It Must Be October

If the temperature is falling and the leaves are turning and the acorns are falling it must be October!  We started our October off with a bang by taking a short road trip over to the Cataloochee Valley. Our trip planner/navigator (Jeff) guided us to the Little Cataloochee Trail. I must say that the ride over was quite an adventure. We drove from Gatlinburg to Cosby where we got on I-40 headed towards Maggie Valley. That is probably the worst stretch of interstate I've been on in a while, thanks to the narrow lanes, concrete barriers and lots of big trucks! We finally got off the interstate and headed to the Cataloochee Valley.  We passed roads with names like Tater Patch,  Hoot-n-Holler, Saddle Ridge, and Rough Creek. We left pavement behind and continued our journey on narrow, washed out, twisting gravel roads. We crossed scary bridges. 

And finally we arrived at the Little Cataloochee Trailhead. 

We saw lots of interesting plants along the way. 

We hiked up and down until we finally arrived at the Hannah Cabin where we had a mid morning snack. 

Jeff continued on to a church, but Keith and I headed back to the car. The end of the trail is always a welcome sight. 

After our hike we headed over to Cataloochee Valley. 

There were several buildings to explore. We saw the Palmer Place, with it's exhibits and barn. 

We were fascinated by the ramp leading to the hayloft. 

We continued our journey down the road to the Palmer Chapel. It looked like the perfect spot for a picnic!

After lunch we headed to the Beech Grove School. 

And then our trip started to get really interesting because we heard them and they were really close by. Who/What you ask? Why the elk, of course!  You see you go to Cataloochee in October because October is mating season for the elk. And when elk mate, they make noise. It's called bugling. (When you get through reading this go look up Cataloochee Elk on YouTube and hear for yourself.) What a racket they make! We were serenaded all during lunch and once we were fed we decided to go looking for them. 

We saw several elk bedded down in the shade since it was the hottest part of the day. 

The ranger assured us they would come out in the open in the afternoon. In the meantime, we continued exploring the area. Our next stop was The Caldwell House. This has got to be the finest old home we've seen in the park!  It had lots of rooms, fancy woodwork, closets, and a wrap-around porch. 

After our tour we headed in search of elk. The ranger said to "just follow the cars and you'll find them. "

So we headed back down the road and found lots of cars pulling over. Yep, there were elk in the field!

I was in photographic heaven!  

After I took about a million shots we got in the car and headed home. On the way back we discussed which adventure we liked better - the Cataloochee Elk or the Syncronous Butterflies. What a tough choice!  We decided that seeing and photographing the elk was our favorite sight and experiencing the fireflies was our favorite experience. With the fireflies, no photo does it justice - you just had to be there!

Another great adventure in the books!