dark woods surrounding the miles of open fields in the upper valley. The creatures only become noticeable when they move. The best time to see an elk is at dawn and sunset. Don’t get closer than 150 feet, park officials warn. An elk is easily the biggest creature in the mountains; bigger, by a considerable margin, than most bears. If a visitor gets close enough to alter the animal’s behavior, that’s too close, officials said. Cataloochee is more than elk. It is a place where the trout are feisty, the history rich with a bluegrass culture that runs deeper than a weekly segment on the radio. One of the industries in the valley during the late 1800s was trout fishing. Enterprising farmers built bunk houses and imported rainbow trout from western states for the dudes to catch at 50 cents per fish. GreenvilleJrnl_CAS8_tango_5.14:Layout 2
Wa n t to g o ? Take U.S. 25 to Interstate 26 and head toward Asheville. At Asheville take the Knoxville exit onto I-40 west. Follow I-40 for about 70 miles and exit 20 (U.S. 276). Cross under the interstate and turn right onto Cove Creek Road. Follow Cove Creek Road to the gap at the park boundary. Bear left at the first intersection (the paved road) for Big Cataloochee and the road tour of historic buildings. Bear right at the first park intersection (dirt) for the shortest trail leading to Little Cataloochee.
By the time the federal government got serious about buying up the land for inclusion in the national park system some of the farmers had prospered mainly by growing apples for the fresh fruit markets in Tennessee and Asheville. These wealthy farmers were some of the last holdouts in selling. The oldest log home is the Hannah 5/5/10
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cabin built in the middle 1800s in Little Cataloochee Community which was sort of a suburb of Big Cataloochee by then. Another Hannah, Mark, became one of the first park rangers. He was born in Little Cataloochee in 1906. Most visitors to Big Cataloochee come in via Cove Creek Road which passes through Cove Creek
Gap at the park boundary. There is a driving tour of most of the old structures in Big Cataloochee like Palmer Chapel and the Beech Cove School. Access to Little Cataloochee comes only by foot trail. It is a moderate one-mile hike to the Hannah Cabin. Follow on for a little more than three miles and you end up in Big Cataloochee at Nellie and the Beech Cove School. Big Cataloochee supports a fulltime campground but visitors should remember it is a long way to the nearest McDonald’s restaurant. It is roughly 10 miles from exit 20 on Interstate 40 and more than 20 miles in from the Tennessee side at exit 451. The roads are not paved in the park except for a short section leading down to Big Cataloochee. Contact Charles Sowell at 679-1208 or csowell@greenvillejournal.com.
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