“The most visited national park, up to 10 million people, offers free entry,” said Keith Bellows, editor-in-chief of National Geographic Traveler. “You’re going to have to kiss that goodbye.”

Link

I don't know if Mr. Bellows is familiar with the history of the Park, why fees are not collected, or the political firestorm that would ensue if a fee proposal were to become serious. My bet is it will never happen. The Park will be allowed to die first which, umm, is pretty much what's happening right now. The image was taken Tuesday morning on the pothole-infested Cades Cove Loop Road.

Here's a Flash gallery of some wildflowers seen along Parson's Branch Rd. yesterday. All kinds of wildflowers are starting to bloom, and there are plenty to see if you look closely.

Some motorcyle pics from the 129 Tail of the Dragon after the jump...

WATE:

This spring, crews are replacing all 14 of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park's entrance signs with new ones.

The report doesn't say if they will be digital LED signs.

The report also says Enola Contracting of Chipley, Florida was contracted to install the signs. There aren't any companies in Tennessee or North Carolina qualified to install signs?

A Ruffed Grouse (we believe) spotted along the Rich Mountain Rd. Monday. They have pretty good camouflage! A larger view and more photos after the jump...

Can you tell from this not so good photo? We're thinking a warbler of some kind. Maybe a Tennessee Warbler? Seen along Rich Mountain Tower Rd. today. Larger version and some more not so good photos after the break that might help...

The Road to Nowhere has officially reached a dead end. Read all about it at TennViews.

"The 4,500-acre lifestyle resort would include two lakes, a ski area served by a 3-mile gondola, more than 1 million square feet of retail space, a campground, a 305-suite resort hotel and conference center, a golf course and several thousand single family homes and condominiums."

From the Mountaineer, via AllSmokies.

Update: An interview with the local promoter at Smoky Mountain News.

According to The Daily Times, some local citizens, The Smoky Mountain Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Southeast regional office of the National Parks Conservation Association are developing a shuttle service for Cades Cove. Tourists appear to be their target riders.

It looks like it will be next summer before anything happens. Great idea, I hope they succeed.

We went for a drive across the newly reopened Parsons Branch Road yesterday. Nothing to see there. It's deserted. And it takes forever. The road is really bad, too. You'll probably mess up your car. Trust me, stay away. And tell everyone else you know to stay away, too.

The real excitement is where it comes out on US129 in the middle of the Tail of the Dragon. It's like a day at the races in Daytona during bike week.

I have to say, some of these guys really do look like pros who know how to ride. Others just like to make a lot of noise on bikes not really made for this. Others should probably sell their bikes and get a Buick.

Anyway, some photos of the action after the jump...

Shhh. Don't tell anybody.

In case you hadn't noticed, there are a whole bunch of Harley riders in the area for a National Harley Owners Group rally.

Read more...

Cades Cove, a couple of weeks ago

Great news! By way of Michael Silence, the controversial Road to Nowhere is officially dead.

UPDATE: Well, maybe not offically dead, but definitely being given its last rites.

On Parson's Branch Road today.

We took Fletch's advice, sort of, and went for a ride over Rich Mountain road yesterday afternoon. There were quite a few wildflowers along the way. Click "read more" to see some photos. I gave up trying to identify all these (except for the trillium, phlox, and redbuds, and by the way the redbuds are absolutely beautiful up there right now). Any help appreciated...

Just got back from a walk along the nature trail at the Chimneys Picnic Area in the National Park. The wildflowers are really putting on a fantastic show this year. I don't recall in previous years seeing the early bloomers like spring beauty, hepatica, and trout lilies being in bloom at the same time as sweet white trillium (above) and phacelia. I even saw some dutchman's breeches on the side of the trail. In one easy walk you can see the best of the Smokies in Springtime, and on the drive up from Sugarlands you'll see entire mountainsides covered in phacelia and trillium. I don't know if this display will last to the weekend. I recommend playing hooky one day this week and taking a walk on this nature trail.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and National Park Service Director Mary Bomar are starting a listening tour with the first stop at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park maintenance area this Tuesday. The maintenance area is about 1/2 mile behind the Park headquarters, but you can park at the Sugarlands Visitor center and enjoy a nice evening stroll with the additional hours of daylight. They will be listening from 6-8pm. Wouldn't it be impressive if hundreds turned out on a work day to a remote location in order to express support for the Park? Details from the Tennessean.

Update: The NPS press release indicates the meeting will occur at the W.L. Mills Conference Center in Gatlinburg, which makes a whole lot more sense.

