Great Smoky Mountains National Park Initiates Corona Virus Health Guidelines
Smoky Mountain campgrounds and facilities close due to COVID – 19.
Great Smoky Mountain National Park Visitor Centers Close
GSMNP visitor centers close to slow Corona virus.
Great Smoky Mountain National Park Visitor Centers Close March 17, 2020. The closures are in response to efforts to inhibit the spread of the COVID – 19 (Corona) virus. The closures include the Sugarlands, Oconaluftee and Cades Cove Visitors Centers until further notice.
Great Smoky National Park officials are heeding guidance from the Centers for Disease Control. The facilities are being shuttered to ensure the safety of park staff and visitors.
Smoky Mountain Long Cold Full Moon
Smoky Mountain Long Cold full moon is on the rise!
Smoky Mountain Long Cold Full Moon is on the rise! The final full moon for 2019 and the decade will reach its apex at 12:12 a.m. on December 12th. This lunar event is sometimes called the “Long Night’s Moon” or the “Full Cold Moon.” During this moon phase the moon will sit above the horizon much longer than it normally does.
The “Long Cold” moon is the harbinger of the bleakness associated with the beginning of winter. This event is followed by colder average temperatures and more hours of darkness. The winter solstice (the official start of winter) occurs on December 21st, a full week after the Long Cold Moon.
Be on the lookout for the moon to appear a few minutes before sunset. The moon should be visible in the Smoky Mountains by 5:10 p.m. That time assumes you are in a spot with a good vantage point like Clingmans Dome or Cades Cove. If you are down in a deep holler it could be much later and depending on the surrounding mountains you may not see the moon at all.
Bonus Smoky Mountain Astrological Tip – Don’t miss the Geminid Meteor Shower! This is the most active meteor shower of the year and you should be able to see hundreds of meteors in a few hours. This event happens early to mid December each year. Typically the best viewing is December 13th. This year the show may be a little more difficult to see thanks to its competition with the moon. With the Full Cold moon happening almost in unison with the shower the sky will be brighter than normal. Try your luck around 9:00 p.m. on the 13th by looking toward the darkest region of sky in your area.
Watching the full moon rise and counting meteors is a Smoky Mountain tradition for the team at HeySmokies.com. We count shooting stars until our neck hurts and then we count some more. We will be making a special shooting star wish for peace and happiness for all our HeySmokies fans! We appreciate your support this year and look forward to sharing more of our Smoky Mountain secrets with you in the new year! We hope all of your shooting star wishes come true!
Smoky Mountain Full Beaver Moon
The Smoky Mountain Beaver moon is on the rise! Photo credit – eyeofhorus
Smoky Mountain Full Beaver Moon is set to rise November 12, 2019. There is no place more special to view the rise of a full moon than Great Smoky Mountains National Park. This month is the famous Beaver Moon.
In ancient times it was common practice for humans to observe and track the changing seasons according to the lunar month instead of the solar year. Our modern calendar is based on the solar year. The ancient peoples of Native American tribes and folks across Europe gave names to the months based on lunar phases observed in the Northern Hemisphere seasons.
You have probably heard the expression, “Busy as a beaver.” There are few times of the year that beavers are more busy than November. With winter fast approaching beavers begin to hoard food and fortify their dwellings. Winter beaver dams are constructed to give additional protection from predators as well. Ancient hunters observed the beaver activity and knew that it was now time for them to prepare for winter too.
This was the time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Beavers make dams of wood and mud. In the middle of the ponds this creates they build dome-shaped homes called lodges with underwater entrances. Beavers continue to grow throughout their lives, and so do their teeth. They constantly gnaw on wood, but because the enamel in a beaver’s incisors contains iron, their front teeth never wear down. Once the beaver dams and lodges were constructed they had a safe refuge for the winter.
Smoky Mountain Beaver Moon will be on the rise soon. Photo credit – consciousremi der
There once were more than 60 million North American beavers. However, because people have hunted them for fur and their glands for medicine, among other reasons, the beaver population has declined to around 12 million. Beavers have begun to make a come back in the Smoky Mountain region in recent decades and beaver dams and lodges have been detected in the foothills nears Greenbrier.
Beavers don’t get all the credit for the November moon. Other names are the Frost Moon, November Full Moon, Trading Moon, Snow Moon and sometimes the Oak Moon.
Some of our favorite places to view the Beaver Full Moon is Cades Cove, the porch of Oconaluftee Visitors Center, Cataloochee and Clingmans Dome.
Smoky Mountain Hunter’s Moon
Smoky Mountain Hunter’s Moon is on the rise! Photo credit – Victoriabuzz.com
