Graham Averill

A cyclist makes their way through thick, green brush on a mountain bike with a blue sky in the background

Asheville’s Best Mountain Biking Isn’t Where You Might Think

Graham Averill|June 19, 2019

Asheville’s best flow trail is hidden under three feet of tall grass and briars. That’s what I decide as I ride Alexander Mountain Bike Park, pedaling through p...

Natural habitat for the hellbender salamander: The cold mountain streams in the Appalachian Range.

Hellbender Denied Listing as Endangered Species, but Still in Peril

Graham Averill|May 20, 2019

The eastern hellbender is not a cute animal. It’s typically a shade of dull brown, with small eyes and folds of loose skin running down the sides of its body. S...

Hikers traverse a high-alpine field under stormy skies

The South Beyond 6,000 is the Southeast’s Toughest Hiking Challenge

Graham Averill|April 18, 2019

Rebecca Trittipoe remembers crawling on her belly under a dense slope of rhododendron and thorns, desperately trying to move a few feet closer to the top of the...

A kayaker gets pitted on the Cheoah River

Here’s How Whitewater Season is Shaping Up in the Southeast

Graham Averill|March 15, 2019

As the days grow longer, boaters in the American Southeast are gearing up for whitewater season, the majority of which is dictated by the timed release of hydro...

A view of blue skies and mountains in the distance from Rich Mountain Lookout Tower

Put a Hike to This North Carolina Lookout Tower on Your List

Graham Averill|March 1, 2019

One of Pisgah National Forest’s historic fire lookout towers has been restored to its former glory. Rich Mountain Lookout Tower, near Hot Springs, North Carolin...

A mountain biker swoops through Pisgah National Forest.

Updates Planned for Mountain Bike Trails in North Carolina’s Pisgah Ranger District

Graham Averill|February 13, 2019

In the coming year, three the of the most popular mountain biking trails in the Pisgah Ranger District—Avery Creek, Buckwheat Knob and Black Mountain—will recei...

Hikers trudge by a wooden structure in Great Smoky Mountains National Park with the autumn leaves all around

Top Picks for North Carolina Fall & Winter Camping

Graham Averill|January 24, 2019

North Carolina offers an incredibly diverse portfolio of terrain, stretching from the sand dunes that flank the Atlantic Ocean, through the rolling Piedmont and...

The Polk County Recreation Complex with Little White Oak Mountain in the background

On Little White Oak Mountain, A Would-Be Neighborhood is Now a Public Park

Graham Averill|December 17, 2018

A mountain once slated for development is now being turned into a public park. The town of Columbus, North Carolina, originally approved the construction of 687...

Beautiful mountains of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the morning light

Missing Link in the Mountains-to-Sea Trail Completed

Graham Averill|December 12, 2018

A key eight-mile section of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail (MST) was recently completed, offering backpackers a 350-mile-long trail experience in and near North Car...

A Play Wave Is Coming to Asheville, North Carolina

Graham Averill|November 16, 2018

Every summer, thousands of tubers flock to the lazy French Broad River in Asheville, but soon, the historically mellow waterway will attract surfers and freesty...

Guide to Rocky Fork State Park

Graham Averill|November 7, 2018

One of the closest state parks to downtown Asheville, North Carolina, is actually just across the border in Tennessee, and it encompasses some of the most rugge...

The Green Race is Coming

Graham Averill|October 30, 2018

On November 3, some of the world’s best boaters will converge on Asheville to battle head-to-head in what is arguably one of the most intense kayaking competiti...

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