{"id":4892,"date":"2026-01-05T18:04:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T23:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sabacycling.com\/bicycling\/?p=4892"},"modified":"2026-01-05T18:05:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T23:05:03","slug":"keepers-of-the-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sabacycling.com\/bicycling\/news\/keepers-of-the-mountains","title":{"rendered":"VisitSmokies.org Highlights Jackrabbit Trails and SABA&#8217;s &#8220;Mother Rabbit, &#8221; Joanna Atkisson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Welcome to Chapter 1 of our VisitSmokies.org docu-series, Stories of the Southern Smokies, where we highlight the people who protect, honor, and carry the legacy of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. This episode features Joanna Padgett Atkisson, a sixth-generation Clay County native whose story embodies preservation, heritage, and mountain stewardship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Stories of the Southern Smokies l Keepers of the Mountains l Mother Rabbit l Hayesville, NC\" width=\"605\" height=\"340\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fT3466IoOPk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome to Chapter 1 of our VisitSmokies.org docu-series, Stories of the Southern Smokies, where we highlight the people who protect, honor, and carry the legacy of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. This episode features Joanna Padgett Atkisson, a sixth-generation Clay County &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/sabacycling.com\/bicycling\/news\/keepers-of-the-mountains\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">VisitSmokies.org Highlights Jackrabbit Trails and SABA&#8217;s &#8220;Mother Rabbit, &#8221; Joanna Atkisson<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4894,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jackrabbit-trail-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Highlights Jackrabbit Trails | Video Keepers of the Mountains<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This episode features Joanna Padgett Atkisson, a 6-generation Clay County native whose story embodies preservation, heritage, and mountain stewardship.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sabacycling.com\/bicycling\/news\/keepers-of-the-mountains\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Highlights Jackrabbit Trails | Video Keepers of the Mountains\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This episode features Joanna Padgett Atkisson, a 6-generation Clay County native whose story embodies preservation, heritage, and mountain stewardship.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sabacycling.com\/bicycling\/news\/keepers-of-the-mountains\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Southern Appalachian Bicycle Association\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sabacycling\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-05T23:04:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-05T23:05:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sabacycling.com\/bicycling\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/keepers-of-the-mountains.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"526\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"526\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"SABA Cycling\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"SABA Cycling\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sabacycling.com\\\/bicycling\\\/news\\\/keepers-of-the-mountains#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sabacycling.com\\\/bicycling\\\/news\\\/keepers-of-the-mountains\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"SABA Cycling\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sabacycling.com\\\/bicycling\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/700c272faa44f6d010ebb10d745ed020\"},\"headline\":\"VisitSmokies.org Highlights Jackrabbit Trails and SABA&#8217;s &#8220;Mother Rabbit, &#8221; 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