by Great Smokies | Attractions, Nature
By 2010, ten years after Elk had been reintroduced to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, park officials were concerned that the herd population might never grow in size. Calves were being born but two out of three were not surviving the first year, mostly the...
by Great Smokies | Attractions, Nature
If you want to see the Smokies’ annual synchronous firefly show June 1–8, you’ll have to win the lottery! Since 2006, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has limited access to the Tremont campground during the eight days of peak viewing in order to...
by Great Smokies | Attractions, Nature
A visit to Bryson City’s Appalachian Rivers Aquarium my be your only opportunity to see a reclusive hellbender. They’ve been around for 6 million years, yet there are people who have spent their entire life in these mountains and have never seen one. The aquarium has...
by Great Smokies | Activities, Nature
White Fringed Phacelia and Creeping Phlox (Photos mid-April on the Oconaluftee River Trail) With more than 1500 native wildflower species, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is sometimes called “Wildflower National Park” thanks to the steady parade of...
by Great Smokies | Attractions, Nature
Soco Falls is a spectacular double waterfall on the Cherokee Indian Reservation just off US-19 between Cherokee and Maggie Valley. The falls are about 10 miles east of Cherokee and 5.5 miles west of Maggie Valley Maggie Valley. If you’re driving the Blue Ridge...
