Author Archives: admin

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
Bears in the Backyard!

June 3, 2008 – 8:24 am

Sue, wife of GSMA Executive Director, Terry Maddox, took these photos of a mother bear and her three (3!!) cubs in their backyard yesterday afternoon.

Posted in Bears, Bunglesome Biologist - Fauna - Critters, Scrapbook | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
After Nine Years… Success!

June 2, 2008 – 12:32 pm

Marti Smith, the manager of our stores at the Gatlinburg Welcome Center and the Parkway Welcome Center, is a very dedicated hiker.  This past Saturday, she finished hiking every single one of the 150 trails in the national park.  It took nine years, but she did it!
Click the photo below to see my video tribute [...]

Posted in Hiking Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Mountain Voices: Interviews With Locals and Visitors, Video | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
“An Unimproved Work of God…”

May 29, 2008 – 11:47 am

Back in the 1920’s, logging companies were stripping these mountains bare and one of the motivations for creating a national park in the Smokies was to save what was left of the ancient forests east of the Mississippi.
Horace Kephart, a local writer and avid supporter of a national park, called the old-growth in the Smokies [...]

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GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
Smokies in a Different Light

May 27, 2008 – 3:02 pm

Here’s Donna Eaton’s wonderful photo of the famous Smokies haze taken from Morton’s Overlook during a thunderstorm.  Has a fire and brimstone look to it, doesn’t it?  Donna said the storm was making her cringe.  But thank goodness nothing could keep her from holding that big metal lightning rod in her hands and clicking the [...]

Posted in Artists in the Park | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
Smokies Wildflowers

May 27, 2008 – 1:19 pm

I don’t know about you, but I spent all winter dreaming of the day when the columbine and violets would bring some color back to these mountains. This video is my little way of trying to make spring last forever.
Click the photo to see some of the best flower displays in the Smokies!

Posted in Minute in the Mountains: Scenery & Music, Video | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
Even Better than a Pot of Gold

May 16, 2008 – 5:38 am

Waterfalls. Rainbows. There’s something magical about each one on its own, but if it’s your lucky day in the Smokies (and this time it was mine), you’ll find them together. Forget about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, I was happy to have my video camera and the good [...]

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GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
Stampede on the Appalachian Trail

May 15, 2008 – 12:05 pm

Okay, so it wasn’t really a stampede. But the Appalachian Trail in the Smokies gets quite crowded during the last two weeks in April when the thru-hikers arrive.
Despite the fact that they still had about 1,900 more miles to go, a bunch of hikers were nice enough to pause and talk to me (while [...]

Posted in Appalachian Trail, Mountain Voices: Interviews With Locals and Visitors, Video | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
The Frog Whisperer

May 15, 2008 – 11:44 am

Dr. Wayne Van Devender is my current front-runner for “Most Unusual and Awesome Talent.” He’s a biology professor at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina where he enjoys having intellectual discussions with both students and the frogs in the local ponds. Yes, the frogs.
Click the photo to watch the video starring Wayne [...]

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