bald Wilderness Study Area. It’s an area so rugged, remote, and rarely traveled [...]

THE FUTURE OF TRANSIT IN THE SOUTHEAST he Southeast is sprawling faster than any region in the history of world civilization, but it also boasts the longest greenway systems, fastest trains, and biggest urban redevelopment projects in the nation. Now more than ever, the country is looking south to see what the future of transit [...]

The Mountain Institute helps Appalachian communities climb out of poverty. Life in the mountains is hard. Just ask Otzi the Ice Man, who lived in the Alps some 5,300 years ago. Archaeologists believe that his threadbare clothing and worn-down bones reveal a difficult life scratched out from a severe, high altitude landscape. Even today, mountain [...]

North Carolina is in the process of creating a master plan for Chimney Rock State Park in the Hickory Nut Gorge. The 4,300-acre park includes the rocky outcroppings of Chimney Rock as well Rumbling Bald, a popular climbing area.  Through the process, park planners will create a 100-year vision, 25-year master plan, and five-year action [...]

I signed up for my first 50K trail race (Chattanooga’s Stump Jump) and after a few sporadic training runs, it’s become painfully obvious that I have a lot of work to do between now and race day. Originally, I had planned to take a very zen-like approach to training: run only when I felt like [...]

The Raven Fork is an insanely technical class V creek in Western North CArolina that serves as a benchmark run for the country’s best creek boaters. “Raven Fork,” a new movie by southern boater and filmmaker Thomas Oliver,  explores the relationship between two boaters as they attempt to run this ambitious body of water. Check [...]

Need another reason to hate kudzu, the green leafy vine that is pervasive throughout the Southern United States? How about this: a recent study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that kudzu is a contributor to surface ozone pollution. The invasive plant, which was introduced in the late 1800s [...]

Explore the top ten flatwater paddling paradises. Whitewater paddling is like nature’s own Mountain Dew commercial, with torrential rapids, dramatic drops, and water crashing over rocks. But paddling into a tranquil flatwater paradise can be just as powerful as a whitewater run. “Whitewater paddling is like driving a race car,” says Terry Kepple, a former [...]

North Carolina’s 962-mile footpath gets a surprise visit from the Obamas, and thru-hiker Scott Ward shares his tales from the trail. Spanning 962 miles across North Carolina, the Mountains to Sea Trail (MST) includes the highest mountains east of the Rockies down to the lowest points along the Outer Banks. It traverses three national parks, [...]