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Greetings!
Welcome to the Fifth Edition of the Great Smoky
Mountains Association Online Newsletter.
We hope you will enjoy the latest news from the
Smokies as well as information about interesting
people, places, and things to do!
| Is that Reveille or an Elk Bugling? |
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Male (bull) elk now have full grown antlers and will soon begin
bugling and competing with other bulls for dominance.
The annual elk rut is one of the great wildlife spectacles in
North America. Bulls prance, chase, and spar with locked
antlers as they toil to gather ?harems? of as many as 20 female
elk.
The eerie bugling sound that bulls make can be heard from as
far away as a mile and often sends chills down the spine of the
listener.
The rut should be well underway by mid September and will
last into early October. Cataloochee Valley is the best place to
watch, listen, and learn.
To get there, Take Interstate 40 to Exit #20 (in North Carolina)
and follow Highway 276 for 0.2 mile. Turn right onto Cove
Creek Road and follow it 11 miles (three of them gravel) into
Cataloochee Valley. Elk will be most active early and late in the
day.
RULES: Do not approach or attempt to feed elk. No spotlights
or elk bugles allowed.
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| Sourwood Turns Red (Leaves) and Gold (Honey)! |
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Sourwood photo by Steve Nix
(http://
forestry.about.com/
mbiopage.htm)
Sourwood is not only one of the first trees to contribute to
the
fall glory of the Smokies, but it's also the key ingredient in
the
honey that angels make.
Treat yourself to a rare local delicacy -- the world's best
honey -- Sourwood!
Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum), also called Lily-of- the-
valley-tree or sorrel-tree, grows only in parts of the Southern
Appalachians.
Chew on a leaf. If it?s sour, you've got the right one.
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| Reap a Tasty Harvest! |
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Enjoy the tastes of harvest-time in the Smokies. Slather our
Peach or Blueberry preserves on a slice of homemade bread.
Add some zip to your meals with Hot & Sweet Garlic Pickles!
Everything is made the old-fashioned way and contains no
preservatives.
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| Smokies Holiday Cards |
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Celebrate Christmas with a boxed set of 20 cards featuring 5
beautiful photographs of the Smokies: Cades Cove, Mt.
LeConte, Meigs Falls, the Primitive Baptist Church, and the
Noah "Bud" Ogle cabin in snow.
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| NEW Save The Hemlocks Bumper Sticker! |
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| Please Don't . . . the Elk |
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Watch yourself while watching the elk!
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First Fall Leaf Color Changes Have Begun! |
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Photo of Blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica)
by Dr. Steven
J.
Baskauf of Vanderbilt University.
The first splashes of early fall color are already decorating
the
forests of the Great Smoky Mountains. Sourwood and
blackgum trees are showing brilliant touches of red.
Along the high peaks, witch hobble has turned. And buckeyes,
the first trees to leaf out in spring, are now gold and dropping
their leaves.
FEARLESS PREDICTION #1: We?ll have peak fall color in the
park?s high elevations in the first week of October.
FEARLESS PREDICTION #2: It?s too early to predict when fall
colors will peak at the mid and low elevations.
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