National park officials announced the reopening of Bull Head Trail and Sugarland Mountain Trail earlier this month.

Both trails extend from the highest peaks in the park to the lower elevations, providing incredible opportunities for hikers to enjoy fall colors over the next few weeks.

These trails have been closed since November 2016 due to damage resulting from the wind event and fire damage associated with the Chimney Tops 2 Fire. Park trail crews spent several weeks this year repairing over 500 feet of trail tread, cutting 758 downed trees, removing over 20 large rootballs and boulders, and repairing and replacing 53 trail drainage structures.

“The trail crews accomplished an amazing amount of work to safely repair and reopen these trails under very challenging conditions,” said Superintendent Cassius Cash. “We are excited to offer this opportunity to hikers, but also want to remind them to stay alert for trail hazards as they pass through the burned areas.”

With this year's weekly (sometimes more often) entries to our Fall Foliage Report, we've accumulated five years of autumn phenology data and made it available on our website. What we're seeing annually is that leaf change is happening a little later each year, with peak color making an appearance in early November.

When visiting the Great Smoky Mountains during October and November in search of changing leaves, it's best to consider the park's outlying areas if traffic avoidance is part of your plan. Foothills Parkway East and West both offer exceptional views of the park and fewer vehicles than U.S. 441/Newfound Gap and Little River roads. For even more adventure, Deals Gap to Fontana on the park's southwest corner is another good choice, as is Cataloochee Valley.

While you're enjoying the fall foliage in the national park, whether driving through the mountains or enjoying a nice hike, one species you're likely to see is the wild turkey, which is common in the park and often seen in the low elevation valleys, in open fields and along the roads. 

We're honoring this large, ground-dwelling bird in this month's quiz about its unique traits and habits. 

Our quiz winner will be selected at random from all who answer the following questions correctly by November 23. Our winner will receive a copy of  Birds of the Smokies   and a wild turkey hand puppet, which are so rare in the Smokies, we unfortunately no longer offer them for sale.

Halloween-inspired story by Lisa Duff

With images by Kristina Plaas, Warren Bielenberg, Athalia Howell, Allison Bate and Rod Barr

“Nah, there’s nothing to be scared of in there,” she told them. Her crooked, bone-thin finger pointed toward Daisy Town, the group’s ultimate destination. 

It was easy to see that her reflection in glass had once undoubtedly inspired poets. Flowing in gray waves down her ever-so-slightly twisted back, her hair evoked memories of raven’s wings. Her cheekbones stood as high as the Alps atop two identically sunken valleys cascading toward her strong jawline. The years had left marks; unflinchingly, she displayed them all.

“That place over there is old, lots older than those houses, but it isn’t weighed down by anything frightful,” she told them.

By Michael Aday

Librarian-Archivist

Collections Preservation Center

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Life in the Great Smoky Mountains of Southern Appalachia was never easy. Before the establishment of the national park, many families lived a hard scrabble existence, working close to the land to make a life.

In times of plenty and in times of want, the specter of death was ever present. Disease and accident claimed the lives of mountaineers regularly. Limited medical knowledge and access to doctors resulted in stillborn babies or mother and child perishing during childbirth. While these losses were devastating for the families, the communities where these families lived suffered as well. In communal suffering, families, friends and neighbors came together to help and heal.

When death came to a mountain family, the community reached out. According to Charley Myers from Cades Cove, neighbors would help prepare the dead for burial. The deceased was washed, their hair combed and they were dressed in their best clothes. The body was then placed in a coffin and laid out in the family home. Neighbors brought food to share with the family as well as those friends and neighbors who would sit up with the body the night before the funeral.

By Peyton Proffitt

During my most recent Experience Your Smokies class, I learned the history of invasives on our public lands. It all started in 1951, when a seemingly innocent shipment of trees made its way from Japan to Richmond, VA. The trees were used as exotic suburban showpieces. Unfortunately, they carried with them an invasive species that would, in 40 years time, almost completely destroy one of the most ecologically critical tree species in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

 

If you’ve visited Clingmans Dome or driven along U.S. 441 on a clear day, odds are you’ve seen patches of dead trees and wondered how they met their demise. Most of these trees were killed (or are being killed) by a non-native insect called the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA). The HWA is tiny; a magnifying glass can be used to see it up close. That’s when you realize something so small has irreversibly impacted more than 90,000 acres of protected land. 

Yes! When you choose to auto-renew your membership, you're helping us reduce printing, mailing and labor expenses. Our mission of support for Great Smoky Mountains National Park is enhanced when we operate as efficiently as possible.

By Lisa Duff

There's nothing better than waking up in the morning and driving to work inside a national park. Even in July and October, when the park's seams feel they might burst with visitors, working on behalf of the Smokies is the best job I've ever had.

