Category Archives: Steve's Blog

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
See Steve . . .

February 21, 2007 – 11:50 am

See Steve … Contemplate the Smokies

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GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
A Fed Bear Is A Dead Bear

February 16, 2007 – 11:20 am

A second bear incident in the Ski Mountain area of Gatlinburg has again demonstrated the dangers of careless garbage handling in bear country.
On October 28, 2006, a 72-year-old woman was returning home from walking her dog when she came around the corner of her house and encountered a female black bear with three cubs. The [...]

By admin | Also posted in Bears, Smokies Guide Newspaper | Comments (2)

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
Giant Salamanders!!

February 16, 2007 – 11:19 am

Growing to more than two feet long, the hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) is the largest salamander in North America. It’s a slimy amphibian with a flattened head and body that lives under submerged rocks and logs.
Three years of hellbender research conducted by Dr. Michael Freake of Lee University and myriad students and volunteers has answered some [...]

By admin | Also posted in Smokies Guide Newspaper | Comments (2)

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
Thru-Hikers, Comin’ Through

February 16, 2007 – 11:18 am

This spring an estimated 1,500 backpackers will set out from Springer Mountain, Georgia with ambitions of following the Appalachian Trail 2,175 miles to Mt. Katahdin, Maine. If past is any indication of future, fewer than 400 hikers will complete the journey this year.
Most northbound thru-hikers start in March or April. When they cross Fontana Dam [...]

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GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
Mountain Doctors

February 16, 2007 – 11:16 am

The folk who called the hills and hollers of the Great Smokies home faced their everyday ailments with self-doctoring, folk remedies, and treatment by local herb or “yarb” doctors and “grannywomen.” Many viewed doctors with suspicion and only called them as a last resort, choosing instead to risk complications of illness rather than calling in [...]

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GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
Spring Tonics

February 16, 2007 – 11:15 am

For kids, spring tonic usually meant stomaching a mixture of equal parts sulfur and molasses, thought to thin or purify the blood and “get rid of that lazy feeling.”
Sassafras was another common remedy and good “sweater-outer” of fevers. Old timers believed if you drank sassafras in March you wouldn’t need a doctor the rest of [...]

By admin | Also posted in Smokies Guide Newspaper | Comments (1)

GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
Life In Upper Cosby was Mostly Work and Not Much Play

February 16, 2007 – 11:14 am

Settled in the mid 1800s, “Upper Cosby” was a far flung community of small farms in the watershed of Cosby Creek. The 1900 federal census shows over 1,800 people lived in or near the area of Upper Cosby that became Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Upper Cosby included several loose-knit communities including Gilliland Town, Mountain [...]

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