“We come from the Land of the Ice and Snow …” Led Zeppelin, Immigrant Song (1970)

These lyrics have a specific meaning for Badger. While Fountain City is certainly not frigid with precipitation, snow was a more common occurrence then than now, some 55 years later.

One of my fans asked me a simple question on social media this week: “It’s obvious that you have a passion for winter hiking and photography, Badger. Where did that come from?”

Sometimes in life, you just don’t have a good answer to a personal question. Certainly, this was an “I don’t know” response. I’ve thought about it from time to time, and I still don’t know.

On my mother’s side of the family, there is a Cherokee Native American history but that ancestry was local to the Southern Appalachians. On my dad’s side, my ancestry is Scotch/Irish. The Mabrys have lived in the Knoxville area since 1746, according to the docents of the Mabry-Hazen House.

Chilly sunrise in the Roan Highlands (photo by Thomas Mabry

But I digress. This week’s adventure was an encore presentation of the Joe Nitti and Badger Role Model Show icy, snowy Roan Mountain on the Tennessee/North Carolina line. We both like it cold and the conditions sketchy. The conditions qualified for the sketchy part: 5 deg. F. with the wind chill and 4-6 inches of snow in the drifts. Of course, the best sunrise location on the mountain is right in the middle of those drifts.

We made the best of it and were blessed with a cloud inversion which allowed the pre-sunrise light to dance across the sky, giving the top of the clouds a reddish/orange hue. The freezing weather and elements afforded us a spectacular dawn with an otherworldly nature to it.

Perhaps that’s what entices Badger to return to the Roan Highlands time and time again in all seasons. The serenity and quiet of a morning devoid of other hikers definitely has a calming and peaceful feeling – while you shiver and invite frostbite on your hands as you get that noteworthy photo.

So, the question remains: “Is Badger from the Land of the Ice and Snow? Believe it, and it will come true.

Photograph © 2025 Thomas Mabry @honeybadgerimages – All Rights Reserved

Many of the HoneyBadgerImages are on display at instagram.com/honeybadgerimages.

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