National Junior Ranger Day in Great Smoky Mountains National Park on April 25

Junior Rangers in Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Great Smoky Mountains National Park celebrates National Junior Ranger Day on Saturday, April 25, 2015 from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. at Cades Cove Visitor Center, Oconaluftee Visitor Center and Sugarlands Visitor Center.

This free event for kids and families includes special activities like ranger-guided walks, old-fashioned toy making, fun stuff at the blacksmith’s shop, and more! Learn all about the Park’s wildlife with hands-on activities with animal skins, bones and even scat!

Children ages 5-12 can become a Great Smoky Mountains National Park Junior Ranger. Simply pick up a Junior Ranger booklet for $2.50 at any of the Park’s Visitor Centers or Cades Cove and Elkmont campgrounds. Complete all the activities in the booklet, stop by a Visitor Center and talk to a Ranger to receive your very own Junior Ranger badge!

Be sure to take advantage of the fun and informative Ranger-led programs offered by the National Park Service this season. Click here for a complete schedule of programs.

In related news, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park recently launched Find Your Park, a public awareness and education campaign to set the stage for the centennial anniversary of the National Park Service in 2016. Find Your Park encourages the public to get out and really experience our national parks so that they are not only seen as a destination, but a state of mind, a special feeling to bring about a sense of American pride in our nation’s exquisite natural and cultural gems of the National Park system.

Find Your Park is also the theme for this year’s National Park Week, April 18 – 26.

“National Park Week is a time for visitors, of all ages, to get out and experience their national parks, especially the Great Smoky Mountains,” says Superintendent Cassius Cash, “I hope during National Park Week and over the next year as we celebrate the National Park Service’s second century, everyone will take the opportunity to Find Your Park.”

Appalachian Trail Thru-hikers to enjoy “Trail Magic” Welcome to Great Smoky Mountains National Park on Easter Sunday

April 2, 2015
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Fontana, North Carolina – HeySmokies.com will greet thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail as they enter the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with some “Trail Magic” to celebrate the Easter holiday on April 5, 2015.

As part of the Appalachian Trail’s 90th Anniversary this year, the HeySmokies.com team will serve a complimentary Easter picnic to individuals who are currently hiking the entire length of the 2,189 mile-long footpath that runs from Georgia to Maine.

“Trail Magic is something no thru-hiker expects, so when it happens it’s quite a welcome surprise,” says Brad Knight, co-founder of HeySmokies.com, “This is just a great way to pay it forward for the Trail Magic when I hiked.” Knight completed a six-month thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 1997.

Northbound hikers enter the Great Smoky Mountains National Park just after crossing over Fontana Dam in North Carolina. They will traverse 71 miles through the National Park’s high country to exit at Davenport Gap in Tennessee. The highest point on the Appalachian Trail is at Clingmans Dome at 6,643 ft.

Brad Knight prepares for “Trail Magic” on the Appalachian Trail.

“We expect to feed anywhere between 20 and 50 thru-hikers,” says Knight, “we coordinated with Jeff Hoch, the owner of The Hike Inn, to scout out a great location on the trail just a few miles before they reach Fontana.”

Although millions of people hike sections of the Appalachian Trail each year, only about a hundred hikers actually complete the entire trail. Most thru-hikers begin the trek in early spring at Springer Mountain, Georgia to walk north with the seasons.

Spring Breakers Site Sasquatch in the Smokies

April 1, 2015
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Recent Siting of Sasquatch in the Smokies

Spring breakers from Panama City, Florida report a Sasquatch siting in the Smokies on April 1, 2015. This recent encounter has the local population on edge as fears escalate. The Sasquatch, a large half-bear / half-man creature, was believed to dwell only in the Pacific Northwestern U.S. until recently.

That belief changed early this spring when park visitors reported a large “creature” walking up-right near populated areas. Officials urge the public to keep a close eye on children and pets until the creature can be positively identified.

“Dude, it was big,” says spring breaker Jeff Spicoli. The mystery has intensified as it has been documented that all wildlife have fled the areas where the encounters occurred.

Locals make a big moulage out of plaster cast of the big foot prints.

“I thought it was strange all the animals just left the area,” says local ranger I.B. Lyon, “then I noticed the huge footprints. It was a big foot no doubt about it.”

Lyon further explains,” I went back to the Jeep to call it in on the radio and my vehicle was gone. It was like someone just picked it up and carried it off. Those big foot prints were everywhere!”

He was there all alone in the Smokies wilderness and no way out. And somewhere deep in the forest Lyon heard a growling sound…

Gatlinburg Beans ‘n Cornbread Blast on May 14 presented by Bush Brothers & Company

It’s a rootin’ tootin’ festival of good eats at the Gatlinburg Beans ‘n Cornbread Blast presented by Bush Brothers & Company on Thursday, May 14 from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. The festival will be held on the downtown Gatlinburg Parkway between traffic lights #6 and #8.

An authentic celebration of Appalachian culinary history complete with roots and bluegrass musical entertainment, antique engines, and a Corn Hole Tournament from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. A $10 entry fee for the tournament benefits the Sevier County Humane Society. Over a dozen vendors, each with their own special recipes, will be in competition and your vote helps pick the winners!

Tickets are $10 per person for unlimited sampling while supplies last. For more information and to purchase tickets to the Gatlinburg Beans ‘n Cornbread Blast, email the Gatlinburg Convention & Visitor Bureau’s Special Events Division at info@gatlinburg.com or call 865-430-1817 or 800-588-1817.

Did you know that Bush Beans & Company has a fabulous Visitor Center, General Store and Cafe in the Great Smoky Mountains? Be sure to visit the Bush’s Visitor Center in beautiful Chestnut Hill. The short drive over to Dandridge is worth the trip to learn all about how they “roll that beautiful bean footage!”