In the fall of 2015, my girlfriend, a few friends and I took a trip to the Smoky Mountains. We rented a large cabin in the woods several months in advance and were looking forward to exploring the wilderness. I had taken a few vacations before this, which mostly consisted of cities such as New York or Boston. When I was younger my family would go camping once a year, but that was when I was quite young. So, essentially, this was my first foray into the wilderness as an adult and I was truly taken back by what I discovered.

The first evening we got to the cabin it was very late and the end of a long day of driving, so there wasn't much to do except order some pizza, explore the cabin and call it a night. But, over the course of the next five days we took full advantage of our time. We spent two of the days in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We traversed the myriad of trails and never ending fields that provided breathtaking panoramic views of the mountains. I was always a nature trail guy but this was another level: the mountain backdrop almost looked fake and it was hard to even fathom the enormity of the view. Some of the other highlights of the trip included a trip to an apple orchard where they make a plethora of products from the apples that they grow, a nighttime trip to downtown Gatlinburg and a tour of a moonshine distillery. This trip was so different than the others I had taken; this wasn't a big city, it was the mountains and the experience, people, views and things to do were vastly different. As much as they say that city life is a different way of life, the mountains are another level. The isolation of being up in the mountains is a strange feeling; that feeling of being so separated from society was kind of haunting at first, but by the end it became one of my favorite aspects of the trip. Honestly though, my favorite part of the trip was hanging out with the people I was there with in our amazing cabin. That quality time, paired with a completely different setting, provided an excellent time for all. I think about that trip all the time, the unbelievable views and isolation were a really amazing thing to experience and I simply can't wait to return someday soon.

In late 2016, a large part of the Smokies were ravaged by a fire that was later determined to be caused by arson. This fire consumed hundreds of acres and resulted in the death of 14 people. This was an unbelievable tragedy to strike a part of the country that is so engulfed in its own beauty. A part of the country that also relies on tourism I would imagine that the immediate effect and the lasting effects are going to be detrimental to the people who live in the area and the area itself that relies on that tourism. If you are interested in finding out ways that you can help the people who have suffered from this tragedy you can visit www.cfmt.org/.