Enjoy the ‘Wild Life’ Around Maggie Valley, NC.
April 9th, 2008 Categories: Things to Do
One of my favorite adventures living here in Maggie Valley, NC is riding out to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park to see the elk herd which has been reintroduced to the area over the past seven years, and is growing. The best times of day to go to see the elk are early in the morning or late in the afternoon. One of my favorite trips to see the elk was with my photography teacher/class early one morning last August. The beautiful elk photo to the right was taken that day (with a telephoto lens) by Bart Boeckler, a professional photographer who was attending our class. He should be teaching. Since meeting him, he is my photographer of choice for listing photos, etc.
Favorite Elk Facts.
- What makes the elk antlers fall (”cast”) off? Since testosterone levels regulate the ‘cement’ that holds the antlers tight, when the testosterone levels drop in the spring, after mating season, the bull elk shed their antlers.
- New growth starts, and a covering called ‘velvet‘ protects the antlers and carries blood to the growing bone during the summer, and is shed and rubbed off in August when the bone stops growing.
- Most calves are born in early June, and their spots are gone by the end of the summer.
Read the January 2008 GSMNP Newsletter.
Trips to watch the elk should include a cooler filled with drinks and snacks as it takes 30 - 45 minutes from I-40 to get into the heart of Cataloochee in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, where you stand the biggest chance of seeing the elk. When visiting the park and the elk, please note the special instructions below:
“Do not enter fields to view elk—remain by the roadside and use binoculars, telephoto lens, or a spotting scope to view the animals.”
Directions to see the elk.
If you are traveling on I-40, exit #20, go 0.2 mile toward Maggie Valley, then turn right onto Cove Creek Road and follow signs 11 miles into Cataloochee Valley. Allow 30 t0 45 minutes to reach the Valley once you exit I-40.
Visit the Smoky Mountain National Park website ‘elk’ page, and read more about the elk and their reintroduction into the Park.
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
Should you develop more of an interest in the elk, and want to be more involved and informed about them, please join the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. I did!
“In 1984, four hunters from Troy, Montana, founded the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to guarantee a wild future for North America’s grandest game animal.”
An upcoming event to support the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is the Great Smoky Mountains Big Game Banquet in Cherokee on July 26, 2008, just 20 minutes over the mountains from Maggie Valley, NC.
See a Maggie Valley, NC slideshow.
Search the Haywood County, NC MLS.
Elk are wonderful to watch! In Colorado, we are very fortunate to have tons of elk. If you go to Rocky Mountain National Park, or the town of Estes Park, they are so abundant, they walk through the middle of town, and the local golf course has “Elk Fencing” protecting the greens!
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