Hiking in the Smokies

Well, apparently,someone from the Opera Community has reported my blog albums as containing pornographic content!! Since all I have are photos of wildflowers, I'm a bit puzzled about it, unless I got too close on the reproductive parts of a flower

So, unless Opera staff respond to my complaint (which seems doubtful as it's been over 2 weeks now that I filed it) and remove the block, I will no longer be able to post wildflower photos to this blog. So sorry. If I find another good blog site, or decide to post the photos on my web site (www.smokymountains hiking.com) I'll post that info here.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park has announced that a majority of secondary roads and campgrounds will open starting on Friday, March 11.

The secondary roads that are set to open on March 11 include: Little Greenbrier, Rich Mountain, Straight Fork/Round Bottom, and Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.

Clingmans Dome Road is set to open on April 1 and the Heintooga Ridge and Balsam Mountain Roads will open on May 13.

Forge Creek and Parson Branch Roads will have a delayed opening due to unseasonable wet weather. The roads are expected to open early spring.

The Federal government now provides an opportunity to make reservations to many federally-managed recreation areas, including National Park Service areas, all across the U.S. The Smokies now has five of its 10 developed campgrounds on the reservation system. Cataloochee campground was added this year in addition to Elkmont, Cades Cove, Smokemont, and some sites at Cosby. The system allows campers to reserve specific campsites and to make reservations 6 months in advance.

Group campsites and picnic pavilions can be reserved up to 12 months in advance. To make reservations at the five campgrounds, and all group campsites, horse camps, and picnic shelters, visitors can go to www.Recreation.gov or, alternatively, book reservations by calling 877-444-6777.

All ten of the campgrounds open March 11, with the exception of Balsam Mountain and Look Rock (May 13), and Deep Creek (April 1). For the five campgrounds on Recreation.gov, reservations are required at Cades Cove, Elkmont, and Smokemont for the period from May 15-October 31 (other dates for the three campgrounds are on a first come, first serve basis); Cataloochee Campground--all sites must be reserved throughout its season; and Cosby Campground, which has mostly first-come, first-served campsites, has a limited number of reservable sites during its season. Camping fees range from $14 to $23 per site/night.

Campers have an opportunity to camp in “generator free” campsites at three campgrounds: Cades Cove, Elkmont, and Smokemont campgrounds. Campers can reserve a site in the generator-free loop sections of Cades Cove, Smokemont, and Elkmont campgrounds.

Group Camping will be available at Big Creek, Cataloochee, Cosby, Deep Creek, Elkmont, Cades Cove, and Smokemont, and reservations must be made through Recreation.gov. The cost for group camping ranges from $26 to $65 per site/night.

Horse Camps at Anthony Creek, Big Creek, Cataloochee, Round Bottom, and Towstring will open April 1 and reservations are only available through Recreation.gov. The horse site fees are $20 at all horse camps except for Big Creek where it is $25.

LeConte Lodge, accessible only by trail, will open on March 21. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 865-429-5704 or e:mail: reservations@lecontelodge.com. One night at the lodge costs $116 per adult and $85 for children 10 and under (tax not included). The price includes two meals--dinner and breakfast. Day hikers and backpackers can purchase a prepared bag or dining room lunch and snacks/beverages at the lodge. Reservations are required for the dining room lunch.

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We hiked Ace Gap trail in the Smokies hoping we'd catch the Pink lady's slippers in bloom. We weren't disappointed - we counted over 180 flowering plants along the 5.5-mile hike in to Ace Gap. It was cloudy most of the day, and drizzled on us about 4 times, but it felt refreshing as it was a fairly hot day. We didn't see many flowers, but did see some late spring/early summer things blooming: Four-leaved milkweed, Beardstongue, Mountain bluet, Flame azalea, and Mountain laurel. I saw one Putty root orchid blooming, and was thrilled to see it. I've never seen it in bloom before. See the Photo album for Ace Gap, 2010.

Frozen Head State Park, in the Cumberlands, was well past its peak for wildflowers when we hiked it on April 28. Although we counted 36 species of wildflowers in bloom along the way as we hiked up Panther Branch and North Old Mac trails, there just wasn't much of anything blooming in any one spot. The highlight of the hike was the one large yellow ladyslipper (Cypripedium pubescens) we saw along the trail. Virtually all of the trilliums were finished, as was the spotted mandarin (Disporum maculatum), found primarily in the Cumberlands, but occasionally in the Smokies (I found it once on Little Greenbrier trail in the Smokies). We saw just two pink ladyslippers (Cypripedium acaule).

There was a lot of water running in all the streams, and the waterfalls were full and beautiful. See the photo album for Frozen Head for pictures of some of the wildflowers we did see.

The $12.2 million for Recovery and Reinvestment Act (RRA) projects to improve hiker parking areas and resurface two roads in the Park brings total Recovery Act funding for the Smokies to $77.5 million. The projects are: re-paving the Foothills Parkway-East, the Smokemont Campground and the Heintooga Ridge Road. In addition the Park will create new hiker parking areas and repave the roads leading to the popular Little River and Jakes Creek Trails in the Elkmont Area.

The Smokies NP has also received more than $33 million of RRA funding to continue construction of the uncompleted Foothills Parkway.

Work is already underway to repave the Smokemont Campground and that campground is currently still closed but is scheduled to reopen after the work is finished on May 27. Hikers are unable to drive into the campground to Smokemont Loop or Bradley Fork trailheads, and must park outside the campground and walk in. A contract was awarded to pave three parking areas and to repave all the connecting roads between the Little River Trailhead and the Elkmont Historic District. During the early phases of construction visitor access to Jakes Creek and Little River Trails will be provided, but the area will be closed between July 6 and August 31 when safe passage can no longer be possible through the construction zone.

Details on all of the park’s Recovery Act and other facility and road construction projects are available at the Park’s website at: www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit.”