Aarik Long

4 days ago | themountaineer.com | Aarik Long

After nearly three weeks, the Shining Rock Wilderness Area is again open guests. The 18,000-acre section of the Pisgah National Forest had been closed since the Rattlesnake Branch Fire broke out on Wednesday, March 26. The fire burned for a little over two weeks before rain over the weekend of April 12-13 helped tamp down the flames. Before the rain even reached Western North Carolina, sections of the Pisgah National Forest began to re-open as trails were inspected and cleared of any debris.

5 days ago | themountaineer.com | Aarik Long

Despite big infusions of money from the state and federal governments, those using Canton’s water and sewer services are likely facing significant rate hikes starting July 1. There’s a variety of reasons behind that, but the biggest is the fact that the money from the North Carolina General Assembly and U.S. Congress will not cover the costs of building the facility or the cost to maintain it. “It’s reality. We’ve talked about it in here for years. We knew this was coming.

5 days ago | themountaineer.com | Aarik Long

When Helene hit Western North Carolina, the administrators, staff and volunteers at Lake Junaluska knew they had a calling to put Christian love into action. For them, that calling would be to serve those who were serving others during the crisis. “God has blessed us with excellent facilities and we feel a call to make these fully available to the brave public service workers who travel into this area to help,” said Lake Junaluska Executive Director Ken Howle.

6 days ago | charlotteobserver.com | Aarik Long

For any soccer team to be successful, they need to have a strong presence between the goalposts. That's exactly what Pisgah boys soccer has had with Dominick Messer leading the way as the team's goalkeeper. "He brings confidence every game - stability back there," Pisgah coach Roddy Alt said. "His leadership grew a little bit every year. We worked on that a lot. That's one of the things we instill in all of the players. He had a commanding presence back there and helped stabilize the team.

6 days ago | charlotteobserver.com | Aarik Long

The ultimate goal in soccer is to score more goals than your opponent. No one has done more scoring for Pisgah recently than senior Andrew Hardin. This past fall, Hardin led the team with 20 goals and helped lift the Bears to the first two playoff wins in Pisgah history. All of that helped get the forward on a college roster. Last week, Hardin signed with Division II Belmont Abbey College. "I'm super excited. This is the day I've been dreaming about for a while," Hardin said.