Seeing Elk with Joyce

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On a Sunday afternoon, neighbor Joyce asked if I’d like to go see elk at the visitor’s center in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We talked non-stop both ways as she drove on small roads through Maggie Valley, over the mountain to Cherokee, and on to the center. Joyce knew that this was the mating season for elk, called the Rut. I took her photo on the big porch of the visitor’s center to show the mountains in the background and the field where the elk often gather. We knew it was late in the season and that we might not see any of the animals.

KODAK Digital Still Camera

We walked on the path along the creek and saw men feeding and hosing down some pigs. The path was lined with old buildings, brought to the site to show how people lived long ago.

KODAK Digital Still Camera

Joyce kept looking in the woods and spotted an elk walking toward the field. He made the high-pitched whistling sound called bugling. I was thrilled to hear it. (There are many recordings, easy to call up on Google.)

KODAK Digital Still Camera

A female emerged from another part of the woods. At some point we saw a third one. They were all grazing and not paying attention to each other. I took this photo to show the road into the park. People often pull off the road to watch the animals, although here they were driving slowly. We left as the sun was setting, still able to see the changing colors of the trees. It was a marvelous excursion.

KODAK Digital Still Camera
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Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

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22 thoughts on “Seeing Elk with Joyce”

  1. Oh I’m sorry glad to hear that you were able to get up there to see the elk. David’s thought was that we would not be able to navigate on the small raids and I guess 40 is the one that was ruined? Anyway, we are here in Texas now so no use crying over what might have been. I’m happy you had a lovely excursion with Joyce!

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  4. That sounds like a perfect outing! You made good photographs of Joyce with the background scenes, too. I am ready for a trip back to the Smoky Mountains–it has been way too long now!

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      1. That is kind of you! It looks like you are quite a bit further east than where we usually go in Townsend. I love it there in the fall, but they are now about to start on our covered deck finally so I probably will be unable to do anything until spring. We are postponing the Scotland trip for the time being. Based on how much difficulty we experienced on the last road trip, we are even questioning if we can do anything much further than 4 hours from home, at least until we get ourselves back in shape!

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        1. I lost my reply. I’ll try again. This is probably not the best time to come because of the hurricane damage. Let’s see what things look like in the spring. Fall is gorgeous here, but it’s hard to predict the peak of leaf season. Come when you can. You’ll see things here; I’ll enjoy you, and you can go home.

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  7. Sounds like you and Joyce had a great day. The elk are kind of hit-or-miss for you aren’t they? I know you have gone looking for elk when friends/relatives visit and sometimes they are not there – you were lucky today.

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    1. I’m on the edge of the national Park, and elk have made a comeback there. The ones in my area are used to people, almost dangerously so. We are warned to be very careful, since they are wild animals.

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  9. aw a bull elk tearing a tree up during rut. Some ppeople tried to get up close and get photos. That looked like a really bad idea!you know those cows were playing hard to get. One time we s

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