The Blue Ridge Parkway by Foot: A Park Ranger's Memoir

by Tim Pegram

Overview

One of the premier tourist attractions of the eastern United States, the Blue Ridge Parkway stretches from Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in western North Carolina. This volume relates the author's one-of-a-kind backpacking trip along the 469-mile road, along with his observations and recollections regarding the Parkway, the most visited unit of the National Park Service. Beginning with his experience as a summer college intern, the book also covers the twelve years he spent working as a ranger on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Anecdotal history and accounts from some of the Parkway's earliest rangers complete this tale of one of our country's national treasures. The appendix contains a chronological, mile-by-mile re-creation of Pegram's 2003 trek, including the names of all the Parkway landmarks mentioned in the book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786482801
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	10/01/2014
Series:	Contributions to Southern Appalachian Studies , #16
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	324
File size:	3 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Freelance writer Tim Pegram is a former park ranger and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Freelance writer Tim Pegram is a former park ranger and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     
Preface     

1. Once Upon the Parkway     
2. Door Number Three     
3. Twelve Years, Eight Months, Forty-One Days     
4. Deliberately, Reflectively, Randomly     
5. Means of Engagement     
6. Milepost Zero     
7. One Manpower     
8. Boston Knob Overlook     
9. Spooked.     
10. Ranger Bloopers     
11. Taking Flight     
12. Stills and Fields     
13. Ranger Mischief     
14. Beware of Dog     
15. Gone Awry     
16. Disorderly Conduct     
17. Clocking Butterflies and Bumblebees     
18. Not of This Earth     
19. Weathering Isabel     
20. Crossing Paths     
21. Death of a Chorus     
22. Finding, at Last, the Wild Asparagus     
23. Pure Harmony     
24. Derailed in Avery County     
25. Motorcycles     
26. Skulking About     
27. Bear!     
28. Sunday Solace     
29. Balsam Gap District Revisited     
30. Swinging Snow Gates     
31. The Main Event     
32. Local Comparable Rate     
33. Cased and Unloaded     
34. Milepost 469     

Appendix: Noted Parkway Locations and Author’s Schedule     
Chapter Notes     
Bibliography     
Index     

Editorial Reviews

full of vivid descriptions...provides inspiration”—The Mountaineer; “by soaking up Pegram’s highly descriptive prose...readers will feel as if they are sharing every memory and mile. More than a travelogue, this book offers insight into how the soul of a road intertwined with the soul of an author”—Our State; “this book is like taking a one-on-one nature hike with an experienced ranger...a treasure trove of information about the Blue Ridge Parkway...a pleasure to read...Pegram recounts the sights and smells of his journey with an accuracy and detail that betray his many years as a park ranger...a unique perspective...brings together the past and the present of the Blue Ridge Parkway”—Jefferson Post; “Tim Pegram traversed all 469 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway in 2003, and he didn’t settle for a woodsy hike...Pegram describes his journey, interlacing it with anecdotes from his 12 years as a ranger in the Blue Ridge Parkway”—Salisbury Post; “Tim Pegram does a great service to the less adventurous of us who can vicariously share in his colorful and entertaining journey”—The Roanoke Times.

From the Publisher

this book is like taking a one-on-one nature hike with an experienced ranger...a treasure trove of information about the Blue Ridge Parkway...a pleasure to read...Pegram recounts the sights and smells of his journey with an accuracy and detail that betray his many years as a park ranger...a unique perspective...brings together the past and the present of the Blue Ridge Parkway

Jefferson Post

by soaking up Pegram's highly descriptive prose...readers will feel as if they are sharing every memory and mile. More than a travelogue, this book offers insight into how the soul of a road intertwined with the soul of an author

Our State

full of vivid descriptions...provides inspiration

The Mountaineer