By John Mark Hancock
Copyrighted – All Rights Reserved

As 2007 gets into full swing, without much snow yet in the Great Smoky Mountains, the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team is finding tough sledding on the road after some major successes in December. It appears that Head Coach Bruce Pearl’s young team, while they overachieved in the early part of this still-young season, has been humbled and brought back to earth with three straight losses on the road, all of which were bitter and hard fought at the end.

The fiery Pearl, who nearly got tossed out of the game on the Plains when he was assessed a technical foul down the stretch while protesting an egregious call by a referee, lost three games in a row for the first time in his entire 15-year coaching career last night at Auburn. The Volunteers blew a 14-point lead late in the game, which when combined with the very poor officiating and the fact that star Chris Lofton never got to the free throw line while the Tigers shot multiple free tosses throughout the game, led to a 3-point loss.

Read more after the jump...

Photo by R. Neal

Here's an interesting article from The Mountain Press about the Cataloochee Elk. It also explains why you might have noticed more bears in Cades Cove this year.

A clear November day in the Cades Cove area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

This slide show emphasizes the trees without the budding spring greenery or the beautiful fall colors. Absent the leaves, we can see the underlying structure of the tress, which is a beautiful thing.

It's probably the second or third snow in the high mountains but "First Snow" sounds better. This image is the Appalachian Trail at Newfound Gap taken this morning. A steady stream of backpackers were making their way to the Icewater Springs shelter and points beyond. What you can't see here is the 30 degree temps and 30mph winds with blowing ice and snow. I'll be thinking of these backpackers tonight up there at that shelter while I'm relaxing in my La-Z-Boy by the fireplace with hot cider watching the Simpsons.

I took a Sunday stroll over the Great Smokies and up the Blue Ridge Parkway a bit today. The leaves are not quite peaked but are looking much better color-wise than the last few years. The image above was taken standing on top of "The Loop" tunnel just above the Chimneys trailhead. The red berries lower right are Jack-in-the-Pulpit fruit. I had to wait a very long time to get this short stretch clear of cars, and still managed to clip one at the very top. Oh well, I've created a gallery of today's pics at this link. Nothing special, just the usual sights along the way. Be sure to scroll right below the thumbnails to see all of them.

The KNS reports that Little River Road is closed due to a rock slide resulting from heavy rains last night. It's closed from Metcalf Bottoms back to the park entrance on the Townsend side.

According to the report, it's likely to be closed all weekend. If you're going up there and plan to go to Gatlinburg by way of Townsend, or planning to come over to Cades Cove from Gatlinburg, you'll have to go across Wears Valley by way of 321 and Pigeon Forge.

(Usually when they close Little River Road it makes for some nice bicycling opportunities, so there's that. And you can park at the Y and safely walk your dog up that way along the river, too. UPDATE: According to today's paper, the road will be closed to ALL traffic, including bicycle and pedestrian, until it's fixed. Bummer.)

We were up there yesterday evening for a quick spin around Cades Cove. The colors haven't started turning in earnest yet, but it's beautiful as always. We saw deer, a pileated woodpecker, and a couple of bears, including an immature that ran across the road right in front of us requiring a panic stop and almost getting rear-ended. (There was quite a bit of traffic, mostly out of town folks.)

The Mrs. predicts that the colors should start turning nicely by next weekend, and it looks like it might be a good year.

Cataloochie Elk

Congressman Duncan is against building a road through the national park connecting Bryson City to Fontana Dam. Comments have been collected on the project and surveys done, and a prefered alternative is expected soon.

Most of the impacted creeks are exceptionally clean and support a rich aquatic ecosystem. Floral diversity includes primitive forms like mosses, mushrooms and liverworts and many varieties of trees, shrubs, wildflowers and vines. High densities of aquatic insect larvae form the basis of a fauna that includes crayfish, darters, madtoms, brook trout, salamanders, dragonflies, sandpipers, otters and raccoons.

Plus, the construction estimates now surpass $600 million, and the $52 million settlement gets gradually less valuable as time passes. Swain County voted to accept the settlement in 2003, but Congressman Taylor allocated $16 million in 2001, from which an environmental impact statement has been drafted. 

(click image for larger view)

Went up to Cataloochee Valley for the first time ever today. Got lucky and saw the elk. This is a not very good photo, but it's my favorite of the day. Circle of life, family values, and more. Learned a lot about the elk. (The big guy in the background is bull #3. Bull #3 fought with bull #16 for the harem. #3 won.) More later, and maybe more photos if I can salvage some.

This is totally awesome. It's a U.T. digital archive of Dutch Roth photography of the early days of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and more.

(Thanks to fortsanders.net for bringing this to our attention.)

(At least that's what I think it is.)

Cades Cove Wild Turkeys