Ralph Fickel's journal while hiking and rock climbing along the Appalachian Trail in the Smoky Mountains.

Phil Templeton, a real estate developer, talks about the development happening in High Country over his lifetime. He attributes the development to the growth of the university, the skiing industry, and tourism in general. He is a proponent of the development, even if it means the loss of traditional mountain culture, because it provides a higher standard of living for people. He says: "Utopia would be that everything would remain in its natural state and everyone could enjoy it, but that's not how it works."