Weekend reads: The busy Smokies
Welcome to the almost-weekend! This week, I wanted to try something new: here are a few stories worth a bit of time.
The busy Smokies
This week, Great Smoky National Park announced new parking fees. To understand why that happened, read this thoughtful story for The Assembly, in which Holly Kays explores how the park became the country’s busiest and least-funded.
The numbers translate to a tangible shift in the Smokies experience. Trailhead parking lots are overflowing, shoulderless mountain roads are lined with parked cars, and some trails look more like grocery store lines than mountain getaways.
The rise of Slim Pickins
It’s not quite in the South, per se, but the story of the country’s first Black-owned outdoors retailer, from the latest issue of Texas Monthly, ra…
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