Exploring the Valley

She Came For Class, Stayed For Bears

• PC PRODUCTIONS • Season 1 • Episode 7

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We meet Treselyn, a Montreat senior and basketball player from Texas, who finds unexpected home and purpose in the Swannanoa Valley after storms, loss, and a major change to outdoor recreation. We talk about real outdoor skills, community resilience, and how the Visitor Center connects people to authentic adventures.

• deciding to transfer from Texas to Montreat after a call from a former coach
• navigating hurricanes, campus outages, and returning with renewed focus
• what outdoor recreation actually teaches beyond hiking
• Leave No Trace, ropes elements, and environmental interpretation
• building better adventure resources at the Chamber and Visitor Center
• surprising visitor questions and clarifying local geography
• hidden local spots, bears, and family reactions to mountain life
• choosing to stay after graduation because the community showed up
• how neighbors, students, and staff supported each other after the storm


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SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Exploring the Valley. This is Cheryl Hyde, the director of the Black Mountain Swannanoa Chamber of Commerce and the Black Mountain Visitor Center. On this podcast, I'll be your guide to the people, places, and stories that make our community special. Each episode will share the heart of the Swannanoa Valley. From local businesses and hidden trails to festivals, history, and the voices of our neighbors. Whether you're a longtime resident or a first-time visitor, you'll find the pride of our community and the magic of the mountains right here. You're listening to Exploring the Valley, where local pride meets lasting magic. You're in for a ride, so buckle up. Good morning, Treselyn. How are you? Good. How are you? I'm doing great. I am excited to have you here. You are one of my favorite surprises about working at the chamber. And I think you changed, kind of you changed my opinion about people who are like you. And let me explain that. But I think I remember too much about college. And when I was in college, I was not overly responsible. I didn't always show up when I was supposed to. I didn't always do the things. And people in your generation today are known for not having any soft skills, as they call them, people who show up when they say they will and do what they say they're going to do and that sort of thing. And so I think you kind of have changed my opinion about that. I hate to call it that generation, but that your age group, your friends, your peer group, whatever you want to call it. But I would like you to tell us a little bit about, let's say you are a Montreat College student, you're a senior. Yay, we're going to graduate this year. And you are a basketball player on the women's basketball team at Montreat College, and you're a student. Tell us a little bit about why in the world you came from all the way in Texas to come be a student in the little tiny town of Montreat at Montreat College.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, yeah. So my freshman year coach of high school stayed in touch all throughout college and the rest of my high school career. And then she knew that I was a little bit unhappy at the school that I was at previously in Kerrville, Texas. So she reached out and told me that she had gotten a job as the head coach at Montreal College. And at first I was a little iffy, but I had always wanted to go to school out of state. And so it didn't take too too much convincing. I looked at the school, I saw the video of the outdoor recreation program, and I just, it just clicked. I just knew that that's where I wanted to be.

SPEAKER_00:

That was easy. Yeah. So wait a minute. You were in Kerrville, Texas? Yes, I was. So if you're a senior and you came last year in September or August or September, whenever y'all start, then we had this little episode called Helene.

SPEAKER_01:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00:

And then you're from Kerrville, Texas. You were at home at in July, weren't you?

SPEAKER_01:

There's a little saying in my family that it keeps following me around, which is not very good. But I came here in the first couple of weeks of being at Montreat. Helene had happened, and I went back home after about a week of staying on campus with no electricity, water, a little bit of food. We were running out. Yeah. And so I had gone back home and then came back to Montreat to finish spring semester. And then went home for July 4th weekend to go visit family and another hurricane hit.

SPEAKER_00:

That's awesome. That's fantastic. I'm gonna remember that and probably not go on vacations with you or travel with you a whole lot. No, I would travel with you anywhere. All right. Well, so that's that's that's eventful. That's definitely something you can write in your memoir. All right, so outdoor recreation. I think if they'd had that when I was in school, I might have been a little more interested. What does that actually mean? And what what does that one do with that degree?

SPEAKER_01:

I didn't even know this degree was a thing. I had previously done graphic design at my last school. And I tell me these things. I was doing graphic design and minoring and education, and I saw a video that they had on the Montreal website, and it was just people that were hiking lookout for a class or going on this three-week backpacking trip. And I was like, wow, like this is this sounds like fun things. If I can get a degree in this, then heck yeah, like this is perfect. So it's a lot of I guess learning like LMT.

SPEAKER_00:

So LMT.

SPEAKER_01:

L and T. L and T. Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

What does that stand for?

