Elk can be found at and near the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. As I was passing by the visitor center driving south in the early afternoon there was a single bull elk wandering across the road. As I understand it the daily phenomenon at the visitor center a little before sunset each day is a herd of elk appear, so as I drove back about an hour before sunset I was treated to a whole herd in the field there. People were flooding into the center’s parking lot and rangers were out warning everyone to keep back and hide behind cars if the elk got too close, because they can be dangerous, apparently. There was one bull elk in the herd, and dozens of females. The male was making mating calls and decorating its antlers with grasses, which was really a sight to behold.
Before I made it back to the visitor center I had a BETTER experience though, just outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park limits, in the area designated as Cherokee, NC. I was driving through the town and the Oconaluftee River is a cute little river at this point passing through it by the road and amongst the shops. I happen to glance out my car window and there’s a female elk wandering down the river bed. Pulling over in a hurry, I went up to the river for some pictures. That elk would soon be followed by two other females and an bull elk! I’d yet to have the experience with rangers keeping people back from dangerous elk, and at this point I was perhaps 20 feet away from an impressive male elk and it became the best viewing experience of the trip for wildlife.
If you want to see elk in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, just be advised that they range mostly the southeastern area, so you’ll want to retrace my steps.
Pingback: Mingo Falls – Lepzard Blog