Musings on genre writing, waterfall wandering, and peak bagging in the South's wilderness areas.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Vacation Time Again...
We're planning our October vacation. Carole wants to take the Casita somewhere here in the South. But we're also considering a vacation farther afield. We'll see...
Mark M: I would love to come to New England. Carole is against driving very far for our Fall vacation. And since I do all of the driving (we'll be pulling the travel trailer), I have to agree. I don't want to spend two entire days of my vacation driving, which is what it would take to head far afield.
Mark G: We've considered Land between the Lakes. I have always ruled it out because I generally reserve a couple of vacation blocks to spend in the mountains, and that area doesn't have mountains. When I first heard about it, I thought the concept of bison and elk was very cool, until I discovered that the bison are effectively penned up. And I do get to see (and hear) the elk much closer to home--in Cataloochee in the Great Smokies. Plenty of elk there, these days.
Yes, Kent! The Park Service reintroduced elk to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park some years back. The herd is centered around the Cataloochee area of the park and is free-ranging. You can always see them in Cataloochee, but they sometimes pop up in other areas of the park and outside the park. All of the adults are tagged and radio-collared, but of course they can't really do that with calves and newborns. It's wonderful to hike around Cataloochee now and see the elk. The bulls tend to hang back and don't allow humans to get too close, but the cows will wander very close indeed.
Hanging Rock, North Carolina.
Mount LeConte, Tennessee.
McAfee Knob, Virginia.
Cathedral State Park, West Virginia.
5 comments:
New England is very nice in October...
I've got a suggestion--Land between the Lakes.
That's where I'm planning on going next summer.
In October you might get there in time to hear the bull elk bugling and battling for the right to pass their genes on.
Mark M: I would love to come to New England. Carole is against driving very far for our Fall vacation. And since I do all of the driving (we'll be pulling the travel trailer), I have to agree. I don't want to spend two entire days of my vacation driving, which is what it would take to head far afield.
Mark G: We've considered Land between the Lakes. I have always ruled it out because I generally reserve a couple of vacation blocks to spend in the mountains, and that area doesn't have mountains. When I first heard about it, I thought the concept of bison and elk was very cool, until I discovered that the bison are effectively penned up. And I do get to see (and hear) the elk much closer to home--in Cataloochee in the Great Smokies. Plenty of elk there, these days.
Elk in the Smokies? Wow, that's different from the old days. Obviously introduced. Are they free ranging?
Yes, Kent! The Park Service reintroduced elk to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park some years back. The herd is centered around the Cataloochee area of the park and is free-ranging. You can always see them in Cataloochee, but they sometimes pop up in other areas of the park and outside the park. All of the adults are tagged and radio-collared, but of course they can't really do that with calves and newborns. It's wonderful to hike around Cataloochee now and see the elk. The bulls tend to hang back and don't allow humans to get too close, but the cows will wander very close indeed.
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