Local Adventurer: Explore The Obed National Park on Labor Day Weekend

Local Adventurer: Explore The Obed National Park on Labor Day Weekend

For the past four years, I’ve run a travel blog on my own, but now I feel it is time to share my love for traveling with the community surrounding my home, Nashville and Lipscomb University. Every other week I am planning to share a location that’s not too far from Lipscomb and makes for a perfect-length weekend or day trip. This being a long weekend for students, I have picked a destination that’s a bit farther from Lipscomb, but still a perfect day trip. This week I would like to introduce, The Obed. The Obed National Park is located in Wartburg, Tennessee, a little under two hours from Gatlinburg. I had never heard of the park until a friend of mine shared a post on Instagram of a stunning view in the park. Obed is known most for its challenging whitewater rafting, rock climbing, camping and hiking trails. There are several trails at the park, including Lilly Bluff Trail, Emory River Nature Trail, Point Trail and the Cumberland Trail. Lilly Bluff is an overlook point of the Cumberland River Gorge, and the overlook trail takes you right to it. The overlook trail is only 0.3-miles long.   This next trail is my favorite and is called The Point Trail; it is a 3.8-mile round trip trail and a moderate to strenuous hike with climbing and the crossing of creeks. The Point Trail dips down into Melton Mill Branch and involves a moderate amount of easy climbing. Point Trail contains many turns and a beautiful scenic overlook of the gorge as well. The Bridge Trail is 0.5-mileslong and crosses the river through...

Adventuring Abroad: The Adventure Begins

They say when you travel, you should always keep a journal. And while I do plan on keeping my personal journal for my own sake, I also want my column for Lumination about my semester abroad in Santiago, Chilé, to be something like a journal for all of my readers to see. Now, that is not to say this column will be a jumbled mess of rambling, random thoughts and memories; it will obviously have more structure and preparation behind it than that. No, I use that analogy to introduce this column because the writing here will be conversational, and even borderline casual. If you choose to read this column, my hope is that you will be delightfully struck by the creative, colorful and free-flowing writing style, and that you will feel truly a part of the experiences and memories that I’m creating and expressing to you via the written word. I want my readers to know exactly what it is like to live abroad, and to feel as though they share in the valleys and peaks of that experience. My name is Brianna Langley, and I have been the lifestyles editor for Lumination Network since last August. I plan to double major in journalism and international affairs, and I am currently a second semester sophomore at Lipscomb University. My true passion is cultural and travel journalism, which is why I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to do write this column during my time abroad here in Chilé. I chose to participate in the Global Learning program for one semester (three months) because travel is and will always be my...