Oconaluftee Hikes

Thursday, we had breakfast at the diner again and then headed to Cherokee.  We saw a groundhog just before entering the park.

And after entering the park, we saw several elk just past Oconaluftee Visitor Center.

In one of the fields, there was a large herd, including calves.

The male seemed like we wanted to get frisky but his female was not in the mood.

We continued on and parked at the far end of Smokemont Campground.  From here, we got on Bradley Fork Trail which followed its namesake on an old road.

In about a mile we got on Chasteen Creek Trail and followed it to Chasteen Creek Falls.

It's a small waterfall, but rather scenic.  A brown puffball mushroom was growing on a log.

We went a little further up Chasteen Creek Trail and then turned around.

We stopped at the campsite near Bradley Fork Trail at a very scenic spot on Chasteen Creek.

Some beautiful lobelia was flowering here.

We saw more mushrooms on the hike back.

A polyphemus moth caterpillar was crawling along the trail.

There was yellow jewelweed flowering as well.

We finished our hike around lunch time and had snack at the car.

Then we drove to the visitor center and parked.  First, we took a stroll through the Mountain Farm Museum.

Davis House was built from American chestnut prior to the blight.

The large barn was at the other end of the site.

Next to the barn was a pig pen and the two pigs started waking up as we watched.

After visiting the museum, we walked down Oconaluftee River Trail.

There were some megansers in the river.

The trail continued to the park boundary in Cherokee.

There were some wildflowers and mushrooms along the trail.

As we got back to the parking lot, I saw a red-spotted purple butterfly nectaring.

We finished our hike around dinner time.

We drove back to Bryson City and had barbecue for dinner and made a small fire at the cabin.