A Walk in the Woods . . . It's About Time

By Tom Adkinson

Winter has not been kind to the Southeast this year. We've been rained on, snowed on, cooped up and generally abused by Mother Nature.

It's time for a change, and as spring marches north from the Gulf Coast, the anticipation is almost palpable as Southerners lace up their hiking boots and head outside. It's time to meet the kinder, gentler side of Mother Nature on a trail somewhere.

John and Kat LaFevre are two Tennessee hikers who love to hike – John once even left an employer who wanted to move him to another part of the country – and they've come up with an idea that puts a new face on casual hiking.

They call it going on a "scavenger hike adventure," and it's not what you might think at first. A scavenger hike adventure doesn't involve collecting objects – you know the admonition to "take nothing but photos, leave nothing but footprints" – but instead challenges you to observe more keenly and see things along the trail from a new perspective.

They've taken the concept to the max with two books that lead you along specific trails in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee and North Carolina. The concept works anywhere, however.

> Continue Reading