The Art Of Campfire
A wilderness ethic has emerged over the last decade or two that discourages campfires while camping, because they char the earth, put too much pressure on forests in crowded wilderness areas and pollute the air with wood smoke.
Get Wet On The Okatoma
As the sorority sisters from the University of Southern Mississippi began crashing through the rapid known as "the chute" on the Okatoma Creek, the guys in our Scout troop took notice.
Notes On Nature
I bumped into Katie Blount last week, and we started talking about a couple of previous outdoor columns, including a recent one on mountain biking. Katie doesn't mountain bike, or paddle whitewater rivers or thru-hike cross-continent trails. But she likes reading about it all.
These Boots Are Made For It All
When I arrived at Boy Scout backpacking camp at the end of summer, the entrance to our ranch in the New Mexico Rocky Mountains was decorated with dozens of dusty hiking boots dangling from their shoestrings.
Rolling With the Fear
Clara Agnes Ault is a typical 12-year-old girl with pretty blonde hair, braces and an iPod. For Christmas last year, she received the standard allotment of sweaters, scarves and belts.
Snake Charming
My mother says that when I was a toddler in diapers, I almost picked up a water moccasin in our Jackson backyard. Branson legend has it I was "saved" by a babysitter.
Beach Biking
Looking over a business conference agenda's recreational options earlier this year, I felt pretty inadequate.
Natchez Trace
The Natchez Trace Parkway is a beautiful, scenic 444-mile-long unit of the U.S. National Park Service, which extends across three states from Natchez, Miss., to Nashville, Tenn. Within the Jackson area, "the Trace," as it is locally called, offers plenty of outdoor grandeur and fun.
Love Fresh Berries? Pick Them
This summer, instead of buying your berries from the market or store, opt for a more memorable outing at a U-Pick farm.
OPINION: A Pearl of Great Price: The Value of a Flowing Pearl River in Jackson
For fish and turtle species in flowing river habitats, if something happens to their environment—like a dam turning a flowing river into a stagnant lake—they will likely be lost over time.