The new Lumberjack Feud Dinner & Show will open Aug. 26 on the parkway in Pigeon Forge. The show will feature both actors and professional lumberjack athletes, some of whom have been seen on ESPN. The athletes, in head-to-head competition, will participate in log-rolling, boom-running, speed climbing and wood chopping.
Lumberjack Feud
The show, in its new 26,000 square foot arena, will be based loosely on this area’s logging business as the woodlands were transformed in The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. With three different price plans guests can choose from a show-only option, a snack-lunch ticket, or the full dinner show. The full dinner show option will include chicken breast, ribs, several sides, dessert, and a beverage.
Adjoining the theater’s retail & ticket center is the new Smoky Mountain Forestry History Center. The museum will highlight the area’s history beginning with native inhabitants continuing with the pioneers & homesteaders in the Smokies during the early days of the logging industry.
The first few weeks of June in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Mother Nature treats us with the annual lightshow of the synchronized fireflies. There are 12 species of the flashing fireflies know to inhabit the park. The “flashing” is caused by a chemical reaction in the firefly’s body.
Thus year the City of Gatlinburg will provide trolley service to the Elkmont Campground through June 12, as park officials will close the entrance road to Elkmont to all vehicles and pedestrians daily at 5PM until midnight. Registered campers staying at the Elkmont Campground will be exempt from this road closure. Due to safety concerns visitors will not be allowed to walk the Elkmont entrance.
The trolleys will pick up visitors at the Sugarland’s Visitor Center parking area at 7PM until the parking area is full or until 9PM which ever occurs first. The last return trolley from Elkmont will depart at 11PM. The roundtrip cost is $1 per person. There is no overflow parking at the Sugarland’s Visitor Center, and restrictions will be enforced, so arrive early.
It is recommended that visitors bring flashlights with red cellophane covers to reduce white light. Visitors may bring lawn chairs, and carry food & water in backpacks but these items must be able to fit on their laps while on the trolleys. There are no services available at the site and coolers, alcoholic beverages, and pets are strictly prohibited.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park will host its 7th annual “Music of the Mountains”. The three day event will begin on April 8th at the Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center in Townsend, TN. On Saturday the 9th the Sugarlands Visitor Center, just south of Gatlinburg, will host 6 free events through out the day. The final day’s event will be held Sunday afternoon in Cosby, TN at the Smoky Mountain Visitor Center.
There is a $5 per person admission charge at the concert in Townsend, which will begin at 7PM. The concert in Cosby costs $4 per person and will begin at 2PM.
Travelers on Newfound Gap Road (U. S. 441) through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park will experience delays beginning March 1st. Repairs on the heavily traveled two lane mountain road will begin on the Tennessee side at the state line proceeding north. In addition to repaving and drainage work the stone retaining walls will require repairs including re-construction to support the roadbeds, forcing closure of one lane from March 1st through June 10th.
Just above the Morton Overlook the work on the retaining wall and roadbed will require flag crews to direct traffic from 8AM until 9PM. Overnight traffic will be open to both lanes. At a slightly lower location traffic lights will control traffic around the clock.
From June 11 through August 15 there will be no lane closures during daytime hours. Overnight between 9PM and 8AM construction will again cause lane closures.
The expected completion time of this first phase of the road work project is scheduled for October 2012. An additional two phases are schedule to complete the repairs of the 15 mile stretch of road between Newfound Gap and the park entrance north of Gatlinburg with projected completion in 2016.
Bull Elk in the Smokies are in “Rut” (male courtship), considered to be one of the great spectacles in North American animal kingdom. The competition between mature male elks is to try to impress and control groups of female elk.
Though the competition is mostly show as the elk prance, grunt and bugle, things can become combative as the bull elk spar. Bugling and sparing are two of the most recognized parts of the rut.
The bugling of the bull is when they through back their heads and utter a long, loud call that can be heard up to a mile away. The larger bulls are able to assert their dominance as they usually have deeper and louder calls.
The spar is when two bulls lock their massive antlers in a test of strength, pushing and shoving until one retreats into submission. The spar can cause punctures and bruises to the elks. Some times fatal injuries do occur, part of natures way of controlling the eco system.
Two Bull Elk Sparing
Two of the best places to witness the “rut” is the Cataloochee Valley and near the Oconaluftee Vistor’s Center outside of Cherokee, NC, the closet location to The Resort. If you decide to view the “Rut” please enjoy from afar as these are wild animals.
