We completed our April 2018 visit to western North Carolina with a stop at Cataloochee in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Just getting to Cataloochee can be an adventure for those not used to driving on twisting, hilly gravel roads. I've described the two ways into Cataloochee on a previous blog post here. We stopped at the Sal Patch Gap overlook, the only overlook along the route from US 276 into the valley.
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| Sal Patch Gap parking area |
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| Paved trail to overlook |
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| Signs of deferred maintenance |
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| Ridge after ridge |
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| Sal Patch Gap overlook |
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| Spruce Mountain (5647' 6.5 miles) above the flank of Half Acre Ridge |
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| Common serviceberry blooming (Amelanchier arborea) |
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| Winding Stair Branch watershed |
After leaving the overlook, we descended into the valley on the paved Cataloochee Entrance Road. Near the campground, we saw a group of elk on the edge of a field. Continuing on into the valley, the road reverts to gravel near Palmer Chapel. We crossed the field to the church in order to get a closer view of Palmer Creek. After crossing Palmer Creek on a sturdy bridge, the road follows Rough Fork for a short distance before terminating at the trailhead for both the Big Fork Ridge Trail and the Rough Fork Trail. We caught up to part of the elk herd in a large field near the end of the road.
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| Elk lazing and grazing |
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| Sunning |
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| Palmer Chapel from the road |
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| Palmer Creek |
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| Palmer Chapel from near the creek |
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| Palmer Creek from the road bridge |
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| Rough Fork |
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| Caldwell Place |
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| Caldwell barn |
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| Field beside the Caldwell barn |
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| Many elk have radio collars to allow rangers to track the herd |
The park website is https://www.nps.gov/grsm.
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