This beautiful National Park is the most popular one in the entire United States. The 800 square mile International Biosphere Reserve is spilt about evenly between TN and NC and it protects some of the oldest mountains on earth. More than 1500 species of flowering plants and 60 species of native mammals live within these often mist-shrouded mountains.
one beautiful moon!
The Acid Rain Killer!
This national park has the heaviest deposits of nitrates and sulfates in all of North America. 90% of its streams can no longer neutralize acid rain deposits and a total of six headwater brook trout populations have been lost since 1976.
Though it looks like a Halloween Cobweb Tree
It's actually Tent Caterpillars at work
Touch-me-not (Pale variety)
Touch-me-not (Spotted variety): aka Orange Jewelweed
White Snakeroot
By far the most common butterfly in the park
And one I can't seem to stop photographing
The gorgeous Pipevine Swallowtail
The Northern Mockingbird is the state bird of both Tennessee and Florida (as well as Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas)
Next we ascended to the highest point in the park as well as in the entire state of Tennessee, Glingmans Dome, at 6,643 feet. Unfortunately, the first thing we noticed was all the dead trees on the surrounding hillsides.
These are Fraser Firs, which grow at the highest elevations in the Smokies.
Since the 1960s, a tiny insect that was accidentally introduced from Europe, the balsam wooly adelgid, has killed over 70% of the park's mature firs.
Adelgids feed on the tree's sap, interfering with the flow of water and nutrients and killing the fir within a few years.
According to the rangers, the berries on the Mountain Ash Trees
are more abundant and more colorful
than they've been in the last 5 years
Our first stop this morning. One Black Bear, one wild Turkey, and
one beautiful moon!
The Acid Rain Killer!
This national park has the heaviest deposits of nitrates and sulfates in all of North America. 90% of its streams can no longer neutralize acid rain deposits and a total of six headwater brook trout populations have been lost since 1976.
Though it looks like a Halloween Cobweb Tree
It's actually Tent Caterpillars at work
Touch-me-not (Pale variety)
Touch-me-not (Spotted variety): aka Orange Jewelweed
White Snakeroot
By far the most common butterfly in the park
And one I can't seem to stop photographing
The gorgeous Pipevine Swallowtail
The Northern Mockingbird is the state bird of both Tennessee and Florida (as well as Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas)
Next we ascended to the highest point in the park as well as in the entire state of Tennessee, Glingmans Dome, at 6,643 feet. Unfortunately, the first thing we noticed was all the dead trees on the surrounding hillsides.
These are Fraser Firs, which grow at the highest elevations in the Smokies.
Since the 1960s, a tiny insect that was accidentally introduced from Europe, the balsam wooly adelgid, has killed over 70% of the park's mature firs.
According to the rangers, the berries on the Mountain Ash Trees
are more abundant and more colorful
than they've been in the last 5 years
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