SPEAKER_01:

Leave no trace. Oh, okay. So how you need like environmental stewardship and being outside and l we also learned how to build a fire, which I am very bad at. So but we need to talk about that. Okay, keep going. Oh yeah. I don't know. It's a lot of fun activities that we do within the class and like high ropes course. Do we have one of those in Montreat? We read this course.

SPEAKER_00:

That's a bummer. But will they rebuild it maybe?

SPEAKER_01:

I believe so, yes. There's two that we have. One is more of like the elements in climbing wall, and then the other one is this huge, it has like a zip line and ropes.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, we need to talk about that offline because I would like to know all about that. And I think you need to I think you need to teach me how to do that, and that would help you with your education, right? Yes, yeah. Right. Okay. So so what so so you were talking about different things that you do, like the hiking and all that. And that of course sounds really fun, but then let's let's be truthful. Somebody hears, uh yeah, I'm an outdoor recreation major and I get to go hiking and on backpacking trips and cool stuff. Okay, that's not a degree. Let's talk about the things that aren't as as as as sexy, as cool. Maybe sexy is not the right word. Let's talk about things that aren't as as fun sounding. What else are you learning about?

SPEAKER_01:

We've learned a lot about how to be outdoors. So I guess this is gonna be a little bit tea, but you can't just go to the restroom and just leave it. There's certain ways in which you have to discard those things. Okay. And so environmental things is what you're learning. A lot of environmental. And my my concentration is environmental intern or my concentration is environmental education and interpretation. So my focus is more on the environmental side, whereas there's other um concentrations like criminal justice, if you're wanting to be like a gay warden, or there's a faith-based one. So if you're wanting to be like at a church camp, maybe and I think there's one more, but it's just the adventure side of it. So that one's more focused on there's like an immersion semester, and you just get to go and travel basically, and get to get a bunch of experience just being outdoors and doing all the fun activity parts.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, that's actually leads to what your title at the chamber is. You have a we we worked really hard on what your title would be because intern was kind of nerdy and boring. And one of the things that you're working on at the chamber is the adventure side, the things that there are to do here in the valley, the the biking, the hiking. The last week I learned about a sailboat, outdoor sailboat regatta that's uh remote-controlled sailboats that happens being at Lake Tomahawk? Yeah. So how do you know that? And I don't. That's really cool. So I just learned that last week. But but there's lots of things like that that I'm asking you to sort of spearhead at the chamber to try and help me with that sort of thing. That is not my gift or my interest. And so just helping me with that. So, what what plans do you have for helping us get that information out to visitors?

SPEAKER_01:

I so we have a paper currently that we give out, and it kind of has different hikes and things that are around the area to do outside, and we have some QR codes, but I feel like a lot of people have come in throughout this semester and asked for fishing, which I think is pretty interesting. So I've been I've been kind of interested in creating something for more outdoor activities other than hiking or like biking trails. I've gotten that asked a couple times. So different activities other than just hiking up a mountain, maybe. That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

And we're gonna make that whole section look cool and inviting and and probably teach some people some new things, like I mean, that sailboat thing just blew me away. I was like, that's brilliant. Why have I never thought of that? So it's a pretty cool thing. Let's see. What else? Blah, blah, blah. I love on two different for two for two different reasons. I love the fact that you are my Saturday morning girl at the visitor center. We have approximately 30,000 people come in a year to the visitor center. And I need somebody sitting at the desk who's actually knowledgeable about the area. And that was sort of maybe trial by fire sort of thing. You go in there and you learn real quick all the answers, and you learn things. I always say in any chamber that I've worked in, the best way to learn how the community runs is to answer the phone for two weeks. I don't care if you're the CEO of the chamber or you're the the one who just, I don't know, cleans the bathrooms. You need to know what goes on in your community, and that's the best way to do it. So a sort of trial by fire. Here you go. Trestlin, tell the world when they come in. So, what surprises, what surprising questions do people ask you? And what are your common questions that people ask?

SPEAKER_01:

A couple times I've had people come in asking for the Black Mountain peak. A lot of people think that Black Mountain is just one sort, like one specific mountain that they can go and hike up, which is very disappointing whenever I have to tell them. That's not the case. So that would be the most interesting thing that I've been asked. And then common things I get asked are probably what my favorite restaurant is. And that's hard because we're not allowed to answer that, are we? They're not. But I think it's pretty cool whenever I get to tell them all the different options and different things that Black Mountain offers just within food. We have lots of different kinds. So it's kind of cool to see them go and pick out what they're gonna choose after I give them all the recommendations.

SPEAKER_00:

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01:

That we have.

