He became interested in the Appalachian Mountains around Asheville, North Carolina and began photographing and mapping them. Masa was part of a local hiking group, the Carolina Mountain Club, and Masa mapped trails in the mountains using a device he fashioned himself out of a bicycle tire and an odometer. Twenty-eight years after his death, in 1961, Masa Knob, a peak in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, was named in honor of his memory and to celebrate his work.
He became interested in the Appalachian Mountains around Asheville, North Carolina and began photographing and mapping them. Masa was part of a local hiking group, the Carolina Mountain Club, and Masa mapped trails in the mountains using a device he fashioned himself out of a bicycle tire and an odometer. Twenty-eight years after his death, in 1961, Masa Knob, a peak in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, was named in honor of his memory and to celebrate his work.