Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee/North Carolina About a year ago I was sitting in a church and during the service a friend of mine, Adam, stood up to read a passage from the Gospel of Luke, in which John the Baptist begins his work preaching and baptizing in the Jordan Valley. There is a...

near Roan Mountain, Tennessee To be immersed in a foreign world, one doesn't necessarily need to leave the country. If you're American, for example, you could go to parts of Miami. Even better, you could take a hike on the Appalachian Trail. Completed in 1937, the 2175-mile long Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine....

NPR recently discussed how the recession is luring some to lace up their hiking boots and hit the Appalachian Trail . It has become particularly popular with recent graduates and laid off workers - to the extent that some have started calling it the "Recession Trail" this season. It typically takes six months to "thru-hike"...