SPEAKER_00:

So when you graduate, which is in May, that's exciting. I have heard rumors that you want to stay. I do. I really love the area. So what what what made you want to stay beyond college?

SPEAKER_01:

So obviously coming in, it was a lot at once within like the hurricane and second semester, I actually lost my grandma. And so I was not very sure that Montreat was actually supposed to be where I came, just because so much had happened in such little time. And I chose to stay this past summer and be a summer RA at the school. And I made like, I kind of made like a little promise to myself. I was like, well, I'm gonna not let everything that's happened define what I think of this little town. And so I made a promise after I came back from my three-week backpacking trip that I was gonna explore as much as I could and find all the little hidden gems and kind of turn my perspective of what I thought this place was. So I stayed over the summer and every week I would go and try and find something, some random thing to do. And I I don't know. I just I've always loved the mountains, but being able to kind of explore it and I I think I grew, partly because I was by myself, but it taught me a lot about myself and what I was looking for.

SPEAKER_00:

So I don't it just it just became it became home. The mountains are calling you. That's what they all say. So what little hidden gem do I not know about yet that I need to go do?

SPEAKER_01:

So I actually walked Sasha and this summer, Sasha's. And this summer, we went to, I think it was off of North Fork Road. There was like a watering hole that was before the hurricane that I had heard about. And so I went and tried to see if it was still there this summer, and we went down the river some and we found this really cool little spot. And I don't know if it was on somebody's property or not. But great. It was it was so cool. It was it was like this, it was like a own little island, kind of. And so we had set up and just played in the water and threw the ball around, and it was just it was just a really cool experience. I don't know. That's it's probably my favorite spot now. I'm hoping to return whenever it's not 30 degrees.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, exactly. Well, to be clear, you you walk my dog separately from the internship at the chamber that is totally not paid for by the chamber, let's be clear. But well, she adores you and thinks you're the greatest thing ever. She tells me about you all the time. She sometimes accidentally calls me Tresselin. But okay, so I got to meet your mom this summer. Super fun. She was not at all what I expected. Not that I thought any I don't know what I thought about her, but she wasn't what I expected. But how does she feel about you staying after graduation? My guess is I have an idea, but Tell me what you think.

SPEAKER_01:

I I think she kind of pushed me to come here. She wanted, she knew that I've always wanted to be out of state and I've always loved the mountains. I've always my biggest dream after graduating high school was like going to Maine. I just wanted to go live in Maine for whatever reason it was. But whenever she saw that I was gonna get an offer from North Carolina, she was like, This is this is what you've always wanted, and so she pushed it. And within the first day, actually, of us getting on campus, she saw a bear. Oh. And she, I think she might have changed her mind a little bit in that moment. The bear had walked right up behind me across across the car. She was on the backside and I was in the middle getting stuff out, and the bear just walked right, right behind. And ever since then, she just kind of makes little inside jokes like, uh no, maybe, maybe not, maybe this isn't. But I think she knows that this is this is somewhere that I've always wanted to be. And so, and I've figured out a lot about who I am within being here. So she she's okay with it. She's okay. She likes to come and visit and she loves it herself.

SPEAKER_00:

So And she knows now that bears are not a big deal.

SPEAKER_01:

They're just like, No, she feels them very entertaining. She just like, I can sit outside and watch them all day. That's right.

SPEAKER_00:

She's cute. She when she came to visit, that was her big like goal was to see a bear while she was here. I was like, You've seen one, you've seen them all. They're very similar. Anyway. What else do you want to share about being here, living here, staying here, whatever? What else? What have I for what have I forgotten or missed?

SPEAKER_01:

Probably my favorite thing about being here or what I've new insights that I've gotten. So I think after the hurricane, I have never seen a community come together the way that they have. And it was it was really impactful seeing, especially because I'm not from the area, seeing how how much the community helped and supported each other. And even me, actually. Like on campus, so many people came and would ask how I was doing. And even if it's not what I considered home at the time, like people just really care deeply. And it's it's a very amazing feeling living here and being around the community that you have.

SPEAKER_00:

Cool. That's a great answer. You're so old. I bet you I don't know. You're so grown up. I don't know. Thank you very much. I appreciate you coming today. I appreciate everything you do. People have no idea all the things you do at the chamber. Um, sometimes the jobs are fun and sometimes they're not. And um, so I'm really grateful to have you. And um, thanks for coming in today. Thank you. Thanks for joining us on Exploring the Valley. Until next time, keep celebrating the pride of our community and discovering the magic of the mountains. In the meantime, you're free to move about the valley.