Officials of The Great Smoky Mountain National Park announced Wednesday that the road to Clingman’s Dome and the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail will remain closed.
The road to Clingman’s Dome is now scheduled to be open June 19th. The major setback on the project was the weather. The park recorded over 130 inches of snow this past winter.
The Roaring Fork Motor Trail in Gatlinburg has not set a new opening date. In addition to weather, this project has faced major delays due to the steep, narrow winding roads. Contractors have faced challenges maneuvering heavy equipment on the scenic roadway.
For complete information on park road, trail and campground closures please go to their web site.
Officials with Great Smoky Mountains National Park announced that road work on the Cades Cove Loop Road would be completed almost a month ahead of schedule. To celebrate the early finish the park will open April 24 to only pedestrians and bicyclists until noon then motorists will be allowed access that afternoon.
On Sunday April 25 the road will be open for the “Cades Cove Loop Lope” offering runners a once in a lifetime opportunity to compete in either a 3.5 mile or the full 11 mile loop. Organized by the park and Friends of the Smokies, the event will require participants to register in advance for the run. Participation fees are high ($75 for the 3.5 and $100 for the 11 mile) but all money will be used to support park projects. We have provided a link for further information on this special event, go to the Friends of the Smokiesweb site.
The Great Smoky Mountain National Park will be closing certain roads this spring for much needed repairs. These repairs will affect some of the parks most popular areas.
The Cades Cove Loop Road near Townsend, is slated for repaving from March 1 through May 21. Due to the fact the road has not been repaved in over thirty years, it will need to be totally closed down as it will require total reconstruction.
Clingmans Dome Road, which normally opens April 1st, will be kept closed until around May 29th. Along with road repairs, new public facilities are being installed at the parking area at Clingmans Dome.
The Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail is also scheduled to be closed till May 29th. The popular 5 mile scenic loop is in Gatlinburg.
Weather conditions will play an important factor in getting these three projects completed on time. This winter and last fall have been extremely wet causing rock slides along certain roads and making for wet working conditions. We will report any announced delays in scheduled opening dates here on our blog and also on our Twitter page.
With planned closures of many popular areas in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park due to much need road repairs, alternate sightseeing destinations will be required. Visitors not minding some time spent hiking may like to visit the home of the Walker Sisters in Little Greenbrier.
The Walkers’ were the children of Civil War veteran John “Hairy John” Walker and Margaret Jane King who moved to Little Greenbrier in the late 1860s or early 1870s. They raised 11 children, four boys and seven girls. Six spinster girls, Margaret Jane, Mary Elizabeth (Polly), Martha Ann, Nancy Melinda, Louisa Susan, and Hettie Rebecca spent the majority of their lives living and farming in a primitive lifestyle at Little Greenbrier, thus the famed “Walker Sisters”.
The Walker house is a three room two-storied log house that was completed around 1859 and this primitive house, with neither plumbing nor electric, was lived in until 1964. The house and land were sold to the U.S. Government in 1941 for $4750 but the sisters were granted a lifetime lease until their deaths. The formation of the National Park and the sale of their property brought many visitors to the sisters, curious of their way of life. They were able to sell hand made items as souvenirs to supplement their incomes as they welcomed travelers onto their land. An article in the Saturday Evening Post in 1947 brought then national publicity. Louisa Susan was the last of the six spinster sisters to pass, as she died in 1964.
The 4.2 mile round trip hike to the cabin is considered an easy to moderate ranking by most hikers. Beginning at Metcalf Bottoms picnic area off the Little River Rd, take the Metcalf Bottoms Trail (approximately 7/10 of a mile) to the Little Greenbrier Schoolhouse. This one room schoolhouse still has blackboard and desks from when it was last used in the 1930s. On the hillside above the school house is a small local cemetery. One may also drive, conditions permitting, to the Little Greenbrier School via a one lane gravel road, cross the bridge at Metcalf Bottoms picnic area and the road will be about ½ mile on your right.
Little Greenbrier Schoolhouse
To continue to the Walker Sisters’ home take the Little Brier Gap Trail from the parking area at the Little Greenbrier School. This is considered a mile hike but is probably closer to a mile and a half.
Dollywood’s newest attraction, Adventure Mountain, is scheduled to be completed for the park’s opening on March 27. Due to the economy the attraction was delayed until this year.
Adventure Mountain is billed as the largest challenge course in the country. There are four separate courses with 46 different elements plus a children’s area. The themed attraction will have much of the look and feel of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in its early years.
