Alejandro and Michelle Guanaga opened Outdoor Gear Revival on Kingston Pike in Knoxville right before the 2020 Pandemic. Outdoor Gear Revival

Outdoor Gear Revival rose from the Pandemic to bring affordable gear to the people

KNOXVILLE — “We had a grandmother come in one time and said, ‘I want to take my grandson camping, but I don't have all the lightweight gear,’” Alejandro Guanaga said. “Your grandson doesn't care if you're carrying a 50-pound tent. He wants to go out with grandma.”

For Alejandro and his wife, Michelle, their business provides exactly that opportunity to people of all income levels in and around Knoxville. The couple owns and operates Outdoor Gear Revival (OGR), 5710 Kingston Pike, a consignment store in Bearden reselling used outdoor gear and apparel. They opened the shop in February 2020, at the beginning of the COVID lockdown. Like other non-essential businesses, they were required to close in March.

“When we were allowed to open again in May, we came back and it was phenomenal because the stimulus checks helped a lot,” Guanaga said. “Everybody wanted to go outdoors because so much was closed. It really jump-started our business.”

Those foundational connections that the Guanagas made in the early days of their business built a community encompassing multiple generations. Some of their summer staff were among their earliest customers as kids. Families who started camping with small children six years ago have started backpacking, moving from one pastime to the next with gear from OGR.

“You’re able to help people and get them outdoors. Our philosophy has always been… that to protect the outdoors, you have to love it,” Guanaga said. “The more people we get to be passionate about the outdoors, the more we can help protect it… We believe that stores like ours help keep that passion alive.” 

 In an August 19, 1984, newspaper article from the Bristol Herald Courier, Bob Shumate and Rick Knight are pictured observing reintroduced peregrine falcon chicks at a hacking site in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Courtesy Bristol Herald Courier

Greenbrier Pinnacle in Great Smokies was epicenter of decades-long recovery effort

Holly Kays is the lead writer for Smokies Life.

GATLINBURG — With striking white-and-gray plumage, yellow beaks and talons, and powerfully compact bodies, peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) are beautiful birds in any posture. But they’re downright magical in the air—aerial acrobats capable of reaching 200 mph as they dive down onto their prey. For Johnson City, Tennessee, ornithologist Rick Knight, such sightings are especially rich in meaning.

“It’s like watching one of my kids or grandkids making his own in the world,” he said.

In the summer of 1984, Knight was 28 years old, an East Tennessee farm boy with a bachelor’s degree in biology and an abiding love for the outdoors. When he learned about an opportunity to get paid to spend all summer camping in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, he jumped at the chance.

The job revolved around four fluffy peregrine falcon chicks, which wildlife managers hoped would become the first wild peregrines to soar over the Smokies in decades. The Smokies reintroduction was a joint effort of the National Park Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Tennessee Valley Authority, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, and The Peregrine Fund.

KNOXVILLE — The 37^th annual Ijams River Rescue on March 21 brought together 584 volunteers to clean up 39 sites, removing an estimated 34,800 pounds (17.4 tons) of trash from the Tennessee River, creeks, streams, and shorelines in Knox, Anderson, Blount, and Sevier Counties.

Volunteers collected 1,273 bags of trash as well as 114 tires and large items, such as traffic barrels, shopping carts, broken windows, and a riding lawnmower. Other finds included 40 feet of barge line, 125 square feet of docking, two toilets, medical equipment, a box of shotgun shells, underwear, and a full plate of food that had been abandoned on a bench.

This year’s cleanup surpassed the 2025 Ijams River Rescue, which removed an estimated 17.2 tons of trash and large items from 34 sites in Knox, Anderson, Blount, and Loudon counties.

The 37th annual Ijams River Rescue was made possible thanks to City of Knoxville Stormwater Engineering, Dow, First Horizon Bank, Tennessee Valley Authority, Borderland Tees, Brunswick Boat Group, Knoxville TVA Employees Credit Union, Vulcan Materials Company, Old Sevier District, and Tailwater Properties.

-Ijams Nature Center

Dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) is among the wildflowers you may encounter each spring at Whiteoak Sink and other areas of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The sink is such a draw for wildflower lovers the park service limits the number of people who can enter the sink at any one time in a bid to protect the flowers. Wikipedia Commons

Park rangers warn stupefied visitors to tread carefully during Smokies wildflower season

GATLINBURG — In what has become an annual plea, rangers at Great Smoky Mountains National Park again reminds visitors to limit group sizes at Whiteoak Sink, a wildflower mecca in the most-visited park in the U.S.

Here’s the release from the National Park Service:

 “As spring approaches, Great Smoky Mountains National Park reminds visitors of group size limits during the popular wildflower season at Whiteoak Sink. Individuals and small groups of eight or fewer people may access the Whiteoak Sink area throughout the wildflower season from April 1 through May 3.

“Whiteoak Sink is a sensitive area that hosts many rare plants. Park managers limit group size to protect sensitive wildflower species from trampling. Overuse of the area causes impacts like damage to plants and soil compaction when large groups crowd around plants off trail to take photos or closely view flowers. Parking is limited, so visitors should plan ahead and come prepared with alternative destinations in case they do not find parking available at Whiteoak Sink. Parking is not permitted on road shoulders.” 

Purveyor of literary science to speak to Arboretum audience about the flowers in our lives

OAK RIDGE ­— Acclaimed writer David Haskell’s latest book offers a literary and scientific look at the vitality of plants (and most importantly, their flowers) and their impact on civilization.

“I hope that after reading the “How Flowers Made our World,” readers will experience flowers with more delight, curiosity, and reverence,” Haskell said in a release from Penguin Books. Haskell is the author of five books, two of which were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction.

 “As in my other books, I interweave rich sensory observation with the latest scientific discoveries, aiming to enrich readers’ own experiences of flowers and the living world.

“This book is a culmination of what I’ve learned as a biologist and writer over the last thirty years: that even though we often dismiss flowers as mere ornaments, flowers run our world, from building ecosystems, to spurring the diversity and vitality of animals, to being the foundations of human agriculture.

He will speak to a Knoxville online Knoxville audience at 7 p.m. March 30.

The program is free, and registration for the Zoom presentation is available on the Arboretum Society website UTArboretumSociety.org. Tennessee Citizens for Wilderness Planning is a cosponsor.