On a recent trip to Tennessee, I lost count of how many people told me the same strange and unusual thing about Great Smoky Mountains National Park. If you stacked up all of the park’s salamanders against its roughly 1,900 black bears, the salamanders would weigh more. Or was it salamanders versus all of the mammals and birds, or even all the wildlife?

As a former national park ranger, the recent mass mobilization in support of our national parks has left me scared, but not for the reasons you might think.

Geologically speaking, things are always changing at Yellowstone—especially in the hydrothermal areas. It’s simply the nature of the complex hydrothermal system that overlies one of the planet’s largest magma reservoirs.

Appalachian Trail hikers coming through and visiting the town of Erwin in Tennessee now have a safe way to cross the Nolichucky River this spring. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC) is providing a free daily ferry service to transport A.T. hikers across the Nolichucky River near the former site of the Chestoa Pike Bridge, which was destroyed during Hurricane Helene in September 2024.