THE WILD EAST

Think the Mountain West has a lock on out-there adventures? Lia Picard saddles up in North Carolina.

"I'M A COWGIRL NOW," I proudly told myself while riding horseback one hazy blue afternoon in the Great Smoky Mountains. True, I didn't exactly look the part, in my oversize button-down and cobalt-blue sneakers, but my dapple-grey horse, Dan, didn't seem to mind. Surrounded by rhododendrons, we ambled gently down the trail at Cataloochee Ranch (doubles from ₹33,256; cataloocheeranch.com). I couldn't help feeling that I'd set out on a great adventure, even though we were less than an hour's drive from downtown Asheville, North Carolina.

These days, the Southeast is having a bit of a ranch-vacation renaissance. While such rural estates have long existed in this part of the country, they've only recently started to resemble the luxe getaways so popular in places like Montana and Wyoming. "It's a different flavour than out West," says Annie Colquitt, who owns and runs Cataloochee Ranch with her husband, David. "I'm not saying it's better, just that it's different."