We take you on virtual hikes all over East Tennessee from the Great Smoky Mountains to the greenways in your own backyard.

The goal of this series is to make the trails more accessible and to give tips so you can be prepared for your next outdoor adventure.

Atop the Great Smoky Mountains’ third-highest peak stands LeConte Lodge. Its origins lie with a young man named Paul Adams and his saddlebag-wearing German shepherd, Cumberland Jack, also known as Smoky Jack.

Some are the crumbling remains of former boomtowns. Others are the weathered reminders of beloved or infamous community hubs.

Big or small, each place holds a place in Tennessee's history and in the memories of the people who knew them in their heyday.

From hotels to schools to prison and more, explore the historic places in the Volunteer State that have been left behind, learn the stories trapped within their worn walls and find out what the future holds for them.

A Death in the Family. Suttree. Roots. The Glass Menagerie. The Secret Garden. They are classics spanning from days gone by to the modern era. Their authors are among the greats: Agee, McCarthy, Haley, Williams, Hodgson Burnett.

The captivating plots, fabled characters and powerful prose made them unique, but one detail bound their stories together in literary history: Knoxville, Tennessee.

In April 2022, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park released a proposal for a new program called Park It Forward. It would introduce a parking tag system to the Smokies, charging visitors for the first time to leave their cars and giving the park a new revenue source.

Now, a little less than a year after the idea was introduced, the Park It Forward program is starting in the Great Smoky Mountains on March 1, 2023.

The history of Knoxville’s Cumberland Avenue starts more than a century ago. Each decade seemed to bring something new to the Scruffy City. From a neighborhood of mansions to restaurants and a theater to the place for nightlife, it was always the main route to the west.

“Name a decade and Cumberland Avenue had a different identity in that time than it did the decade before,” Knoxville historian Jack Neely said.

Out of the shadows of the Civil War arose America's favorite pastime in East Tennessee. From the farm leagues to the Tennessee Smokies, baseball ingrained itself in Knoxville’s history, and 100 years ago, a team of Black men stepped up to the plate in an East Knoxville ballpark and became champions.

Anyone who wants to park their car, truck or motorcycle in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park will soon have to pay for a parking tag if a new proposal for a program called Park It Forward passes.

Early numbers suggest the Smokies Parking Tag program would operate as a 3-tier system. A full-day parking tag would be $5, a 7-day tag would be $15 and an annual tag would be $40.

With 4,500 parking spaces in the park, the projected revenue gain would be around $10-15 million per year.

It's no secret the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is beautiful year-round.

Those brave enough to trek into the cold can be treated to stunning snowy views.

However, these winter hikes hold their own challenges as the weather can change quickly and temperatures can vary drastically.

Park Emergency Manager Liz Hall shared some tips to keep you warm and safe on your trip to the Great Smoky Mountains or any other wintry walk in nature.

Planning a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park but not sure where to go?

Why not take a hike up to the highest point in the park?

It's called Clingmans Dome and believe it or not, the trek to the top isn't as hard as you might think, just 0.5 miles. Here's what you need to know before you go.

Knoxville resident Gretchen Pardon is taking on an Appalachian Trail thru-hike with her hiking partner, Baby Yoda, a small plush her daughter made for her.

We tracked her journey from Amicalola Falls, Georgia to Katahdin Mountain in Maine and everywhere in between for 10 months with video updates and check-ins on her Instagram @HikingWithBraids and her YouTube channel, Hiking With Braids.

One year before the Clinton 12, two years before the Little Rock Nine and five years before Ruby Bridges, there was the Oak Ridge 85.

On Sept. 6, 1955, 85 Black students from the historic Scarboro community integrated Oak Ridge High School and Robertsville Junior High.

It was a controversial idea, envisioned at least a year before the Supreme Court settled Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954, and it originated right here in East Tennessee's Secret City.

Across the globe, pharmaceutical companies and health researchers are working to develop vaccines and treatments that could end the coronavirus pandemic.

While hundreds are in development, only a hand full have been able to move on to large scale human trials of mRNA vaccines. Thousands have stepped up to be injected with these experimental vaccines.

WBIR's own Robin Wilhoit is one of those thousands participating through Volunteer Research Group at UT Medical Center. She wanted to document her experience during the trial in hopes of educating, answering questions and dispelling some fear.

While its bright red roof and stark white columns on the front porch stand out against the sprawling farmland around it, this brown brick home bore witness to a pivotal moment in the fight to secure voting rights for women.

On the front porch of their home, Febb Burn wrote a letter to her son, State Rep. Harry T. Burn, and helped ratify the 19th Amendment, securing votes for women.

Everyone is dealing with something. While we live in a society that encourages people to speak up and share their stories, it is easy to feel like you are the only one experiencing certain hardships or challenges.

Sometimes the subject of a struggle seems too uncomfortable to discuss with others, even those closest to us. We wanted to help change this dynamic by providing a space where people can tell their stories about aspects of life that are taboo or unrecognized.

In the course of three years, six Farragut High School students have died by suicide. While suicide is a topic most shy away from, three of the mothers who lost a child are sharing their stories to start a conversation that could save young lives.

Families across East Tennessee are living with the painful reality of suicide. It can feel difficult to talk about suicidal thoughts or ask for help. That’s why WBIR-TV is focusing on this issue along with guidance from mental health professionals. As a community, we have the power to create a conversation that can help our young people.

This report contains emotional accounts of the death of a loved one by suicide. It may be upsetting to some viewers.

Whether you are preparing for an end-of-summer day hike or already making plans for a long fall trek, here are some tips, tricks and hacks to consider before you hit the trails.

Christine Hoyer, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park backcountry manager, said going on a hiking trip of any length requires preparation and thought.

When there’s a search and rescue situation in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Kato the Backcountry Search & Rescue (BUSAR) K-9 is on the job.

Montana native Ben Landkammer got Kato nearly two years ago while taking search and rescue courses in Florida, with the last one involving training up a puppy. Landkammer was paired with an 8-week-old solid black German Shepherd, and the duo has been working together in the Knoxville area ever since.