While I usually do my level best not to add to traffic congestion this time of year, midway through October, I traveled from Gatlinburg to Cherokee for a family event. Starting out before daylight, I discovered the early morning drive to be the most challenging part of the journey. It was raining and foggy near Newfound Gap, and I was actually relieved to follow glowing-red brake lights. We were all taking our time, and that was fine with me.

Knowing the trip back had the potential to be slow going as well, I began to settle in and take in the sights, just as thousands have done every day in October for decades...

Great Smoky Mountains National Park and its nonprofit partner Discover Life in America recently celebrated the 20 ^th  year of the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory with the announcement of a major milestone of the project: the discovery of the 1,000th new species to science! 

 

Over the last 20 years, many species have been documented in the park for the first time, but the number of species discovered that are completely new to science - meaning they haven’t been documented anywhere on Earth before - is truly amazing.

The most recent additions come from the work of lichenologists Erin Tripp of the University of Colorado and James Lendemer of the New York Botanical Garden. Both have added five more new-to-science species to the tally, bringing the total up to 1,000.

The past 10 years of their research, which is a part of the overall ATBI, has increased the park's knowledge of its lichen fauna by 130 percent over the original diversity estimates. The five new lichens were named to commemorate NPS staff who played a role in their work.

Enjoy the year-round beauty of America's most visited national park through dynamic images of Great Smoky Mountains by gifted photographers Joye Ardyn Durham, Don McGowan and George Humphries in the 2019 Great Smoky Mountains National Park calendar .  The calendar not only includes hiking information, wildflower blooming dates, sunrise and sunset times, park weather summaries and park special events, but it also highlights the strong, independent women featured in Courtney Lix's book Women of the Smokies .

Before you head out onto the trail, pick up one or a pair of GSMNP trekking poles. They will help you with those steep climbs or to traverse a mountain stream safely. You can buy them individually or as a pair. You can also mix and match colors. Colors they come in are as follows: black, orange, green, blue, purple and red.

Of course you'd never want to hug a living, breathing bear! (They smell bad, I'm told!) But who wouldn't want to cuddle up with this cutie! Our soft, squeezable stuffed black bears are just the thing to teach your child about our park's most iconic, most majestic large mammal. It's estimated our park is home to some 1,500 black bears, and seeing one in the wild is one of the most exciting experiences a visitor can have. The next best thing? Take home Baby Rocky, Adult Rocky, Bandit or Wishbone and remember your visit forever.

Enjoy the change of seasons with our l eather autumn leaf lapel pin and matching earrings . This handsome maple leaf design in fall shades of yellow, red and orange is representative of our park’s more than 135 tree varieties, which is more than in all of northern Europe. Each genuine leather piece is handcrafted by award-winning artist Linda Helisek and her husband, Joseph.

As cool air creeps in and leaves begin to change, it can only mean one thing – it’s sorghum-making time in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Sorghum-making demonstrations are held each autumn at Cades Cove Visitor Center with support from Great Smoky Mountains Association. Watching one of these demonstrations will take you back in time to the mountain farms that once populated the Smokies and their annual fall sorghum cane harvest.

Will Great Smoky Mountains National Park retain the title of 'Most Visited National Park' in 2018? Only time will tell...

January - 320,864

February - 399,156

March - 689,235

April - 820,657

May - 985,145

June - 1,414,241

July - 1,468,273

August - 1,195,360

September - 1,369,637

Total for 2018 = 8,662,568

Lookout League

Partner of the Month

E verett Street Diner

Everett Street Diner owner Mike Shakar joined our Lookout League business partnership as a $500 Shuckstack Level member. Mike chose GSMA as his Community Partner of the Month, donating 10% of his Sunday brunch sales during August - bringing Everett Street Diner to the $1,000 Cove Mountain Level. Thank you, Everett Street Diner!

The most recent issue of Smokies Guide , Great Smoky Mountains National Park's official park newspaper, is available to read online and can be mailed to you for free (S&H charges apply). Call 865.436.7318, Ext. 226 for mailing details.

Great Smoky Mountains Association's Cub Report e-newsletter is published on or about the last Wednesday of each month, with the exception of January.

These talented individuals contributed to this month's issue:

Laurel Rematore, Chief Executive Officer

Lisa Duff, Cub Report Editor

Contributors this month are Michael Aday, Karen Key, Sarah Kirkland, Charley Mathis, Ginger Alfrey, Breckenridge Morgan and Peyton Proffitt

In addition to our web store, Great Smoky Mountains Association operates 12 visitor contact stations in and around Great Smoky Mountains National Park. GSMA staff members are always available to help you find educational materials to enhance your park experience.