Sunny Montgomery is a writer and editor for Chatter Magazine and Get Out Chattanooga. In 2018, she won third place in the Green Eyeshade Awards for her story covering autism in the outdoors. In addition to her magazine work, Sunny works on various digital products, and helped create and launch the popular newsletters Chattanooga Outdoor News and Good Day, Chattanooga! She is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, a certified Tennessee State Naturalist and an avid outdoorsperson. She moved to Chattanooga from central Kentucky in 2013, and most recently traded her suburban home for a small cabin, which she built with her partner, at the edge of Cherokee National Forest.
Our homes are our sanctuaries - and, these days, they are often our offices, our classrooms and our gyms, too.
by Sunny MontgomeryWhen Marina Peshterianu moved from Ukraine to Chattanooga in 1993, she remembers being asked about her accent everywhere she went.
by Sunny MontgomeryYou've got your tree. You've got your events and your shopping list. You've also got a few questions.
by Sunny MontgomeryThose interested in caving need not travel far from Chattanooga.
by Sunny MontgomeryEvery winter solstice, Chad Wamack and a dozen or so of his running buddies meet at the Art Loeb Trail near Brevard, North Carolina.
by Sunny MontgomeryI am a fledgling birder, and having only recently started my "life list," I'm always adding new species.
by Sunny MontgomeryJaime Lynn Barks grew up in the mountains of Western North Carolina, 30 minutes from the nearest Walmart.
by Sunny MontgomeryIn late August, Netflix released "The River Runner," creating much stoke within the paddling community.
by Sunny MontgomeryFeaturing coconut, ginger, cumin and coriander, this stove-top dish is both fresh and robust.
by Sunny MontgomeryThe only thing more fun than being outdoors? Shopping for outdoor gear. All the better when that gear helps give back to the places we love so much.
by Emily Crisman, Sunny Montgomery and Jo KibbleElea Xylem begins each day at her vanity, made from a repurposed church alter, affixed with a lighted mirror.
by Sunny MontgomeryThis year marks the 50th anniversary of Tennessee's Natural Areas Preservation Act, passed in 1971.
by Sunny MontgomeryEquipped with whistles and flags, more than 100 paddlers arrive before sunrise to find their place among the buoys.
by Sunny MontgomeryGround puppy. Snot otter. Lasagna lizard.
by Sunny MontgomeryA person needs more than navigational skills or medical training to join a search-and-rescue team.
by Sunny MontgomeryFor most, competing in an Ironman triathlon would be a lifetime achievement.
by Sunny MontgomeryExtreme outdoorspeople belong to a unique tribe, banded together by a drive to conquer the world one climb, one ride, one paddle at a time.
by Sunny MontgomeryBIPOC-led initiatives are redefining who belongs in Chattanooga's outdoors community.
by Sunny MontgomeryChattanooga has a rich history of private schools, their legacies carried, in part, by the work of their respective headmasters — or, as they're more commonly called today, heads of school.
by Sunny MontgomeryWith its stocky blue body, oversized head and shaggy crest, the belted kingfisher is an iconic species found along waterways throughout North America.
by Sunny Montgomery