McDowell Offers Ample Opportunities for Celebrating Earth Day!

With more than 67,000 acres of forest, both urban and rural trails, and an amazing lake, getting outdoors on Earth Day shouldn't be a problem in McDowell County! You might, however, have trouble deciding which amazing wild adventure to choose. Whether you're looking for a family-focused outing, or a solo adventure, McDowell County is an outdoor enthusiast's utopia with popular activities such as boating, kayaking, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, and running, There are also unique experiences such as exploring the inside of a mountain at Linville Caverns or bravely traversing Grandfather Mountain's Mile High Suspended Bridge! 

Teaching our children the bounty of nature and the importance of being kind to our planet is part of celebrating Earth Day. A visit to The Historic Orchard At Altapass offers breathtaking vistas of the county and provides historical presentations for the whole family. Their concert series features some of the area's top musicians on their outdoor stage. Gem mining is a local pasttime that shows us our planet provides more than mere plants. These mountains were the host of the 'East Coast Gold Rush" before California found its first nugget. 

Getting down and dirty is always a fun option to celebrate all that our planet provides and is a hands-on way to help our children appreciate and maybe even eat more veggies!  A visit to Painter's Greenhouse in Old Fort showcases the seemingly limitless number of plants that grow in our region and beyond. Their knowledgable staff is happy to entertain curious minds. Allow the kids to choose one or two small plants that you can then spend the afternoon planting. Banner Greenhouse in Nebo is another fun place to explore. This wholesale nursery also sellls to the public and uses the latest technology in caring and growing their plants.

Head down to the Historic Tailgate Market on Saturday, April 24 between 10-4 p.m. for the Spring Fling Plant Sale hosted annually by the North Carolina Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Association for great plants and demonstrations. 

If you prefer to hit the trails or visit your nearby park, check out the links below. Venturing outdoors has become much more popular since Covid-19 and taking care of our natural resources is even more important not only for our enjoyment but for our economic stability. This Earth Day, bring a trash bag and leave it better than you found it. It sets a great example to others and you'll have done a good deed for our planet and our community.

Go Play: 

• McDowell County Parks & Recreation
• Lake James State Park
• McDowell Trails Association
• Friends of the Fonta Flora State Trail
• Grandfather Mountain

Here are some of my favorite quotes that celebrate the beauty and gift that is our natural world. Hope you enjoy them and Happy Earth Day! 
 

• “I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.” –Henry David Thoreau
• "And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and gain my soul." –John Muir
• “In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and winds long to play with your hair.” –Kahli Gibran
• “Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.” –John Muir
• “Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own.” –Charles Dickens
• “Wilderness is not a luxury but necessity of the human spirit.” –Edward Abbey
• “The richness I achieve comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration.” –Claude Monet
• “We do not see nature with our eyes, but with our understandings and our hearts.” –William Hazlett
• “Afoot and lighthearted I take to the open road, healthy, free, the world before me.” –Walt Whitman
• “There is pleasure in the pathless woods. There is rapture on the lonely shore. There is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea and music in its roar. I love not man the less, but Nature more.” –Lord Byron
• “I go to Nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put together.” –John Burroughs
• “You don’t have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that darkness is necessary. But the stars neither require nor demand it.” –Annie Dillard
• “There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story.” –Linda Hogan
• “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” –Albert Einstein
• “He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.” –Socrates
• “Come forth into the light things, let nature be your teacher.” –William Wordsworth
• “It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.” –Robert Louis Stevenson
• “Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach of us more than we can ever learn from books.” –John Lubbock
• “Woodland in full color is awesome as a forest fire, in magnitude at least, but a single tree is like a dancing tongue of flame to warm the heart.” –Hal Borland
• “Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.” –Wallace Stevens