Morgan Simmons

Luke Brandon, whose rich baritone singing voice and incomparable guitar playing charmed generations of fans, died of lung cancer Wednesday at the Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge. He was 87.

SPRING CITY - Knoxville is sandwiched between two physiographic regions - the Blue Ridge Province to the east and the Cumberland Plateau to the west - that are prime breeding grounds for waterfalls.

A skier or snowboarder would have characterized the snow as "loose powder." It was 6 inches deep, and untouched except for animal tracks. On this cold winter morning, it felt like we had the 125,000-acre Big South Fork National River ...

SHARPS CHAPEL - On a recent afternoon in this small community in Union County, 16-year-old Sarah Morgan sat on the couch with her favorite dulcimer, the one she won at last year's Southern Regional Mountain Dulcimer Competition in Batesville, Ark.

GATLINBURG - It was the first day of winter, and U.S. Highway 441 through Great Smoky Mountains National Park was closed due to ice and snow.

CUMBERLAND GAP, Tenn. - At the southwest end of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park is a 1,990 foot-high overlook called Tri-State Peak where you can stand in three states at once.

Hailed by critics as one of the most powerful sports documentaries of all time, "Bicycle Dreams" profiles the Race Across America, a 3,000-mile transcontinental race that draws some of the best ultra-endurance cyclists from around the world.

SPARTA, Tenn. - Some of the most impressive waterfalls in Tennessee are tucked away in the geologic folds of the Cumberland Plateau. Some, like Fall Creek Falls and Burgess Falls, are surrounded by state parks, while others, like Virgin Falls ...

Abrams Falls is one of the top hiking destinations in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, especially during the dog days of summer.

TELLICO PLAINS - For sheer mass and thundering sound effects, Bald River Falls in Monroe County might be the most impressive waterfall in Tennessee.

WATERVILLE, N.C. - There are a number of ways to reach the Mount Sterling fire tower, the shortest being the 2.8-mile Mount Sterling Trail, which starts at Mount Sterling Gap on the eastern border of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

OAK RIDGE - Don't go hiking or biking on the Dyllis Orchard Road Trail expecting to find scenic vistas or waterfalls. Instead, listen to the songbirds calling from the brushy corridors beneath the power lines.

NORRIS - Completed in 1936, Norris Dam impounds the Clinch and Powell rivers to create Norris Lake, the cleanest of all the Tennessee Valley Authority's reservoirs.

JAMESTOWN, Tenn. - The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area showcases some of the prettiest river gorge scenery on the Cumberland Plateau, and the Rock Creek Loop is one of the park's finest trails.

A birthday bash for old-time fiddler Charlie Acuff remains on schedule despite recent setbacks in the guest of honor's health.

GATLINBURG - Knowing where the park service sends its snow plows can make winter hiking in the Smokies a lot easier. On the Tennessee side of the Smokies, the Gatlinburg Spur is one of the first roads to be cleared ...

Toss a BlueChip pick into a fire, and it won't melt. Step on it, and it won't break. Put one in your hand, and you have what a growing number of professional bluegrass musicians say is the best sounding, best ...

ALLARDT, Tenn. - Some of East Tennessee's finest - and most often overlooked - hiking destinations can be found among the state's natural areas.

CAYLOR, Va. - Chadwell Gap on Cumberland Mountain is one of those paths of least resistance that has been everything from a buffalo trail to a coal mining road.

CARYVILLE, Tenn. - Just north of the Caryville-Jacksboro exit on Interstate 75 is the Devil's Racetrack, a rock formation so eye-catching it challenges you to keep your eyes on the road.

JAMESTOWN, Tenn. - Just half a mile from the trail head, the Hidden Passage Trail passes beneath a rockhouse where the path appears to be blocked by a pile of boulders.

GRANDVIEW, Tenn. - Cliff Hamby has lived his entire life on the Cumberland Plateau, a region that contains some of the largest tracts of unbroken forests in the Eastern United States.

DAYTON, Tenn. - Hiking on a hot summer day is a lot more inviting when there's a mountain stream next to the trail. The Laurel-Snow State Natural Area gets its name from two waterfalls, Laurel Falls and Snow Falls. Laurel ...

GATLINBURG - Brushy Mountain may not be the tallest peak in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but it offers some of the best views. At an elevation of 4,900 feet, Brushy Mountain is overshadowed by its neighbor to the ...

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The only evidence was a 1946 photo that showed the Randolph Family Band posing with their instruments in front of a 16 mm movie camera. In Bradley Reeves' line of work, this was tantamount to a treasure ...

The East Tennessee Whitewater Club is almost as old as the sport of whitewater paddling itself. The club dates back to the early 1960s, making it the oldest whitewater paddling club in Tennessee. Early members explored the river gorges of ...

EWING, Va. - Mention Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and most people think of, well, Cumberland Gap, the gateway to the West for hundreds of thousands of settlers between 1780 and 1810.

The Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area is fast gaining a reputation as a park that knows how to celebrate spring.

Located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Alum Cave Trail - also called Alum Cave Bluff Trail - is one of five trails that lead up Mount LeConte, the third-highest peak in the park behind Clingman's Dome and Mount ...

If you live in Knoxville and you love to backpack and hike, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park casts a long shadow.

WARTBURG, Tenn. - The Obed Wild and Scenic River is more of a paddling and climbing park than a hiking park, but that's not to say it doesn't have some exceptional trails.

Sometimes, the biggest obstacle to winter hiking in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is simply getting to the trail head. Certain roads in the park are more likely to remain passable in winter than others. On the Tennessee side of ...

T he ground has been slick and muddy, and more often than not, the weather has been rainy and cold. Not that these are undesirable conditions for mountain bikers. This winter members of the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club have been ...

On a recent Thursday night, a small but appreciative audience gathered in Elam Blackman's North Knoxville home to hear Danny Schmidt and Carrie Elkin, two singer-songwriters from Austin, Texas.

Just about all the parks in Knox County are fine for walking, but if real hiking is what you're after, the options narrow considerably.

Good things sometimes come in small packages. Such is the case with the hiking trails at Ijams Nature Center, Knoxville's premier urban getaway located just two miles from downtown.

Mike Bryant gets more music out of his fiddle just tuning it than most people get when they play. His bowing is forceful yet relaxed.

Knoxville's first bicycling guidebook was worth the wait. Now available in area bike shops and book stores, "Bicycle Routes" includes route descriptions of 40 of the best scenic rides around Knoxville. The book covers a nine-county radius and includes maps ...

When Luke Brandon plays guitar, it’s hard not to watch his hands. He can play sophisticated jazz chords up and down the neck, but he’s equally likely to fingerpick a pop standard in a style reminiscent of his old friend, ...

The National Park Service is preparing a new rule that would give individual parks more leverage in determining whether or not to expand mountain biking opportunities.

Knoxville's reputation as an outdoor town rests largely on its close proximity to the mountains, most notably the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the most highly visited national park in the U.S.

Knoxville is surrounded by water, much of it in the form of reservoirs created by the Tennessee Valley Authority.