Cataloochee is a part of the Great Smoky Mountains that we visited twice on this trip. It is where the Boogerman Loop is located and we realized after our hike that there was more to see there and we wanted to make time to come back. It is located on the far eastern edge of the park and is accessed by a winding, mountainous, gravel road. Not the one where I had Rob stop some I could see a caterpillar, that's a different winding, mountainous, gravel road.
Cataloochee is a lovely valley where, a hundred years ago, there was a thriving community. You can wander around the area and see old homes, an old church, and an old school - with old desks with holes for ink wells in them. Cades Cove (nearer to Gatlinburg, Tennessee) is similar. The other thing about Cataloochee is that it is loaded with elk.
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| A tussock moth (which is kind of like calling a dog a terrier - there are a lot of kinds of tussock moths.) |
We saw a lot of elk! It is elk "rut" season and the big bulls with enormous horns are rounding up their harems. This one came right next to our van. It made a huge impression on Irene who has told many people about how "the female came right next to our car".
They really are interesting to watch, the bulls make a loud noise as part of their work to defend their claim on the cows. We saw several confrontations between bulls although none of them got more intense than a short chase.
By the end of this day we had decided that we had seen enough elk to satisfy our curiosity, but there were more elk to come.
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