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CURRENT Features

Bird Man

Chris Kappler turns flying obsession into soaring sideline business. A chance encounter with a discerning pilot changed a 15-year-old’s life forever.

Mountain Traditions: Back to Business, Decades Later

A happy accident led Nancy Bruns to revitalize her family’s 200-year-old West Virginia salt-making business.

A Town Comes to Peace: The Elephant in the Train Yard

In September 1916, the eastern Tennessee town of Erwin earned a notoriety that would shadow it for a century, when a five-ton elephant was lynched in the railyard, suspended from a railroad derrick before a crowd hungry for her blood.

Ezra Staengl Has His Eye on Nature

The young Virginia naturalist is on a quest to protect nature and inspire others to do the same.

Up Close & Personal With Mama & Her Cubs

These charmingly intimate views of a female black bear and her cubs—which are born at a mere eight ounces—show the deep personal connection between mama and her babies.

Current Issue

Chris Kappler (inset) does a loop-de-loop over West Virginia’s New River Gorge for a Wild Blue Adventure customer in his restored 1943 Boeing Stearman. With each aerial tour, pilot Chris Kappler is transformed into a World War II flying ace.

Bird Man

Chris Kappler turns flying obsession into soaring sideline business. A chance encounter with a discerning pilot changed a 15-year-old’s life forever.
Nancy Bruns and her brother, Lewis Payne, have been harvesting salt since 2014.

Mountain Traditions: Back to Business, Decades Later

A happy accident led Nancy Bruns to revitalize her family’s 200-year-old West Virginia salt-making business.
Main Street Erwin comes alive for the Great Outdoors Festival, even in the rain.

A Town Comes to Peace: The Elephant in the Train Yard

In September 1916, the eastern Tennessee town of Erwin earned a notoriety that would shadow it for a century, when a five-ton elephant was lynched in the railyard, suspended from a railroad derrick before a crowd hungry for her blood.
Left and inset: Ezra Staengl Bronze Award at the 2018 American Birding Association Young Birder of the Year Competition included an honorable mention for his photography. Right: Ezra got photographically up close and personal with these chestnut-sided warblers.

Ezra Staengl Has His Eye on Nature

The young Virginia naturalist is on a quest to protect nature and inspire others to do the same.
This special image has mama bear cradling all three of her precious cubs. She will continue to have her paws full, raising, feeding, protecting and teaching them for 18 months until they have a “family breakup.”

Up Close & Personal With Mama & Her Cubs

These charmingly intimate views of a female black bear and her cubs—which are born at a mere eight ounces—show the deep personal connection between mama and her babies.
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Departments

Vibrant Monarch butterfly clings to its translucent dew covered cocoon
Creature Feature

Monarch Mimickers

It’s easy to mistake other orange species for the king of fall butterflies.

August 26, 2026
At Coopers Rock State Forest, new Stargazer cabins invite guests to look up through skylights and telescopes.
Country Roads

Even Closer to Almost Heaven

New Stargazer cabins at Coopers Rock State Forest offer a skyward escape in the mountains of West Virginia.

June 29, 2026
©Duncan Seaman
Country Roads

A Mountain Tradition Turns 90 

Visitors flock to Galax, Virginia, each summer for the Old Fiddlers’ Convention, a days-long celebration of Appalachian music.

June 29, 2026

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