A worm with a lot of body English might be good for fishing, but when it's an uninvited pest introduced to the forest duff of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, well, it's just bad news.

The cost of camping at Cataloochee in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is going up next year, but you'll also be able to reserve a spot, rather than risk being the odd one out under the previous first-come, first-served approach.

During my recent hike in Shenandoah National Park along the Appalachian Trail, I came upon a tight crook in the trail that carried Ivy Creek downhill amid a flurry of gold, red, orange and yellow leaves of fall. There can be no more spectacular setting that the hardwood forests of the East. Unless it's set ablaze by the pastel daubs of spring wildflowers in places such as Glacier, Saquaro or Canyonlands national parks.